Posted on 03/17/2009 12:36:05 PM PDT by Welcome2thejungle
Last night on the Military Channel there was an interesting program on the Battle of the Bulge from the perspectives of the leading American commander in the region, General Omar Bradley and the German officer in charge of the offensive, Field Marshall Walter Model.
The Battle of the Bulge occurred in Belgium in December of 1944 and was Germany's last major offensive in WWII. Many of Hitler's leading generals advised against the operation due to Germany's worsening military situation and dangerous lack of resources, soldiers, and material, especially oil.
Despite massive Allied bombardment of German cities and industrial areas, Germany was able to keep up with the production of huge quantity of armaments as much of the production was transferred to underground complexes. One of the key new weapons systems used in the Battle of Bulge was the German King Tiger or Tiger II Tank. Weighing over 64 tons and equipped with 180mm armor and armed with an 88mm cannon, this monster of a tank was virtually indestructible. Much smaller American Sherman Tanks were unable to pierce the King Tiger's armor even when firing at point blank range. Because of the King Tiger's size and complex engineering, it was subject to mechanical difficulties and it was impossible to mass produce. It also consumed enormous quantities of scarce fuel.
The Battle of the Bulge occurred in a lightly defended heavily forested section of the front called the Ardennes Forest which was considered inhospitable for tank warfare. Despite the advice of many of his top generals, Hitler hated playing on defense and loved to take big gambles. His plan was to cut the allied armies in half by marching straight to the port city of Antwerp despite the German lack of fuel needed to power their gas guzzling tanks especially the gigantic Tiger I and Tiger II tanks.
Leading the German spearhead in the surprise attack was the SS Liebstandardte Adolf Hitler Division. It was commanded by the 29 year old Standartenfuhrer (the SS version of a Colonel) Joachim Peiper. Despite his young age, Peiper was a seasoned veteran who had seen much action on the Eastern Front including at the Battles of Kursk and Kharkov. The Waffen SS Divisions were the most fierce and ruthless of all German fighting units. They were equipped with the best and newest German weapons systems including the Tiger I, Tiger II, and Panther Tanks. They literally took no prisoners and in one notorious incident at Malmedy they brutally executed 88 American POWs. Hundreds of English speaking German troops donned American uniforms, slipped behind our lines and wreaked havoc by targeting American officers, redirecting traffic, and changing street signs to divert American troops in the wrong directions. Thousands of Americans were taken prisoner, but their will to fight was greatly enhanced when our troops learned of the Malmedy massacre.
Eventually the weather improved and Allied planes which dominated the skies were able to pounce on the German panzers. The Germans also ran out of fuel and were forced to abandon many of their prized super tanks. Also, General Patton's Third Army rose to the rescue and provided relief for the legendary 101 Airborne Division which was completely surrounded in the Begian town of Bastogne. By January 16th, the German Army had given up all the territory it had taken in the bulge of the American front line.
Just weeks before the end of WWII, Field Marshall Model, himself surrounded in the Ruhr Pocket, took his own life as opposed to surrendering to Allied forces. After the war, Col. Peiper and others were tried for the atrocity they committed against American POWs at Malmedy. Peiper escaped the death penalty only to be murdered many years later in France in 1976. On Bastille Day (July 14th) Peiper was murdered in his home by French Communists. At the time of his death he was writing a book about about his WWII exploits.
Since last year's presidential election I find watching the Military Channel and History Channel a lot more interesting than cable news channels which focus on BHO 24/7. I sometimes need a break.
www.comsimworld.com
We have a community now.
I rarely get to play, but, I do have a few games going by cyberboard. You should look into that.
<,p>Disagree. Nazis needed killing. Still do. Especially to the perpetrator of the Malmedy Massacre. No commies ivolved in that. Just SS butchers killing Americans.
Buy it now for $722.00 - they're GIVING it away! ;-)
My maternal grandpa lost his brother at the Bulge!
I have a small library dealing with it.
I know that Dan-o survived the massacre, too.
That would be cold.
Yes and Peiper and Sepp Dietrich escaped the death penalty because there was no proof that they ordered the execution of the American POWs at Malmedy.
Correct. Peiper was hell and gone at the front of the attacking column at the time of the massacre.
My favorite segment from Band of Brothers was when our troops liberated Hitler’s lair at Berchtesgarden. Now that was really interesting!
Band of Brothers was INCREDIBLY realistic!
I’ve watched it about 10 times, maybe more. I have the DVD set, and love it.
I’ve seen it many times too usually on the History Channel.
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