Held up by their inability to cross the railroad bridge that German engineers were slow to repair, and by the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon of 394th Infantry Regiment at Lanzerath Ridge, elements of 1st SS Panzer Division did not arrive in force at the 99th's positions until the afternoon of 17 December. Finding Rollbahn C blocked, 1st SS Panzer Division initially moved south for Rollbahn D. The Germans changed their mind about routing both units through the southern "rollbahns", and on 18 December 12th SS Panzer Division was given the task of opening up the road to Rollbahn C. They made a probing attack that afternoon which failed. In the early morning of 17 December, Kampfgruppe Peiper quickly captured Honsfeld and shortly afterward Büllingen. Peiper's unit seized of fuel for his vehicles; a Tiger II's consumption was about . The Germans paused to refuel before continuing westward. They had been assigned Rollbahn B which would take them through Spa. At 09:30 on 17 December, Peiper sent a section of the Kampfgruppe north to reconnoiter, but they encountered strong resistance, improvised by tank-destroyers of the 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and lost two Panzer IVs. Two days into the offensive, the high ground of Elsenborn Ridge and two of the three routes the Germans planned to use remained within the American fortified defense zones.