Posted on 12/16/2013 6:30:04 AM PST by OKSooner
Sixty nine years ago, the largest land battle ever fought by the US Army started today. Do you know anyone who was there? Or maybe someone from your family was there and didn't come back, or came back changed in some way?
To me, all doubt about the bomb has been erased after the declassified reports that the Japanese had been secretly preparing for the invasion with massive military equipment and bases, underground and otherwise. They had withheld using those resources on the Pacific islands and kept them for the invasion defense. We were facing a slaughter unknown to everyone but the President and the highest military commanders. They did several headfakes to suggest they might be willing to surrender but they weren’t. Their military was willing to kill the emperor and fight to the end. There was a thread here on FR about that recent intelligence disclosure.
Yeah. You’re right. They were.
I would also highly recommend Sophie Scholl : The Final Days.
The guy who played Freisler (who was also in Downfall BTW), was so much like the real one, it was scary.
yep, don’t forget about the 99th Infantry Division that held the north shoulder of the bulge, with the 2nd Infantry, 1st Infantry falling in on its right. The 75th Inf Div had its regiments attached to the 3rd Armored Division and to the 82nd Airborne division. A member of our congregation was a private in the 75th ID and has a Mauser bullet as a “souviner” that was dug out of him from the battle.
I’ve been over that terrain many times during my 7 years with the 3rd Armored Division.
My uncle was there. Earned his PH. It became a funny family story b/c or the nature of the wound and how it happened—scary at the time, but funny in retrospect.
See post #31. I could not remember either. Thank ccmay for filling us both in.
An inconvenient truth, but absolutely spot on.
I will happily defer to your wisdom.....
My Dad.... He was fortunate and made it home.
Hoss
December 1944 I landed in Marseille with an regimental infantry task force. We were attached to Patton’s 3rd Army and were moving toward the Bulge. On the way we were reattached to the 7th Army to defend Strassburg. We were the last American unit on the line, next to the French. The Nazis crossed the Rhine and attack us January 5 with white painted tanks. It was their operation Norwind, led by Himmler. We took a beating and retreated. DGaulle and Eisenhower has a big dispute over defending Srassburg. DeGaulle wanted to defend it at all costs. DeGaulle got Churchill to side with him. The French line troops seemed mostly Algerians. Srassburg held, our line held. When our Division was completed, we advanced toward Germany. The end was near. Thank God.
I am going to sit down and ask my Dad for details of this battle. Two of his uncles were there, they did survive though I now wonder about the after effects.
You probably mean the movie “Downfall,” which is the source of the Hitler videos.
My uncle, who was also my godfather, drove a tank in Patton’s 4th Armored Division and was at the Bulge. The rest of his crew was killed during the heavy December fighting, but my uncle escaped without a scratch. He came home suffering from stress, but recovered and lived a happy, productive life. He died in 1994.
Back in the 20th Century, Walter Cronkite (I know) hosted a show called “The Twentieth Century”. The show was about various events that had taken place in the 20th Century.
On one such show he had an ex German officer who had taken part in the events at Bastogne. I remember the officer said the Germans didn’t know what the response “Nuts” meant. They didn’t know if General McAuliffe meant the idea of surrender was “nuts” or the Germans were “nuts” or what.
I am reminded of that officer every time I see something about the Battle of the Bulge.
Very nice story. My Dad also has an Airborne / WWII hat and quite a few people have stopped to talk to him and buy his meals. One of his favorite stories was when a currently serving soldier in Special Operations stopped and thanked him and gave him his challenge coin. I think he carries it around with him even today.
My Dad has talked a lot about his experience in Arnhem, Malmedy, the Ardennes, etc. He was 21 when he jumped at Normandy. I think when I was 21 it would have taken the whole crew to push me out of the airplane.
Eisenhower considered the Ardennes to be a quiet area...very little chance of heavy contact with the Germans, and thus he deployed many newly arrived replacement units to the area..the idea was to get the acclimated to the terrain/weather, and maybe face some small company sized skirmishes...
Actually the 75th ID was not in the Ardennes when the Germans attacked, it was somewhere in France. Its AOR was held by the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, an 1100 man unit that specialized in impersonating full divisions. Its existence was classified until the mid 90’s.
My dad was in the unit and talked about the attack. They had no idea that the Germans were anywhere near them, and were keeping warm with big bonfires they had built. They were told to move out so they wouldn’t be captured, and loaded up their trucks and left. I’ve read that men from other divisions still think the 75th cut and ran.
The 23rd participated in more battles in WWII than any other unit, but never got any awards or recognition until the last couple of decades.
For more (interesting in my opinion):
http://ghostarmy.org/index.php?page=homepage
My Grandfather (R.I.P.) was there. 3rd Army, 26th Infantry Division, 101st Combat Engineers.
True, but neither were the 101st and 82nd Airbornes. In fact the 75th’s Divison HQ was still enroute from the US. Each of the regiments were deployed from their cantonment areas in France to the northwest corner of the bulge. One of their earliest engagements is in a book called “Battle at Sadzlot.” I hold not respect back for the 75th for not being in the line on 16 Dec, that was not under their control. And for green troops they got their initiation to combat in the hardest way possible. My father-in-law was in the 78th that was attacking into the south edge of the Hurtgen Forest on the 16th. Their attack was halted and they dug in an held the northern most part of the north shoulder, to the left of the 99th Inf Div.
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