Posted on 11/13/2021 10:51:18 PM PST by ammodotcom
When we think about American GIs in the European theater of World War II, much of our image comes from the Battle of the Bulge. Named so because of the distinctive "bulge" shape of the front lines, this is where so many American men laid down their lives on fields of frozen mud in France.
What Was the Battle of the Bulge?
The Battle of the Bulge was the result of Hitler's last dying gasp lashing out against the increasing pressure of the Allied forces in France. Hitler's goal was to drive a literal and metaphorical wedge between the United States and the United Kingdom.
All told, the battle was six weeks of fierce winter fighting in the forests of the Ardennes region of France. The nearly ceaseless combat took place between December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, in the bitter, freezing cold. Old Man Winter took 15,000 with trench foot, pneumonia, and frostbite.
Winston Churchill called it the most important American battle of the war. It was certainly the costliest – when all was said and done, over 100,00 American souls were left in the ground in France.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
The German drive only got as far as it did because the terrible weather kept American tactical air on the ground. Once the Thunderbolts got back in the air it was no contest.
Dad was there. Nothing remarkable, but he was there. He was very appreciative that I cajoled him into visiting the WW2 Memorial in DC back in 2006.
US suffered 75,000 casualties in the Battle of the Bulge. It was not the painless slam dunk modern historians try to paint it as being.
Ok, since this is from Ammo, this is probably the most relevant passage:
“The American battles of the Northern Shoulder are considered the most decisive of the entire campaign. Despite being outnumbered five to one, they were able to inflict a casualty ratio of 18 to 1 (in no small part thanks to the 30-06 powered M1 Garand battle rifle) in a battle where 20 percent of their effective force was taken out of the fight.”
A BIG WOWSER ON THE M1!! You always hear how the German weapons were superior.
One serving with the 84th. Infantry Division and another as a combat engineer with Patton's Third Army. The Battle of The Bulge was the largest,costliest and longest continuous single battle the US Army ever fought. From the moment the battle began on December 16, 1944 until it declared ''contained'' on January 25, 1945 there wasn't a day, an hour or even a minute when an American unit was not engaged with the enemy.
The Battle of the Bulge was the result of Hitler’s last dying gasp lashing out against the increasing pressure of the Allied forces in France.
Not exactly. That type of attack was launched 20 times or more in the East and often corralled huge numbers of prisoners. It was not some new desperation move. It was a calculated strategic move executed as they had done countless times in the East.
They thought if they could do it, they could negotiate terms.
Patton’s relief of Batstone was the finest moment of his career
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a 140 km 2 (54 sq mi) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian-German border. It was the longest battle on German ground during World War II.
The Germans lost because they ran out of fuel and ammunition and men.
They figured to capture American supplies and fuel dumps. It was much closer than it might have been.
The American Garand was the best rifle of the war; Arguably, the 1911 A1 the best pistol of the war.
The Germans had the best machine gun, probably the best artillery.
The Russians had the best tanks. (When considering cost effectiveness). German Panzers were not that effective because of their weight.
The Americans had the best aircraft, and Navy.
“Patton’s relief of Batstone was the finest moment of his career”
The inside baseball on that is that Patton had a contact at Bletchley Park and the Ultra intercept data and did not dismiss the possibility, as others had, that something was brewing and so prepared to turn his whole army around and send them north, just in case.
Interesting. I had never heard that before. It was brilliant Generalship on Patton’s part.
>>The Germans had the best machine gun, probably the best artillery
We (the Americans) had the best artillery fire control. We had the ability to bring all fires from a division and even corp-level assets onto a spotter’s target. This was devastating.
VDH also thinks two other aspects of American artillery were game changers. First, the proximity fuse. Second, the time-on-target barrage. The last gave a much better chance of catching enemy troops out in the open, the first a better chance of getting them in their foxholes/trenches.
He talks about this in his The Second World Wars lectures he did with Hillsdale College. Worthwhile.
https://online.hillsdale.edu/landing/the-second-world-wars
The Battle of Huertgen Forest occurred before the Battle of the Bulge. It was a tactical victory for the Germans, who prevented the Americans from achieving their objectives.
My father fought with the 28th Infantry Division in both.
After Huertgen, his unit was transferred to the Ardennes, believed to be a rest area. Warnings of a big German buildup sent back to HQ were ignored.
His unit was right at the point of the initial German attack, and was completely overrun the first day of the battle. He was captured, marched into Germany, and spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. In the 5 months or so he was in the camp, he lost half his body weight.
My father passed away in 2004 at the age of 84.
You are correct about the American artillery fire control, and the American proximity fuse.
The battle of the Hurtgen Forest preceded the Battle Of The Bulge. It was the costliest battle of WWII in terms of American lives lost. All caused by the stupid decision to go thru the forest rather than go around it. My Uncle lost his life there on December 1st, 1944. He was with the 28th Infantry Division.
Love the gratutitous throwaway at the end "until Vietnam":
1. Korea was the first disappointment in the performance of the American army - the precipitous rout of the Eighth Army when the Chinese Army attacked. And
2. Vietnam was a major display of the courage and flexibility of American forces in the face of a nearly impossible task - protecting South Vietnamese noncombatants while eliminating NVA and VC combatants. Our forces only failed because of a reduction of available effective volunteers and replacing them with substandard draftees (MacNamara's Project 100,000) and active Leftist treason overwhelming support in our home country.
The BoTB is one that need not have happened. IF the Allies had been prepared to execute a more focused effort against Germany they could have been all the way into Germany before the Fall.
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