Posted on 12/15/2019 10:20:58 AM PST by OKSooner
Inspired by Homer Simpson's historical works from newspaper archives, this is a brief recollection of the opening days of The Battle of the Bulge, particularly the first three days of it. I will be doing this as my work schedule and time permit, so I apologize in advance that it will not be up to the same editorial standards as Homer's previous, well-known work here at FR.
The intent of it is to examine the chronology of certain events leading up to the legendary defense of the crossroads city of Bastogne, Belgium by the 101st Airborne division and other elements of the US Army.
Hitler's intent in launching this offensive, which was assigned the code name "Watch on the Rhine" to disguise it as a defensive operation, was to
1) Reach and capture the port city of Antwerp, which had become the point of arrival for allied men and material in Europe, and;
2) Drive a wedge between the American Armies in the south and the British Army in the north, and to cause (more) dissension between the allies with the intent that one or both of them would lose interest, at which point Germany could turn their full attention to the Soviets.
Hitler was nuts, of course, and some of his generals advocated for a smaller offensive that would cut off and isolate much of the British army in the north.
Nuts or not, in a fascist dictatorship the boss is the boss, and Watch On The Rhine was set to go, beginning the morning of December 16th.
Put this into the mix. Had Antwerp been opened in a timely fashion, no Bulge, imo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_advance_from_Paris_to_the_Rhine#Logistics_and_supply
At this time the main Allied supply lines still ran back to Normandy, presenting serious logistical problems. The solution was to open the port of Antwerp. This major port had been captured at 90% intact on 4 September, but the occupation of Antwerp was not enough as the 21st Army Group failed to gain sea access by clearing the Scheldt estuary. So the port could not be used until 29 November after a protracted campaign by the Canadian First Army; initially the estuary was weakly held, but the German 15th Army was allowed to dig in there.
The delay in securing this area has been blamed on General Eisenhower as the 21st Army Group commander, Field Marshal Montgomery favored Operation Market-Garden and opening the French Channel ports over clearing the approaches to the port of Antwerp in the Battle of the Scheldt.
Good source
The Germans lost roughly 100,000 men compared to the Americans, who lost roughly 80,000 men, he said. “It is a huge amount of people killed, wounded or captured.”
there are more Americans killed after Christmas, than before.” The battle lines did not return to the December 15 position until January 25, 1945.
Yup. Patton’s intell knew well in advance that something was up and they made plans to counter it.
BTW, there was about 100 engineers who held up Pipers panzer group.
And all the 88s did was force the bombers higher at enormous expenditure of rounds fired per bomber downed.
The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Peregrine.
For the record, the Schnee Eiffel isn't a mountain, it is a region of high hills or eroded mountains. Other portions of the Eiffel include the Vulcan Eiffel (known for its hot springs and geothermal plants) and the Hoch Eiffel.
The “Broad Front Strategy” was picked by the western allies for a couple of reasons:
1. Politically it was easier. By not selecting a single allied army, American/Canadian/British, it was easier to get all the allies to cooperate.
2. The western allies were just not up to mobile warfare on a large scale. A penetration on a narrow front can be cut off and surrounded and the army lost.
Tanks are best used against clerks and cooks.
You know, I’ve never really studied the Soviet advance to Berlin.
Was it broad front or concentrated?
Broad. Stain didn’t want 1 Marshal getting all the glory of sacking Berlin (political). Plus, it just made sense to dog-pile what remained of the German army. The German stength was the counterattack. If you’re main thrust stalled it was easier for the Germans to cut the off & chop them up. Keep up pressure on multiple fronts. Don’t let them breathe.
“Four US Army divisions, plus some British Army elements to the north, defending an 85-mile front that’s about to be attacked by three German Armies. “
Actually it was only 3 divisions. The area between the 28th and the 4th divisions was purportedly held by the 75th division. Actually, the 75th division was still on the beach in France; the area between the 4th and 28th was actually occupied by the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. This unit, 1100 men, spent the entire war impersonating other units as a decoy to lure or deter the Germans. The German initial point of attack was actually the area occupied by the 23rd.
I know this because my dad was there; he was a radio operator in Signal Company Special, one of the components of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, the Ghost Army.
http://www.ghostarmylegacyproject.org/
My late Uncle Fred served with the 84th. Infantry Division during The Bulge. He was wounded near Soy, Belgium in early January ‘45 and evacuated to England. 88mm. shrapnel almost took his head off. Never talked about it much.
I’m thankful the Germans didn’t produce more of their 128mm AA guns.American bombers couldn’t fly high enough to avoid them.
As is usual revisionist history takes hold. Bradley had no plan for a counteroffensive and Patton came up with the wild plan to turn his armor group of tanks and mounted troops to break the German attack.
Anti-aircraft is what the 88 was designed for. It use as an anti-tank weapon came about by circumstance, not design.
And boy was the 88mm superb as an anti tank weapon.
Hi.
“BTW, there was about 100 engineers who held up Pipers panzer group.”
My uncle by marriage, Sgt. Louis Provini was one of those engineers.
He was a good father and patriot.
5.56mm
I had two uncles there. One was recovering from frostbite in the Hurtgen Forest and the other was an AA gunner in the 3rd Army. The AA gunner felt the same way about the SS. He said the only thing to do was kill the SOB’s.
Hurtgen Forest was bad, bad stuff. Meat grinder.
Kind of got overshadowed in history books because the Bulge happened so soon afterwards.
Krauts were damned good on the defense. They knew their sh*t, no doubt. Chewed up quite a few units badly in Hurtgen.
I was stationed in Schewinfurt but we did our winter war games at Grafenwoher and in December of 60 {or 61, not sure of the year} it was 26 below and we were living out side in pup tents, on top of a damn mountain.
The wind was blowing so hard the tents blew over and we all went under the gun tarps.
Never been so cold and we had many men with serious frost bite.
I couldn't sleep for about 2+ days.
I'm glad that the memories of cold don't bring back the feeling.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.