75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge
This is the battle that turned the tide against Germany in Europe.
BASTOGNE, Belgium — Side by side, the Allies and former enemy Germany together marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most important battles in World War II — the Battle of the Bulge, which stopped Adolf Hitler’s last-ditch offensive to turn the tide of the war.
At dawn on Dec. 16, 1944, over 200,000 German soldiers started the most unexpected breakthrough through the dense woods of Belgium and Luxembourg’s hilly Ardennes. Making the most of the surprise move, the cold, freezing weather and wearied U.S. troops, the Germans pierced the front line so deeply it came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Initially outnumbered, U.S. troops delayed the attack enough in fierce fighting to allow reinforcements to stream in and turn the tide of the battle by Christmas. After a month of fighting, the move into Germany was unstoppable.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper paid tribute to over 19,000 U.S. troops who died in one of the bloodiest battles in the nation’s history.
“Their efforts not only defended America but also ensured that the peoples of Europe would be free again,” Esper said, calling the Battle of the Bulge “one of the greatest in American history.” – article
The veterans of these and other battles are fading in to history. Let’s make sure that they don’t become just another page in the history books.
Category: Army, Historical
Silly me, I thought the Battle of the Bulge was when I could no longer pass the dickee-do test.
Never knew Dad was there till I read his 201 and found a reference to an Ardennes Campaign. Knew he was with Patton’s Third but he didn’t offer many details.
At least he never had to say, “I shoveled shit in Louisiana.”
On November 20th my family marked the 75th anniversary of my grandfather being KIA in northeastern France near the border with Germany while serving with the 35th Infantry Division. He was 32 years old and married with a young daughter. His burial flag and PH are in my possession. I’m hoping to one day soon visit his gravesite in Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France.
In WW II we were a nation at war and it took an entire generation of the greatest to prevail.
Today, 1% (probably less) has been carrying the burden of almost two decades of war while the rest of the current generation… well… either need a safe space, can’t decide whether they’re a boy or girl or possibly both.
One of the reasons I am here today, is that my father was in the hospital with pneumonia during that fracas.
And he ran out of gas literally and figuratively.
Yep, he outran his logistics chain and had to wait for fuel and ammo!
I so wish my father was still here. There is so much I did not get to share with him, and him with me.
Oh, yes! You’re reading my mail!
My father was in it from the start. Landed at Oran, Algeria in November 1942 and finished up at Livorno, Italy at the end.
North Africa, Sicily, Italy. The only thing he ever told me was “that Monte Cassino was a rough one.” Not a word more.
A guy from the local VFW tried to get him to join. “Why would I want to sit around a bar talking about stuff I want to forget?”
I wish he had changed his mind. He must have had some incredible memories.
And he died before I joined the Navy. I like to think he would have been proud of his little boy.
I remember reading something about the 82nd Airborne at Eisenborn Ridge, not as famous as General McAuliffe’s “Nuts!” declaration, but no less badass.
A tank destroyer company was committed to the line at Eisenborn Ridge in support of the 82nd Airborne. When the first M10 tank destroyer rolled up to the troopers’ foxholes, its commander dismounted the vehicle to find a good spot to park his TD hull-down. A rifleman of the 325th Glider Infantry declared that the safest place for the M10 was right behind his foxhole. The vehicle commander asked, “How do you figure that?”
The rifleman replied, “Because I’m with the 82nd Airborne Division, and this is as far as those sons of bitches are gonna get!”
Best reenlistment poster ever.
Airborne!
http://www.517prct.org/documents/82nd_airborne_poster/82d_poster_photo.gif
As I have mentioned in the past our Papa was with Btry C 741st FA (8in Howitzers). His unit was on the fringes when it all started and they moved UP, towards the sound of the guns, to place fires in support of the 101st and the 82nd boys. He never said one word about any of his service. It was only 30 yrs after his death that my older brother and I found a small trunk in the attic that had his military remnants, garrison caps, his medals, insignia, and misc papers. Older brother used the early Air Force innerwebs and Pentagon contacts to piece together the story. The 741st caught hell, but gave back more than they received despite of or maybe because of “an extremely exposed position.” Like many of us here, there is not a day goes by that I haven’t thought how great it would have been to have had a long life with him and maybe eventually get the rest of the story. We like to think that he would be proud of what we have done, in spite of not having a “Father Figure” as we grew up.
Very, very few of those Warriors of That Greatest Generation are still with us. Sadder more, is so few realize what they did to save the world from an egotistical maniac, hell bent on domination of the world. Sadder still is so few even care.
“…lest we forget…”
I got a call today from an outfit called USVAF.org. Anyone know anything about them? Said would I like to donate to their cause. I asked what percentage of my donation would end up with the veterans they are collecting for. I was referred to a website, http://www.usvaf.org.
Any time I get a call soliciting donations, I automatically start asking them to donate to MY cause, The Great Astral Temple of the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster until they cuss and/or hang up on me. Maybe I’ll start proselytizing a Hare Krishna cult to them, but as of lately I’ve been having less and less telepests calling me!
Give us $$$ because Veterans! (Yeah, sure… at least the bum outside post knows enough to update his fatigue pants to latest camo pattern when asking for a dollar.)
Like Sparks above, my father NEVER talked about the battle. I wish he had lived longer – maybe he would have. Bronze Star but forbade us from ever bring it out. 28th Division – forward artillery spotter. I always felt he “died in 1944 but didn’t fall over until 1976”.
My dad was with Patch’s Seventh Army, next to Patton to the south. He was with C/275 as XO in the Vosges Mountains at the time the Bulge had been going on for a couple of weeks. Seventh Army had to fill the gap when Third went to relieve Bastogne, and the Germans launched NordWind through the Vosges. Dad got a Silver Star for action near Phillipsbourg, but I never got much from him at the time because he went off to Korea when I was seven and was KIA.
NordWind doesn’t get the press that the Bulge gets, but it was still a very significant counteroffensive.
Operation Nordwind (German: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. It began on 31 December 1944 in Rhineland-Palatinate, Alsace and Lorraine in southwestern Germany and northeastern France, and ended on 25 January 1945. Jun 11 2019
Operation Nordwind – Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nordwind
There are some books about it from the German side, “Seven Days in January”, by Wolf Zopff, an SS Untersturmfuhrer in the SS12th Gebergsjager Regiment, and “Black Edelweiss”, by Johann Voss (pen name), of the SS11thGBJ.
From our side is one by my late brother, “Into the Fire”, about the 275th Infantry, one by Wallace Cheves, “Snow Ridges, and Pillboxes, and one by Donald Pence, “Ordeal in the Vosges”. Those last two were there in command positions t the battalion level. There are plenty of others as my brother’s exhaustive bibliography shows.