December 16th, 1944: The Bulge

Various sources ^ | 12-16-2013 | Vanity

[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?

[RedwM]

Have you ever seen “Theirs is the Glory” It is on YouTube. It is half documentary/half movie about Market Garden.

[central_va]

The 1965 movie was terrible...

[KC Burke]

75th came up along the Colmar canal and pushed into what was termed “the Colmar Pocket” as I understood its placement.

[109ACS]

Have you ever seen “Theirs is the Glory” It is on YouTube. It is half documentary/half movie about Market Garden.

No, but thanks, I found it on Youtube and bookmarked it. While looking around Youtube, I found an interesting 5 part series called "The Lost Evidence: Operation Market Garden". Here's a link to part 1:

http://youtu.be/GG3BTLYFSk8

[RedwM]

Thanks, I will watch it. And Thanks to you and your Dad for your service.

[crazydad]

Blazing Saddles. Love it!

[The Bat Lady]

My Dad was there, 82nd Airborne,

mine too! He was from Minn. thank God so he could handle the cold better than I would but he always said how cold it was.

They would put their blankets in a jeep and he was supposed to drive them to where they would sleep the night away. But he didn't show because that was where the fighting was. .... yeah!

My dad is dead now but one story he left me was he was hanging on the tire of a jeep going back to base? or camp? and they hit a land mine, he went off in the air and was so troubled with head and ear problems he never went back to look or help. Tho he said he would have been no help.

The rest of the jeep people didn't make it.

He went to the hospital and there were rumors of a big jump (d-day) and he got out (deaf in one ear) and they issued him a rifle and he loaded up on the plane. When he landed the rifle didn't work. (this was the only story he told me as a little girl)

I asked what did you do? He hung around the stupidest guy in the outfit until he got killed and took his rifle. Wow, war is hell.

He also left me an AIRBORNE PLAN for 6/6/1944. It showed the drop zones, where the enemy was and he drew on it where he dropped. I just got it a few days ago.

it has the circle for 508 Prcht. I don't know that that means, just reading off your dad's but they landed close to each other.

[Vote 4 Nixon]

My granddaddy was in the 7th Armored division around st vith Belgium
He said that the Germans had them completely surrounded and they had to fight their way out. He told me that they had to fight in knee deep snow some of the time. His poor feet were frozen and he had problems with poor circulation in his lower legs the rest of his life. He said it was hellish.

[xp38]

scene from the romance comedy If its Tuesday this must be Belgium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK1V-fYKrc4

[dfwgator]

The 1965 movie was terrible...

IMHO the worst war movie ever made.

[Conflict]

My grandfather was there. He was a truck driver and mechanic until the Germans broke through. Then they reclassified him as infantry. He was riding on a tank destroyer when it got hit rupturing two disks in his back when he hit the ground. He was checking out a crossroads when they heard artillery coming in. He ran for a ditch but luckily he didn’t make it because the round went into the ditch. He never got his hearing back. Then he got shot through the forearm pulverizing both bones and ruining his grip forever, but the medic finally sent him home. He did say some of his buddies traded “sweets for sweets”, but of course not him. He was at Bonn when the Remagen bridge was captured and they were sent across it. He said when they got to Bonn, he and another GI “liberated” a wheelbarrow full of wine from a shop before the MP’s got there. They were wheeling it back to his squad and could see the Germans across the Rhine but, he said, “they didn’t shoot us.”

[Yorlik803]

I think my father was there as well...Need to look up his records but he was AAA and most gunners were turned into Infantry because of a shortage of manpower.

[cripplecreek]

My granddad (Ken Hartmann) was a radioman which led him to electronics and he spent the rest of his life as an electrician.

[TurboZamboni]

I own a presentation coin that McAuliffe gave to a lady in Germany on behalf of the 101st for letting his men use her house(basically a castle that is still there) for a temporary HQ.

[Vigilanteman]

There’s got to be an interesting story behind how you acquired that coin. Please share.

[TurboZamboni]

EBAY about 10 years ago.

her son sent pics as proof. kinda neat.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks OKSooner. The only US commander who seems to have seen it coming and for what it was, was Patton. The scene in the movie is similar to the reality, but Ike was there, and when Gen George said he could attack in 72 hours, replied, "don't be fatuous, George". Fatuous? Yagottabekiddinme. As an offensive, it tended to stall a lot during its approximately six weeks. It was deliberately launched during the winter to take advantage of the overcast, and the objective was to retake Antwerp and prevent its use as a harbor. The Allies required something like 16,000 tons per division per, uh, I forget what the time frame was, and airlifting was insufficient, as were the artficial harbors, and the southern coast of France when that was taken (over the objections of the British). If it had worked, it would have delayed the Allied advance in the west, but it was already far too late to change the outcome; the end result was V-E day arriving a bit earlier.

[SunkenCiv]

(a living relative fought with the Railsplitters)

Battle of the Bulge with the 84th Infantry Division
http://railsplitterslivinghistory.org/battle_of_the_bulge.htm

[SunkenCiv]

/bingo