Posted on 12/17/2015 8:23:55 AM PST by WhiskeyX
Generals At War: Episode 06 The Battle of the Bulge The Greatest battle America ever fought was against Hitler's Army when it staged one of the last offensives of the war in Belgium against American troops who were alone and unprepared for the Nazi onslaught. Despite overwhelming odds American troops defeated the German Blitz preventing history from repeating itself as it did when Hitler first invaded Belgium in the begining of the war.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
While the Battle of the Bulge was a very important battle, the D-Day invasion was of far greater importance. By the time of the Battle of the Bulge was fought, victory had already been assured.
My Italian grandfather’s brother died at the Battle of the Bulge. God bless his patriot soul forever.
I disagree that victory was assured. Nothing is assured in war. And if they had been able to punch through and push as far as Paris, then what? It was important to prosecute the war in the manner they did and hold the Nazis at Bastogne. If they hadn’t, how much longer would the war have gone on? It cost less live for both sides in the end.
I know you agree that Bastogne was an important battle and that we cannot fight the “what ifs” but I do not believe all was assured.
Combine that with Germany having to fight on three fronts against overwhelming numerical superiority and production capability they had no chance.
anniversary of that today.
My Dad fought in that battle. It didn’t talk too much about it other than he was in it. Lost part of his hearing from the big guns being used.
Historically inaccurate. "Watch on the Rhine" (December 16) against the US 1st army was followed by "Nordwind" (December 31) against the US 7th/French 1st armies.
And, of course, on the eastern front, there was 'Spring Awakening' (Plattensee Offensive - Lake Balaton Offensive) in March, 1945
They were pushing for Antwerp. FWIW Patton jokenly suggested that they allow the Germans to advance to Paris in order to mopp them up quicker on the flanks.
My father was there.... he said it was brutally cold.
Other problems as well. It had to be awful, from what he said
The Battle of the Bulge was probably the hardest fight the US military has ever engaged in. German soldiers testified that it was as brutal a battle as any they had on the Eastern Front. If you include the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest just to the north of the Bulge battle zone, this short time period in the history of the US military was its bloodiest.
“I won’t fight against Italy” Your grandfather would not have had to worried about fighting against Italy after September 1943. Mussolini was overthrown and the new government of Italy, under General Badoglio surrendered to the Allies on Sept 3, 1943 and joined the Allies against Germany on Oct 13, 1943.
Thus he could have been sent to Italy to fight WITH Italy against the Nazis and diehard Italian Fascists. Or he could have been sent to the Pacific Theater.
Assured? Perhaps victory was inevitable, but victory might have looked a little different.
The Zeigfreid line was a real bitch and there were a lot fewer people and less equipment to defend it after BOB.
If not for Arhnem or if Arnhem had succeeded there may have been no BOB in the first place.
WWII was so vast and complex that Assured is a pretty big word.
We can speculate all day, tonight, and into tomorrow.
My dad too. 104th Infantry Timberwolves. Two silver stars among other medals. Didn’t talk much about it except at reunions and much later. He spoke of a friend getting shot in the head next to him, a Nazi hitting him in the back with a rifle butt and a cease fire for Christmas with Americans singing Silent Night in English and the enemy singing in German. Very surreal. 4years in Europe. We will never see their like again.
The Bulge was the last chance the Nazis had to slow the onslaught of the Allied invasion into Germany.
A strategic retreat at that point might have been just as effective as duking it out in the Ardennes, but as one 101st soldier commented, “they’ve got us surrounded... the poor bastards.”
The Nazis left us with no choice but to fight it out.
“My Grandfather said “I won’t fight against Italy†he was never called.”
The Italian Government switched sides in 1943 and the Royal Italian Army fought with the Allies against Germany and the Italian Fascists from September 1943 to the end of the war.
Hitler was lucky he got as far as Bastogne. If not for bad weather, his armor would have been destroyed on day two.
As Hans Georing said immediately after the war : “In 1944, when I saw P-51’s over Berlin, I knew the game was up.”
If the Germans did not launch the offensive in the Ardennes, they would have had more armoured reserves to deploy against the Red Army on the Vistula. Our victory in the Battle of the Bulge made it a lot easier for the Red Army to launch its offensive against Berlin.
They were pushing for Antwerp. FWIW Patton jokenly suggested that they allow the Germans to advance to Paris in order to mopp them up quicker on the flanks.
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I’m not so sure he was joking.
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