Posted on 12/16/2018 9:42:01 AM PST by Leaning Right
Our men fought in the Hurtgen forest in WWI too. It’s bloody ground.
Pajama Boy,
His toughest Question,
Boxers or Briefs?
I Hate that “Pajama Boy”
Disgraces this Thread.
From below zero F to slightly above freezing with rain, along with damp fog, frequent snowfall, and 6” or more of snow on the ground. Lack of cold weather gear was a big problem.
Looked into the history of the place— and you are right— a lot of blood of US soldiers there- and they are still finding bodies.
Others have commented here the deaths were more like 30,000, and when it was shut down— two days later the Bulge began with the Germans blasting through the Ardennes. So those 30,ooo, slugging it out....absolutely piss poor planning from high command. Terrible.
There is a rather well done movie (all in 10 min. segments) which is on youtube about the Hurtgen Forest WWII battle— it is bitter (done well on a low budget) and depicts the hell that it was— and those that survived were then pressed into other service at the Bulge. Prayers for their remembrance and praise for their incredible bravery.
Some of the deadliest things in the forest, I have read, were the shrapnel-like shards of wood that rained down from artillery rounds going off in treetops.
That was only one of the horrors. The Germans had planted anti-personal mines, which for some strange reason American GI’s called ‘’de-ball lockers’’. These were mines that acted on a spring mechanism and exploded at waist height(and groin height, hence the odd nick name I guess). The Hurtgen was a horrible place. The Germans were dug in , had everything pre-sited. Imagine a dark wet forest, an unseen enemy who opens fire with machines guns and mortars. Men hit the ground only to be hit with shrapnel. Flatten up against a tree and machine gun fire hits you at waist height and metal and wood shrapnel rains down on you from above. Causalities were horrendous. The weather was awful. Cold, wet, scant daylight and long hours of darkness. Some men, many of them simply broke down. Others went mad.
Yep,great lines.
Another moving moment was the German officer’s speech to his troops when they were captured.
.
Ah, no. There was no fighting in Germany in WW1.
Most of the islands in the Pacific had no fresh water. Peleliu and Iwo Jima were two of them. Peleliu was a hell hole. My late father-in-law barely survived Iwo Jima.
Beautiful tribute to your uncle, Alaska. He’s looking down and is mighty pleased.
It was a patrol from the 291st. who found the first survivors of The Malmedy Massacre. The 291 Engineer Combat Battaion has a very illustrious history.It was one of, if not the finest engineer outfit in the ETO. It’s commanding officer was Lt. Colonel David Pergrin, a University of Pennsylvania engineering graduate who made the 291 an exceptional outfit.
I remember seeing a photo in a Bulge book many years ago of a soldier manning a machine gun (probably M-2) as an anti-aircraft gun without gloves.
Leaning Right,
Thank you for posting this article on the Battle of the Bulge which began 84 years ago today.
Grey Friar
Whoops for me, it began 74 years ago as you posted L R.
The 291st were thrown into the maelstrom and proved equal to the task. Their job description included being used as infantry when needed but that was not their main job.
Of course demolition was one they were more suited for. One of their squads set up an anti-tank gun at the entrance to a bridge. They knocked the tread off the lead tank in a huge column. The tank returned fire killing them all.
They must have known they had little chance of living but did their duty.
USS Alaska,
Your uncle was trucked into the Battle of the Bulge rather than jumped or ‘was pushed.’ The 82d and 101st Airborne divisions were pulled out of Holland in November after jumping (or being pushed) into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden in September. After 2 months and many casualties, they were pulled out for rest, recuperation, and to get replacements and sent to the French Army post at Mourmelon. Both divisions were then sent into the Bulge by truck convoys. An interesting tidbit is that due to the urgency and the bad weather, the convoys ran with full headlights for part of the journey, so that they could drive faster.
The old movie “Battleground” depicts the truck move from Mourmelon to the Bulge area quite accurately.
G-F
> Whoops for me, it began 74 years ago as you posted L R. <
Don’t blame yourself, GreyFriar. Russian hackers probably changed the 74 in your original post to 84.
Thanks for the ping. Lest we forget ...
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