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Posted on 12/31/2006 5:51:17 AM PST by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Jan 1 - 7, 1945 The campaign star on the European Theater ribbon for the bitter winter combat during December 1944 and January 1945 is titled "Ardennes-Alsace". Over the past 50 years the "Battle of' the Bulge" in the Ardennes region in northern France and Belgium has received as much publicity as Gettysburg.  The German First Army launched its initial attacks on schedule a few hours before New Year's Day, with Simon's XIII SS Corps pushing south over the Sarre River valley and Petersen's XC and Hoehne's LXXXIX Corps heading in the same general direction through the woods of the Low Vosges. In both cases the leading German echelons began to hit the main American lines about midnight. In the Sarre valley the assault force was met by determined resistance from the 44th and 100th Infantry Division troops, who were well dug in and deployed in depth. Expecting the major attack in this area, Patch and Haislip had jammed the XV Corps zone with three infantry divisions buttressed by the two regiments of Task Force Harris and-if the theater reserve units are counted-two armored and another infantry division in reserve, with a third armored division arriving. The Germin attack barely made a dent in the beefed-up Allied line. In some cases the SS troopers advanced in suicidal open waves, cursing and screaming at the American infantrymen who refused to be intimidated. The infantry of the 36th Volksgrenadier did little better. Although Simon's forces finally managed to poke a narrow hole, about two miles in depth, at Rimling on the right wing of the 44th Division, the 100th Infantry Division held firm. In the days that followed the Germans saw their small advances continuously eroded by repeated counterattacks from the 44th, 100th, and 63d (TF Harris) Division infantry supported by elements of the French 2d Armored Division. Allied artillery and, when the weather broke, Allied air attacks, together with the bitter cold, also sapped the strength of the attackers. On 4 January the German high command formally called off the effort. As General Simon, the attacking corps commander, caustically observed, the Sarre assault had shown only that the German soldier still knew how to fight and how to die, but little else. Blaskowitz, with Hitler and von Rundstedt's approval, obviously chose not to throw the German armored reserves into the battle there, as planned, and sought weaker links in the American lines.  During Operation NORDWIND, the last German offensive on the Western Front, three German divisions attempted to encircle and annihilate the 100th Infantry Division. Near Lemberg, on the Division's right, the XC Corps attackers were stopped by the 399th and elements of the 398th Infantry Regiment after three days of ferocious fighting. On 5 January, after NORDWIND's main effort had failed, Himmler's Army Group Oberrhein finally began its supporting thrusts against the southern flank of Brooks' VI Corps, with the XIV SS Corps launching a cross-Rhine attack north of Strasbourg. Two days later, south of the city, the Nineteenth Army launched Operation SONNENWENDE ('WINTER SOLSTICE'), attacking north, astride the Rhone-Rhine Canal on the northern edge of the German-held Colmar Pocket. These actions opened a three-week battle, whose ferocity rivaled the Ardennes fighting in viciousness if not in scope and threatened the survival of the VI Corps. SONNENWENDE sparked a new crisis for the 6th Army Group, which had too few divisions to defend every threatened area. With Brooks' VI Corps now engaged on both flanks, along the Rhine at Gambsheim and to the northeast along the Low Vosges mountain exits, Devers transferred responsibility for Strasbourg to the French First Army, and de Lattre stretched his forces to cover both the city and the Belfort Gap 75 miles to the south. But the real danger was just northeast of Strasbourg. There, the XIV SS Corps had punched out a 10-mile bridgehead around the town of Gambsheim, brushing off small counterattacks from Task Force Linden. Patch's Seventh Army, reinforced with the newly arrived 12th Armored Division, tried to drive the Germans from the Gambsheim area, a region laced with canals, streams, and lesser watercourses. To the south de Lattre's 3d Algerian Division defended Strasbourg, while the rest of the French First Army kept the Colmar Pocket tightly ringed. But the fate of Strasbourg and the northern Alsace hinged on the ability of the American VI Corps to secure its besieged flanks.  Having driven several wedges into the Seventh Army, the Germans launched another attack on 7 January. The German XXXIX Panzer Corps, with the 21st Panzer and the 25th Panzergrenadier Divisions, attacked the greatly weakened VI Corps center between the Vosges and Lauterbourg. Quickly gaining ground to the edge of the Haguenau Forest 20 miles north of Strasbourg, the German offensive rolled along the same routes used during the successful attacks of August 1870 under Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke. Moltke's successors, however, made no breakthrough. In the two Alsatian towns of Hatten and Rittershoffen, Patch and Brooks threw in the Seventh Army's last reserve, the 14th Armored Division. Assisted by a mixture of other combat, combat support, and service troops, the division halted the Germans. While the VI Corps fought for its life in the Haguenau Forest, the enemy renewed attacks on both flanks. During an intense battle between units of the 45th Division and the 6th SS Mountain Division in the Low Vosges, the Germans surrounded an American battalion that had refused to give ground. After a week's fighting by units attempting its relief, only two soldiers managed to escape to friendly lines. Although gaining ground the enemy had achieved no clear-cut success. Hitler nevertheless committed his last reserves on 16 January, including the 10th SS Panzer and the 7th Parachute Divisions. These forces finally steamrolled a path along the Rhine's west bank toward the XIV SS Corps' Gambsheim bridgehead overrunning one of the green 12th Armored Division's infantry battalions at Herrlisheim and destroying one of its tank battalions nearby. This final foray led Brooks to order a withdrawal on the twenty-first, one that took the Germans by surprise and was completed before the enemy could press his advantage.  Forming a new line along the Zorn, Moder, and Rothback Rivers north of the Marne-Rhine Canal, the VI Corps commander aligned his units into a cohesive defense with his badly damaged but still game armored divisions in reserve. Launching attacks during the night of 24-25 January, the Germans found their slight penetrations eliminated by vigorous counterattacks. Ceasing their assaults permanently, they might have found irony in the Seventh Army's latest acquisition from SHAEF reserves-the "Battling Bastards of Bastogne," the 101st Airborne Division, which arrived on the Alsace front only to find the battle over.
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Ms. Mayor?
ooh. That's a nice pic. Thanks alfa6.
LOL.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
I'm off to the Alamo City bump.
Good morning everyone.
January 11, 2007
READ: Psalm 146
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help. —Psalm 146:5
Everyone wants to be happy. But many fail in their quest to find that elusive prize because they are looking in the wrong places.
Proverbs 16:20 tells us, “Whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.” And Psalm 146:5 indicates that happiness comes to those who find their help and hope in God.
The foundation for happiness is a proper relationship with the Lord. But to fully experience that happiness, we must build on that foundation in practical ways. I found this list of Ten Rules for Happier Living:
These are excellent ideas for living a happy life. Undergird each of these rules with praise, and your happiness will be complete. “Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live I will praise the Lord” (Ps. 146:1-2)
I spent most of the day in San Antonio today. I'm working on a project within site of the Alamo.
Before leaving the office, I grabbed my Flag tie. On the plane I noticed the pilot had one as well. The stewardess even commented on it. Cool so far.
On the flight back, I had taken it off, and had it in my jacket pocket. Coming down the jetway, I see the pilot, different guy, wearing a Flag tie. Hmmm. I said nothing , but pulled mine out and show it to him. Big smiles ensued. He then asked if I was going to fly (as in the plane) that leg, since I obviously was qualified by the tie.
I hadn't noticed this, but it turns out a Flag tie is one of only 5 styles the pilots can wear. They have done so for about 4 years. BTW, this was Southwest.
Huh, I thought they could only wear black ties.
Cool. Wearing that on flights might just get you better service, too.
January 12, 2007
READ: Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. —Psalm 46:1
People are supposed to call 911 for emergencies only, but many people don’t understand or follow the rule. Police emergency operators in Colorado Springs have received calls from people reporting a TV set that wasn’t working, asking when it was going to stop snowing, and wanting to report an identification theft while they remained anonymous.
I have often wondered if many of our prayers for help sound frivolous to God. It’s impossible to know, but there’s one thing we can be assured of: In our times of need, the Lord not only hears our cries, He is present with us.
Psalm 46 describes times of great calamity, including war and natural disasters. Yet it is a song of trust that begins and ends with the same affirmation: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. . . . The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (vv.1,11).
The Lord is always at work accomplishing His purposes—even when the world seems to be falling apart. He tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (v.10).
We don’t have to fear. When we call for help, we know that He hears and will come near.
Good morning everyone.
PE neat on the tie thing. ;)
LOL
Road trip report:
Rain was gawdawful until Buffalo. Cars in the ditch everywhere due to driving too fast.
Turned the wipers off at Leona.
Lunch in Huntsville. We waved at the prison as we went by.
Wow you back home already?
Our weather here is lousy. It rained hard most of the night, now the temp is dropping like a sock with a rock in the toe. We are headed for ice storms by tomorrow. It's icky gray, wet and cold out.
Hobbit Hole bar
Check
We are in Houston.
Photoin front of twelve foot Lego astronaut.
Check
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