RM’s post says they had tanks from the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions. If memory serves, some high commander had pulled tanks out of Bastogne before the German offensive started.
Patton had probably the best G-2 guy, and he looked at the field intel and said, they’re getting staged for attack, not defense, too much getting accumulated. Everyone higher than Patton along with his peers didn’t see it.
Bradley even states in “A Soldier’s Story” that it didn’t look like anything, then said he still thought it was the right call. :^)
I think you’re right about pulling tanks out of Bastogne. I think they wanted to place them in a location to head off the Germans. It turned out they realized they should have left them around Bastogne but by that time it was too late.
Yes, it was Col. Koch. He was the best G-2 in the ETO.
Bradley was one of the most over-rated generals of WW II, imo.
BTW, I was in the 101st in Vietnam 27 years later.