"Overshadowed by accounts of the 101st Airborne Division's gallant defense of Bastogne in December 1944, the story of the desperate delaying actions east of Bastogne which bought time for the occupation and defense of that city by American troops has so far been a closed book to most of the world. General Eisenhower, in his book, Crusade in Europe, admitted that he, and he alone, was responsible for maintaining only four divisions on the Ardennese front in December 1944 and thus running the risk of a large German penetration in that area... This then is the story of some of those unsung heroes of the Bulge - the men who traded their lives for time."
On the evening of December 15th, there were four US Army divisions and various other attached units under various commands deployed along a front known as the Western Wall, about 85 miles long.
The 106th Division, having just arrived in Europe and with no combat experience, was deployed around a mountain called "Schnee Eiffel".
The 28th Division, which was Pennsylvania National Guard, had recently been moved into what was considered a safe, quiet area after suffering heavy casualties in the Hurtgen forest. The 28th was assigned an area 28 miles long to defend.
The 4th infantry division was assigned a 30-mile front along the banks of the Sauer and Moselle rivers.
In the days leading up to December 15th, no one knew what the Germans were cooking up on their side of the Western Wall. The German Seventh Army was set to attack in the south, with an objective south of Bastogne and all the way to the coast and Antwerp.
The German Sixth Panzer Army was set to attack in the north, thru the area of Monschau north of Bastogne.
The German Fifth Panzer Army was set to attack in the center, directly at Bastogne and St. Vith. The German Fifth Panzer Army was opposed by the American 28th Division, and the ten mile wide approach to Bastogne itself was defended by the 28th Division's 110th Regiment.
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.
Defending the area approaching Bastogne, one US Division against one German Army.
From Defending Bastogne:
"The ten-mile central section of the 28th Infantry Division's line, the sector designated for the major breakthrough by the Fifth Panzer Army, as it turned out... was held by the 1st and 3rd battalions of the 110th Infantry Regiment (Colonel Hurley E. Fuller). The regiment's 2nd Battalion was held back as division reserve."
The weather was cold, and the US army was dealing with the logistical challenges of keeping food, clothing, fuel, ammunition, and winter gear to the soldiers hunkered down at the front. The hope of the American generals was to wait out the winter in place, and let the Soviets take all the casualties overrunning the Wehrmacht from the east.
Among the allies, there were those who had their suspicions, but... no one knew what was in store tomorrow.
Nuts!
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.
OKSooner,
Today’s Oklahoma weather with mist, drizzle and 35F temperatures is just a taste of what the participants on both sides of this battle were to soon experience.
There’s an interesting book called “Company Commander” in which a Cushing, Oklahoma man named Anderson, got caught up in the fighting. He is not the central character of the book, but appears multiple times in the action. It is a memoir written shortly after WWII. These guys were not front line troops at all, but performed way above their pay grade when it mattered.
Thanks for the post.
Oldplayer
which was assigned the code name “Watch on the Rhine”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_on_the_Rhine
Has anyone ever noticed that General Omar Bradley the senior general over Gen. Patton is seldom mentioned.
His lack of leadership and decisions led to the near success of the German attack.
I cannot imagine what those soldiers felt. I especially thought about this as an Army Infantry soldier in Germany in the late ‘80s.
One powerful armored thrust to Berlin wins the war.
The Allies advance on an extremely large front.
Why?
The Germans can’t mount a counterattack if they are busy throwing everything at the thrust for Berlin.
We weren’t inside their OODA Loop, so we had to grind it out.
Watch on the Rhine was also a popular patriotic song
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Wacht_am_Rhein
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistory/comments/bryl9v/why_did_operation_watch_on_the_rhine_ww2_battle/
there were quality control issues with German weapons and equipment that made a massive army on paper turn out to be ineffective in reality. We have a nice woman who lives in my area, Noemi Ban, who is a Holocaust survivor and worked as a slave laborer in German munitions plants during the war. She describes how she sabotaged a pretty good amount of the weapons and equipment that went through her hands late in the war. A reliance on slave labor for a significant part of their economy plagued Germany with enormous quality control issues. Also, due to a lack of critical alloys for war production (like tungsten) a lot of German weapons of the late-war period simply weren’t built well. The Stg-44 assault rifle, for example, was made of such soft steel in some cases that it could be bent and rendered useless simply by dropping it on the ground.
The whole plan hinged on a lot of hopes and ifs: breakthrough the weak point in the allied line (in the same place that Germany attacked France in 1940, no less), and then race north to Antwerp, cutting the Allies from their biggest supply port (though not the only one) catching enough supplies, especially the ever vital fuel,
Even if Hitler had achieved all his objectives in this battle, it would have changed nothing.
The only exception would have been to quickly negotiate a peace with the west from a temporary victory for some slightly better terms.
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.
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.
“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 cousin almost lost his feet. He was plagued by foot problems all his life. His daughter married a son of a German soldier who was at the BOTB