Posted on 12/15/2015 6:15:43 PM PST by OKSooner
December 15, 1944. All is mostly quiet along the western front in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It's cold, and the nights are dark. So dark that GI Joe, sitting and waiting, can't see his hand in front of his face.
Four divisions of the US army are parked at a 75-mile front along the western frontier of Germany. The American commanders believe that the German Wehrmacht is finished and not capable of offensive operations.
They either haven't been talking to some of the GI Joes in the front lines, or they aren't taking GI Joe seriously. He has been hearing the sounds of heavy equipment moving around.
There's a rumor that some German engineers have been captured while building a bridge, and that they're being interrogated...
For the artillerymen attached to the 110th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, which has been assigned to its spot on the front in Belgium for rest after taking heavy casualties in the Hurgten Forest in the autumn months, something just doesn't seem right...
Business goes on as usual, though, all are holding out hope that the American commanders, particularly Eisenhower and Bradley, are correct in their assessment that the worst of the European war is past, and it will all be over in the spring. All the Americans will have to do is walk into Germany, or whatever is left of it after a winter of strategic bombing by the 8th Air Force, and after the Russians have finished with it...
Actually for a while almost any German surrendering had little chance of becoming a prisoner. An acquaintance, who commanded a tank company during the war, said that after they heard about Malmedy, they killed every German they could even those with white flags in their hands. The practice seemed to be common in a lot of units. He said that went on for a about a month, when unofficial word came down from higher up to “knock that shit off” we need those prisoners for intelligence purposes. After that they started taking prisoners again.
Colonel Oscar Koch, Third Army head of G-2 (Intelligence) was top notch. He alerted Patton and Patton acted accordingly.
Patton always had ongoing contingency plans for every possibility.
During the Battle, Bradley was way behind the lines and basically detached from his Armies. Patton ran the show.
Yes that is one thing which struck me about Patton.
I have read 3 different books about him. It must have been tough being on his headquarters staff. He had them prepare 3 complete sets of plans each day. One for 3 different possibilities.
His staff earned their pay, for sure.
A little trivia:
Colonel Rufus Bratton who was portrayed by EG Marshall in Tota, Tora, Tora was on Patton’s Third Army staff in Europe.
Patton had known him and requested he be assigned to Third Army.
At the end of the war, Patton wanted a number of Colonels on his staff to be promoted to Brigadier General and Ike blocked many.
Too bad Deep in the Hurtgen Forest (DITHF) and Brian Williams are not here to give their accounts:
___________________________________
Now that’s a reference to some old FR action. Sneakypete outed him/them good and hard
Blast from the past.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.