Posted on 12/15/2019 1:07:43 PM PST by OKSooner
That would be alternate history.
Patton said something to the effect of "Hitler's stuck his d*** in a meat grinder and I have my hand on the crank.
As I said, the Wehrmacht knew it was hopeless. They didn't
prosecute the attack to fail , necessarily but they didn't exactly fight too hard to achieve a victory. As I said many German generals felt it was more important to concentrate all that armor in the East to try and hold off the Russians for as long as possible. Hitler himself was hoping that the attack would cause a political fallout in the tenuous coalition and cause a stalemate.
Many German soldiers were just looking for an out and wanted to surrender to the Americans.
I always say, that the way to win wars is to make it easy for your enemy to surrender.
The Nazis should have taken that approach in Russia, many Russians welcomed the Germans originally as liberators from Stalinist tyranny. Had the Nazis set up a “Vichy Russia”, as they did in France, that may have worked to a degree.
One of the finest vanities I’ve read on FR.
Really interesting, and so are the comments.
Thanks
Bookmarking.
Thank you for posting.
I read the book “First Across the Rhine” a few months ago but unfortunately I am loosing my memory at 86. My brother and a brother in law were involved in it. My brother was in the engineering co that put the first Bailey bridge across and then had to defend it against the Germans were floating explosives down river. My BiL was ordered to take a truck load of “Jerry” cans to Patton who had out run his fuel supply. He told a commander he needed to get back to his unit and was told to take a Jeep out of motor pool and head back. Unfortunately he picked Patton’s favorite jeep.
My other brother was a German POW after being shot down over Weisbaden on Aug 15, 1944. (He was bombardier on a B17). He woke up one morning to strange noises and walked out of his cabin to see Patton standing in his jeep after liberating the camp... and yes, Patton was wearing his pearl handled pistols on his hips...
It’s great that the company of heroes, band of brothers guys got an HBO miniseries and a reporter in Bastogne to write the story. Patton’s army did an amazing thing by pivoting so quickly to counterpunch.
IMHO the guys who deserve more credit were the poor bastards in the 28th who fought and died rather than run or surrender, for as long as they did against impossible odds and allowed the Airborne time to get to Bastogne.
Talking up “nuts” and the Airborne heroes is better PR than talking about the division that got crushed by the intelligence failures of the US army.
My old man was an infantryman in the 110th Rgt, 2nd Bn, “Easy” Company. He told me that before the battle, when they reported contacts indicating that the Krauts were building up for a push, Division intel sent an officer complete with shined shoes and a necktie to accompany the GI’s on a recon patrol over the river at night to go see for hisself.
They got across the river, and the intel guy said he’d seen enough, even when told the Germans were up over the next ridgeline and they need to go further. He ordered them back and wrote a report about jumpy infantrymen hearing things.
When you are sending bulk we regret to inform you telegrams, the “heroes of Bastogne” story plays better than “we got cocky and your kid/husband/father got steamrolled”.
The Siege of Bastogne was written from interviews with nearly all the commanders and staff officers who participated in the defense of Bastogne. It is essentially the account of how a single strong defensive force was built from separate commands of armor, airborne infantry, and tank destroyers. The interviews were conducted at Bastogne from December 31st, 1944 to January 25th, 1945, and were conducted with individual officers and also with whole groups whenever possible, including reviewing problems of the defense with commanders at the original scenes of their actions, as well as acquiring additional information from official records. A few of the headings include the concentration, attack and withdrawal, doubts and decisions, low ebb and arrival of supply, and Christmas Eve among others highlighting the battle. Illustrations and maps are missing from this digital document
https://archive.org/details/TheSiegeOfBastognePt1Of4/page/n1?q=Siege+of+Bastogne
https://archive.org/details/TheSiegeOfBastognePt2Of4/page/n13
https://archive.org/details/TheSiegeOfBastognePt3Of4/page/n3
https://archive.org/details/TheSiegeOfBastognePt4Of4/page/n4
Thank you, you’re very generous.
Thank you.
IMHO the guys who deserve more credit were the poor bastards in the 28th who fought and died rather than run or surrender, for as long as they did against impossible odds and allowed the Airborne time to get to Bastogne.
Well said. At minimum, Courtney Hodges, and probably Omar Bradley as well, should have been relieved of command after all the fighting was done.
yes, Patton was wearing his pearl handled pistols on his hips
"Son, only a pimp in a Louisiana whore- house carries pearl-handled revolvers. These are ivory."
It would have taken longer and more casualties.
Another interesting question is how the outcome would have been different had Eisenhower DIRECTED Monty to clear the Schedlt Estuary IMMEDIATELY after the fall of Antwerp, instead of letting himself be bullshi$$ed into the Market Garden fiasco.
Had Antwerp’s port facilities been available three months earlier than it actually was, there would have been no Battle of the Bulge. The war would have ended in late 1944.
IMHO.
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