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.
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.
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.
Thanks. Just one splinter to pick.
No man was ordered to go die. They were ordered to fight.
Pieper was leading a column of 90 tanks.
Members of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion set up a 37mm anti tank gun in the middle of the road ahead of a bridge. They hit the lead tank, knocking off it’s tread. The tank fired back killing all the Americans.
It was a key moment tho. While the Germans could repair or move the tank, it was blocking the column. It was getting dark so Pieper decided to just stop for the night. During the night, Engineers blew the bridge causing Pieper to curse them.
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...
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