Posted on 12/22/2015 11:08:06 AM PST by WhiskeyX
By December 23rd holding the line around Bastogne was less of an issue compared to the crisis of dwindling supplies. Not only were troops short on food and medical supplies but ammunition was frighteningly low. Rounds were rationed and soldiers were ordered not to fire unless attacked directly and even then to only fire two rounds. Colonel Thomas L. Sherburn, the artillery commander, was intentionally reporting overestimates of supply levels simply to maintain morale.
(Excerpt) Read more at personalizehistory.org ...
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This website was created by Stephanie Schmeling for completion of a Master’s degree in Archives from New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science, May 2011. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York and works as an Collections Cataloger at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. This website is dedicated to her grandfather, William H. Hale, a quiet man with a strong heart and a genuine spirit.
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http://www.personalizehistory.org/
My uncle was in Patton’s 3rd army, that went into Bastogne and relieved the 101st.
He retired in Southern California, where he lived until leukemia took him 20 years ago.
His logic for moving to Southern California was that, after that winter, he never wanted to be that cold again.
FYI
He was writing in cursive so the Germans couldn’t decode it... ;-)
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“The German word for tank is Panzer, the American artillery equivalent is the Sherman.↵”
So she isn’t a history major.
I was in Patton’s 3rd Army until we were moved to protect Alcase in Dec 1944. Your uncle is sure right about the cold.
Nice to meet you, sir.
My Uncle was a wonderful man and I still think about him everyday.
Yesterday, it was when I heard the song, “I’ll be home for Christmas”.
He had six kids and he you to joke, “If I ever figure out what causes this, I’m going to stop.”
Like most of your generation, and my other 2 uncle’s that served,he really didn’t talk much about the war.
They would say something along the lines of “just doing what needed to be done”.
He still wears a sweater in the summer evenings and hates the winters here in PA, due to that -50°F weather. He and other guys had to dig frozen turnips and potatoes from abandoned fields to feed their units, since they were so low on food, fuel and ammo, until they were finally resupplied.
God Bless your Uncle; RIP.
God Bless your Dad and God Bless ex-snook
“So she isn’t a history major.”
I didn’t find that quote, so I can’t check it for context. FWIW, however, there is a hint of truth to such a statement. Formerly, tanks such as the Sherman were too often used as ad hoc artillery batteries, and they were equipped with the devices needed to plot such indirect artillery fire. It is only in recent times this capability was dropped in American tanks for a variety of reasons, including the elimination of the need to design the gun to elevate for indirect fire. Taken in a jocular and wry sense, it might be said the Sherman tank was too often treated as a mobile artillery piece in the eyes of the people on the receiving end of its gunfire.
Please salute your Father for me and then give him a hug.
I just read your post to my son and his buddies all Army vets. They also would like to salute your Father.
Footnote 2, page 2. While the reference to artillery was jarring, the bigger problem was her equating the German term ‘panzer’ with the American ‘Sherman’. The equivalent should have been either ‘tank’ or ‘armor’. Or, she could have equated a Panzer IV to a US M4. Although the Germans used an assortment of panzers during Wacht am Rhein.
Thank you, I will.
Merry Christmas to you all.
I know what you mean. The one usage which gets me wound up is when someone says battleship to mean any type of warship, especially the destroyers and auxiliaries. I was especially perturbed when a young (less than 45 year old) U.S. Navy recruiter used the word battleship to denote a DDG and had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned task groups (TG), BATDIV, and DESFLOT. The U.S. Navy has been RIFed to the point where the sailors no longer know what it means to have a Two Ocean Navy and the associated organizational units.
Thank you and your brothers for saving The Western World.
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