Posted on 12/15/2019 1:07:43 PM PST by OKSooner
The Bulge, Day One, December 16th, 1944.
Reports making their way back to Allied headquarters in Paris and London were sketchy. At first the attacks were thought to be probing, mischievous attacks just to gauge allied strength.
After awhile, though, the situation became more clear. The entire western wall was under attack, all the way from Maastricht in the north, down south thru Belgium in the area of Verviers, Malmedy, further south to the important crossroads of St. Vith, and, in the center-south area of the attack, the crossroads of Bastogne.
The 110th Regiment's headquarters was set up at Clervaux, Luxembourg, on the Clerf river east of Bastogne. Attached to the 110th regiment are four batteries of 105mm howitzers, (four guns to each battery), two tank companies equipped with the small M3 Stuart medium tanks, a company of towed "tank destroyer" guns, and a battery of antiaircraft artillery.
East of Clervaux was the Our river, which the Germans had proceeded to cross in order to move on the Americans on the other side. Bastogne was about 15 miles to the west of Clervaux.
These fifteen miles were the land the Germans under the command of General Hasso E. von Manteuffel were counting on taking quickly in order to capture Bastogne. That done, the mass of the German formations could move on unopposed to Antwerp.
In this part of Europe, as the name suggests, the Ardennes forest is heavy, hilly forest, with many streams and rivers. The roads, just as in peacetime, are especially important for moving people and material.
American outposts were laid out along the front on high ground on the west side of the Our river.
Once the Wehrmacht began moving, their first order of business was the Schnee Eiffel, defended by the 106th Division. The 106th was the last American division to deploy to Europe. The 106th had no combat experience, and many of its troops were issued clothing and equipment from WWI. The Germans quickly overran one Regiment of the 106th, cutting off the other two regiments from retreat. Those two regiments surrendered to the Wehrmacht and were taken into captivity. This was the biggest mass surrender of US forces in the European war.
In the area east of Bastogne, the Panzer Lehr division, 26th Volksgrenadier division, and 2nd Panzer division continued their attacks against the Americans. Small formations of M3 Stuart tanks, intended for use against machinegun nests, etc, were instead sent on suicide missions against the advancing German Panther tanks.
The German advance was slowed by American soldiers who were more inclined to fight than to surrender as the Germans expected, and by American artillery. The weather was cloudy and foggy, neutralizing American tactical air superiority.
So the Germans were able to advance on the Lux towns of Holzthum, Hosingen, Weiler, and Marnach, just as the Wehrmacht was advancing to the north, up into the Netherlands, and also to the south. As they advanced, they were often under American artillery fire, which was not always available because the artillery units were deployed just as thinly as were the infantry.
As the Germans would advance, the artillery units would lose communication with their forward observers. Rather than let their guns fall into the hands of the enemy, the artillery units would then load up and move back to the next position, where they could resume their work.
The fight was on, seventy five years ago today. American infantrymen were dying. Some individual soldiers were living to fight another day as the Wehrmacht advanced. Still other American infantry units were being withdrawn and moved to other spots along the front.
Noncombatant personnel, such as cooks and band members, were being handed rifles they hadn't been trained to use and ordered to go die. Allied commanders in Paris and London remained in headquarters with security, in case of surprise attack against them by German special forces.
In some places, German soldiers who spoke fluent English were issued American uniforms and sent behind American lines to cause mayhem. These efforts were dramatic, but not quite as effective as Hollywood movies make out. Once found out, these guys were interrogated and then shot.
All along the Western Wall, the carnage was on. In a particular artillery unit, a seventeen year old soldier was shot dead by German rifle fire on the first day of fighting in front of his twin brother, who was stupidly assigned by the Army to the same unit with him.
As all this was happening, the weather was getting worse. The temperatures went below freezing, and the mist and fog turned to snow and ice. No one had decent boots...
The left (south) flank of Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army began advancing on a line toward Bastogne, on a front about seven miles wide, bounded by Dahnen on the north to Stolzemburg on the south. All that stood between Manteuffel and his objective of Bastogne was the 110th Infantry regiment and various artillery and tank destroyer troops (with obsolete towed guns instead of tracked tank destroyers) attached to it.
The order came down from 28th Division headquarters to Colonel Hurley Fuller of the 110th Regiment: "No one comes back."
And the same thing was happening all along the 85 mile front of the Western Wall.
Back at Allied Supreme headquarters, the call had been made: Along with everything else, we've got to get somebody into Bastogne and also to St. Vith, FAST. The two crossroads were crucial to both the Germans and the Allies.
There was just one thing, though, for the Germans... things were going pretty much according to their plan, but... not just quite as perfectly as they had in mind... Yes, in spite of our surprise the Americans, British and Canadians are fighting... there isn't that much American artillery, but it is unbelievably precise.
After the war, Manteuffel said in an interview with an American news magazine, "Sometimes it was like they were shooting at individual German soldiers..."
(Note: See maps online: Battle of the Bulge Maps. I kinda like the ones at WW2DB.com.)
The soldiers who fought in The Bulge endured those conditions for months, without "down jackets" or anything like them. Some of them didn't even have boots.
I hope I'm never that cold again, this side of the grave.
It was an amazing experience.
One was a B-17 pilot, one an artillery officer, and one man a rifleman.
They shared their stories. The B-17 pilot spoke of the frustration he and his squadron mates felt that the weather held them back for several days. When it finally broke, they flew many missions to help, and watched as the C-47 airdrop missions went full bore and the fighters flew tons of close air support missions.
The artillery officer spoke of the devastating exchanges they had with the Germans, and the accuracy of the German 88 gun.
The rifleman was the most interesting. He said he feet were wrapped in newspapers and sheets. He and his buddies had no cold weather gear, and very little ammo. Hot food never made it to them. They shivered in their fox holes. He said that every single Christmas, the memories of hunkering down in freezing weather came to his mind.
Thanks OKSooner. Hitler was a ****ing dunce, but for the Antwerp Offensive/Counteroffensive / Ardennes Offensive, he seemed to have conjured up 26 divisions out of thin air. German preparations were ignored, only Patton was paying attention and not lulled.
My uncle Jimmy fought in this battle and others.
He was a gunner on a tank.
He told the whole story shortly before his death.
He said at one point he was shooing and killing many Germans but they just kept coming and he was crying and shooting and crying and shooting.
Another time he passed a German jeep with what he said was a higher ranking officer head back with a bullet in his forehead. He said that image stayed with him more than others.
I have a rose tattoo of his, my father’s and my Uncle Ralph’s names on the leaves coming out of the rose.
First and last tattoo. Adding another would be an insult to these men.
Played golf in the late ‘60s on a 105° day with a fellow who conspicuously ignored our loud complaints about the heat. When I asked him why, he said, “I fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I was so cold that I swore I would never again complain about the heat.”
weird. I just watched that episode from Band of Brothers a week ago...
Just to be clear.
The Ardennes - Battle of the Bulge
Hugh M. Cole
https://history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-8-1/index.html
“For the Americans, out of a peak of 610,000 troops, 89,000 became casualties out of which some 19,000 were killed. The “Bulge” was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II and the third deadliest campaign in American history.” wiki
His platoon was one of the most decorated units of WWII.
Bouck passed away age 92 just three years ago.
Im no WW2 historian. I’d like to get someone else’s opinion on what would have happened if Hitler/Germany Army had won the Battle of the Bulge?
Thanks for the link!
Excellent, thanks for posting this!
My guess is it would have caused more allied casualties but both us and the Germans knew the war was already lost or won.
Thanks. Just one splinter to pick.
No man was ordered to go die. They were ordered to fight.
The border between East and West Germany would have been a bit further to the West. Other than that, no difference.
Wernher von Braun was arrested in March 1944 for expressing (privately) the view that the war was probably lost; this was almost three months before D-Day, and nine months before the beginning of what is known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The Germans basically knew it was over by D-Day, although they mostly knew not to say so out loud.
Don't forget, the Russians were advancing like a huge, slow-moving lawnmower from the East. The Bulge was their last gasp in the West.
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