Was the 863 battalion in the battle of the buldge?

Answer 1

There was the 863rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Automatic Weapons), which was among the "corps troops" of the V Corps, US First Army, which was in the Battle of the Bulge. The US Army had, besides its divisions, hundreds of "independent battalions" of various types, which were "independent" because they were not a permanent part of any larger formation. These battalions were assigned to corps HQs (where they were referred to as "corps troops") or field army HQs (where they were referred to as "army troops"). These included artillery of several calibers, signals, combat engineers, tank, tank destroyer battalions, and so on. All AAA battalions were "separate" or "independent" battalions. If you want to search the net include among your search terms "863rd AAA (AW) Bn". I've included a link below, under "Related Links" which is an "Order of Battle" (a list of all units involved) for the Bulge.