Posted on 12/16/2023 6:03:07 PM PST by Rummyfan
Today marks the beginning of the largest battle that America n soldiers ever fought in, as well as, writes Antony Beevor, the greatest battle of World War II in western Europe.
When I was a kid in Brussels, my elderly teacher was from the town of Bastogne, and had lived as a little girl through the encirclement of the town during the freezing Christmas with the troops of General "Nuts!" McAuliffe to whom the inhabitants handed out their sheets to serve as winter camouflage. Madame Cop loved my mother and often invited my parents to her home for dinner and our family did likewise. If you showed any sort of anti-Americanism in the presence of this li'l ol' Babuschka-type grand-mother, you would soon regret it.
Here is the summary of Antony Beevor's Ardennes 1944 (Hitler's Last Gamble):
On 16 December, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes. He believed he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp, then force the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back.
The Ardennes offensive, with more than a million men involved, became the greatest battle of the war in western Europe. American troops, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians fled, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While many American soldiers fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance.
The North Atlantic Nasskalt is the most bone-chilling cold I've ever experienced. To have to endure it for weeks on end is inconceivable.
The great humorist Mel Brooks is a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. When asked about the battle, Mel said “It was very noisy. I could hardly get any reading done.”
Gotta love Mel!
https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/alex-kershaw/the-longest-winter/9780306814402/
The Battle of Aachen was actually part of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. Hürtgen was the longest battle the US Army every fought in. It "ended" in the 16th of December, not because the fighting was over, it was just incorporated into the Battle of the Bulge.
In the Ardennes Forest, the trees are like telephone poles with anything green way up in the air, 40 or 50 feet. You can see a long way in any direction.
All I can say is wow!
He said, "I fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and I was so cold I swore I would never again complain about the heat."
My Estonian Mother was married to a German draftee who was killed in the Hürtgen Forest battle. She moved to Germany after being widowed where she met a GI a few years after the war, and voila, there I was lol.
It’s funny about the people you meet. Back in the 1970s I worked security for a major university. One of the campus cops was an older, fat guy. Some of the younger cops made fun of him. And they just wouldn’t stop.
Well, one day this fat guy brought a suitcase to roll call. Without saying a word, he opened it. Inside the suitcase were all his medals and commendations. This quiet, fat old guy was an Army Ranger who landed in Normandy on D-Day.
Nobody made fun of him after that.
Maybe “one of”....
Certainly not the “greatest”...
An important lesson powerfully and unforgettably imparted.
We know a woman who died in early 2023. Her first husband was killed over Hamburg Germany on the last day of 1944.
They had been married for about a week when he shipped off to training; maybe 5 months after the wedding he was killed in action, and she was a war widow.
Dear God, war is a terrible thing. And so many politicians are so quick to welcome it as the preferred solution.
https://armyhistory.org/the-291st-engineer-combat-battalion/
Totally understandable.
I was wearing modern goose-down coat and vest, and gloves, completely zipped up, and I was shaking like a leaf. Teeth chattering uncontrollably.
And all the while I was thinking of the Battle of the Bulge.
I’ll have to look at that (engineer as well). My dad’s cousin became a school teacher after the war and was interviewed by a college kid and his transcript is online.
He first saw action at the Bulge. He said when he first got there he didn’t go hungry as the other troops weren’t eating the c-rations with pork in them.
A week later as he’s walking down the muddy road he realized why. Pigs running loose were eating the dead Germans laying along the side of the road.
He had lots of interesting stories. I imagine they are all true, but...
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.