My Father in Law, got lost behind the lines for several days. The military sent his mother a notification that he was missing in action. He never talked about what he did or where he hid out. The only remarks he made in reference to this battle was to the cold. Sleeping in foxholes at -30 degrees below zero. He was in an artillery unit. He survived this and fought his way through to the end of the war. He passed at 88 years of age, five kids, 19 grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren. These were the men who saved the world for us. We will never see their likes, ever again. God help us.
Uncle Willie told me that they engaged the enemy almost every day after landing at Normandy and heading in-country. He said German soldiers were hid out in the thick bushes and you just couldn’t see them till they were right on you.
Absolutely!
And the strategy was brilliant — rotating the artillery and defenses in response to attacks. Made the defenses look bigger than they were.
And even the “Nuts” response bought time for Patton.
He too, was cut off - actually, his entire unit was. He told me that they were pretty mad, because they thought we'd lost the war. "They didn't come all the way to Europe to lose.", or somesuch, was the general opinion.
I've got a couple of pictures from then that made it back.... One is of his encampment - bunch of pup tents more-or-less covered in snow. Looked cold. The other is one of him and his XO, standing in waist-deep snow. Both of them are grinning like fools, though I'm not sure why. :-)
Good post - thanks
Sadly, your observation is correct.