Christmas 1944: Battle of the Bulge

The American Catholic ^ | December 23, 2014 | Donald R. McClarey

[choctaw man]

Dad was there, 82nd Airborne, RIP, Papa.

[Rummyfan]

Heckuva man. RIP to your soldier father.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks. [snip] What do you do when you're in charge of 35,000 men, you're lacking basic supplies, ammunition, food and medical equipment--and the town you occupy is surrounded by an invading army that outnumbers you 5 to 1?

But wait, there's more! 4 enemy soldiers personally deliver a written ultimatum to you just before Christmas: Surrender or be annihilated. How do you respond? If you're Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, you reply with just one word. What came next would be one of World War II's seminal moments.

From Arlington National Cemetery, here's the story of General Anthony C. McAuliffe. 75 years later. I thought you'd like to know... [/snip]

Nuts! The General who Refused to Surrender
John Fenzel | 592 subscribers | 60,191 views | March 1, 2019

[SunkenCiv]

Turns out the Red Cross was looking for more than one, but ten was too many because of the demands of the war, so they decided to take five instead.

[SunkenCiv]

I wholeheartedly agree. OTOH, it's not unlikely that most of them kept voting D for the rest of their lives.

[WomBom]

God bless him

[SunkenCiv]

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

- George S. Patton

[EvilCapitalist]

Good video.

[SunkenCiv]

They've got us surrounded again, the poor bastards.

Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.

[Carriage Hill]

Thank you.
He was my hero.

[logi_cal869]

I heard a very tall tale told by ‘big guy’ biden this morning on the radio about the Battle of the Bulge.

It was quite the whopper of a lie (or the imagination of a demented old man).

[combat_boots]

He was there? As a toddler?

[colorado tanker]

My Mother-in-Law was a girl living at the family home during Christmas 1944. She very clearly remembers it. She said the whole country was worried about those boys trapped in Bastogne and it put a damper on the celebration

The Army commissioned a group of historians to write a multi-volume history of WWII, the so-called "Greenbooks" because of the color of the covers They are now available online for free. IMHO the best is the history of the Battle of the Bulge.

It is the biggest battle ever fought by the Army in terms of the number of US soldiers involved and was fought over a huge area. While many focus on Bastogne, there are lots of interesting stories.

[Bratch]

[Tucker39]

Would that be Emigsville, York County, PA? God bless the memory of your Dad and all his comrades. My uncle Elwood was a Timber Wolf in Europe. His brother uncle Rodger was MIA after the Bulge and was in a stalag for a while. My brother Don was an MP in occupied Germany, and my brother Ken was with the Corps of Engrs on Okinawa. 15 years later, I served 3 years on Honshu, Japan. Go Army!

[nomorelurker]

These threads on WW2 veterans are always good. I know this is a Battle of the Bulge thread but others have posted their family stories so I will do mine.
Dad was the “second son” so he knew when they enacted the draft he was going. He joined the Navy just before the War started. Watched overloaded PBYs head out from San Diego.
Spent the war on a seagoing tug from Portland Maine to the Panama Canal then Portland Oregon. And Back again. Only time he was scared was a hurricane. Did not get released until Wright Patman a Texas Dem Congressman got a law passed to get them out of the service. That had implications for Korea.

Will follow up in a bit with another relative

[Sequoyah101]

forgot the german who said it but when he spoke of American Engineers they were never just Engineers but always Those Damned Engineers who at the Bulge blocked german attempts to move forward time and time again.

Forgot the Engineer outfit that this was all in reference to.

[Carriage Hill]

“Would that be Emigsville, York County, PA? God bless the memory of your Dad and all his comrades.”

Yes, that Emigsville.
Thank you.

[Carriage Hill]

God Bless your Dad.