Posted on 12/19/2022 1:32:21 PM PST by SunkenCiv
General McAuliffe issued a memorable Christmas message to his troops:
Headquarters 101st Airborne Division Office of the Division Commander
24 December 1944
What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting – it’s cold – we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World history. The Germans actually did surround us. their radios blared our doom. Their Commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance...
Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: Well Done!
We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.
A. C. McAuliffe
(Excerpt) Read more at the-american-catholic.com ...
My Grandfather was wounded there.
Joe Biden was there
I worked with an old guy who had been a medic at the battle of the bulge. He told me several of the wounded survived because their wounds froze and stopped the bleeding. That image has stuck with me for fifty years. Imagine the cold and the suffering.
“Forgot the Engineer outfit that this was all in reference to.”
The German officer was Lt Colonel Joachim Peiper of the Waffen SS.
The Engineers were the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion. They blew up every bridge Peiper needed to cross the Meuse River.
https://armyhistory.org/the-291st-engineer-combat-battalion/
When McAuliffe read the German offer of surrender he didn’t know quite how to answer. One of his staff told him to just say what he usually said when something went sideways so he wrote down the now famous reply “Nuts.”
Likewise my father was in pinned down one night two days before the battle started. His feet froze and he was in hospital for months after in England. He was lucky enough to be put on a plane to England before the battle started. He was 33 years old when he joined up.
Wow. Glad he made it!
Here’s a couple about the 82nd, the second link talks a little about them, but mostly about the overall campaign and Bastogne, and some about the Ghost Army which might make another good topic.
https://www.ww2-airborne.us/division/campaigns/belgium.html
https://www.asomf.org/the-battle-of-the-bulge-asom/
Brian Williams covered the story.
One of my old Sunday school teachers got wounded pretty badly during the Bulge, was aboard an evac ship on the way to England, minding its own business, but the Germans sank it (not sure how, maybe it was a passive sinking via a mine). He survived this, I think all or most of the crew and patients managed to get rescued, but WTH man. I’ll try to get the details straightened out.
What O.V. said. I knew the story about Peiper, and that’s what I used to look it up, then I didn’t use the details, because it wasn’t them alone, and Peiper was pretty profane, and I’m just a timid SOB. ;^)
A classmate of mom’s lost her older brother at that time. That was hard enough. Weeks later the unopened undeliverable Xmas presents were returned. I think of that when I water family urns in the summer, I have family quite near that family plot.
Overall, even old adversaries seem to be able to talk more freely and openly with each other than with their own family members who weren’t there.
Very interesting. Thank you for posting that about Fritz Kraemer.
“courage” - Dan Rather
Between my late Dad and I, I thought we were major history buffs on WWII and for him the Civil War but have never heard of the “Green Books”. Thank you for that reference.
Just too much to learn and too much to learn and do to ever claim boredom. Boredom is for weak minded and lazy people.
My pleasure.
My uncle fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He came home and entered the seminary.
In my working days I spent several Christmas seasons on a rig somewhere when it was my turn. Everybody there is in the same bag and support one another. It is just the way the business goes. Only a couple of times I was left alone on the beach to tend the store at Christmas. As lonely as that was it was nothing compared to what our fathers and grandfathers endured often as just kids made men very fast.
Having traveled and worked in much of the world there are few places on my bucket list. One stands out to accomplish while I still can. To walk the beaches at Normandy from end-to-end and I want to go alone.
My usual bedtime is between 0100 and 0300 but yesterday I had worked on the addition with the carpenters out in the cold. I was worn out and hit the rack at 2100 knowing I would wake up soon. It was about 2330 that sleep ended and I found your post then read until about 0300 and missed my alarm at 0630!
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