Posted on 12/15/2019 10:20:58 AM PST by OKSooner
Inspired by Homer Simpson's historical works from newspaper archives, this is a brief recollection of the opening days of The Battle of the Bulge, particularly the first three days of it. I will be doing this as my work schedule and time permit, so I apologize in advance that it will not be up to the same editorial standards as Homer's previous, well-known work here at FR.
The intent of it is to examine the chronology of certain events leading up to the legendary defense of the crossroads city of Bastogne, Belgium by the 101st Airborne division and other elements of the US Army.
Hitler's intent in launching this offensive, which was assigned the code name "Watch on the Rhine" to disguise it as a defensive operation, was to
1) Reach and capture the port city of Antwerp, which had become the point of arrival for allied men and material in Europe, and;
2) Drive a wedge between the American Armies in the south and the British Army in the north, and to cause (more) dissension between the allies with the intent that one or both of them would lose interest, at which point Germany could turn their full attention to the Soviets.
Hitler was nuts, of course, and some of his generals advocated for a smaller offensive that would cut off and isolate much of the British army in the north.
Nuts or not, in a fascist dictatorship the boss is the boss, and Watch On The Rhine was set to go, beginning the morning of December 16th.
"Overshadowed by accounts of the 101st Airborne Division's gallant defense of Bastogne in December 1944, the story of the desperate delaying actions east of Bastogne which bought time for the occupation and defense of that city by American troops has so far been a closed book to most of the world. General Eisenhower, in his book, Crusade in Europe, admitted that he, and he alone, was responsible for maintaining only four divisions on the Ardennese front in December 1944 and thus running the risk of a large German penetration in that area... This then is the story of some of those unsung heroes of the Bulge - the men who traded their lives for time."
On the evening of December 15th, there were four US Army divisions and various other attached units under various commands deployed along a front known as the Western Wall, about 85 miles long.
The 106th Division, having just arrived in Europe and with no combat experience, was deployed around a mountain called "Schnee Eiffel".
The 28th Division, which was Pennsylvania National Guard, had recently been moved into what was considered a safe, quiet area after suffering heavy casualties in the Hurtgen forest. The 28th was assigned an area 28 miles long to defend.
The 4th infantry division was assigned a 30-mile front along the banks of the Sauer and Moselle rivers.
In the days leading up to December 15th, no one knew what the Germans were cooking up on their side of the Western Wall. The German Seventh Army was set to attack in the south, with an objective south of Bastogne and all the way to the coast and Antwerp.
The German Sixth Panzer Army was set to attack in the north, thru the area of Monschau north of Bastogne.
The German Fifth Panzer Army was set to attack in the center, directly at Bastogne and St. Vith. The German Fifth Panzer Army was opposed by the American 28th Division, and the ten mile wide approach to Bastogne itself was defended by the 28th Division's 110th Regiment.
Four US Army divisions, plus some British Army elements to the north, defending an 85-mile front that's about to be attacked by three German Armies.
Defending the area approaching Bastogne, one US Division against one German Army.
From Defending Bastogne:
"The ten-mile central section of the 28th Infantry Division's line, the sector designated for the major breakthrough by the Fifth Panzer Army, as it turned out... was held by the 1st and 3rd battalions of the 110th Infantry Regiment (Colonel Hurley E. Fuller). The regiment's 2nd Battalion was held back as division reserve."
The weather was cold, and the US army was dealing with the logistical challenges of keeping food, clothing, fuel, ammunition, and winter gear to the soldiers hunkered down at the front. The hope of the American generals was to wait out the winter in place, and let the Soviets take all the casualties overrunning the Wehrmacht from the east.
Among the allies, there were those who had their suspicions, but... no one knew what was in store tomorrow.
Nuts!
Four US Army divisions, plus some British Army elements to the north, defending an 85-mile front that’s about to be attacked by three German Armies.
OKSooner,
Today’s Oklahoma weather with mist, drizzle and 35F temperatures is just a taste of what the participants on both sides of this battle were to soon experience.
There’s an interesting book called “Company Commander” in which a Cushing, Oklahoma man named Anderson, got caught up in the fighting. He is not the central character of the book, but appears multiple times in the action. It is a memoir written shortly after WWII. These guys were not front line troops at all, but performed way above their pay grade when it mattered.
Thanks for the post.
Oldplayer
which was assigned the code name “Watch on the Rhine”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_on_the_Rhine
Has anyone ever noticed that General Omar Bradley the senior general over Gen. Patton is seldom mentioned.
His lack of leadership and decisions led to the near success of the German attack.
I cannot imagine what those soldiers felt. I especially thought about this as an Army Infantry soldier in Germany in the late ‘80s.
My old man was there. Said he’d never been that cold, ever before. And hated winter ever since.
And he absolutely HATED SS troops. Said his unit never took them prisoner.
One powerful armored thrust to Berlin wins the war.
The Allies advance on an extremely large front.
Why?
The Germans can’t mount a counterattack if they are busy throwing everything at the thrust for Berlin.
We weren’t inside their OODA Loop, so we had to grind it out.
Watch on the Rhine was also a popular patriotic song
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Wacht_am_Rhein
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistory/comments/bryl9v/why_did_operation_watch_on_the_rhine_ww2_battle/
there were quality control issues with German weapons and equipment that made a massive army on paper turn out to be ineffective in reality. We have a nice woman who lives in my area, Noemi Ban, who is a Holocaust survivor and worked as a slave laborer in German munitions plants during the war. She describes how she sabotaged a pretty good amount of the weapons and equipment that went through her hands late in the war. A reliance on slave labor for a significant part of their economy plagued Germany with enormous quality control issues. Also, due to a lack of critical alloys for war production (like tungsten) a lot of German weapons of the late-war period simply weren’t built well. The Stg-44 assault rifle, for example, was made of such soft steel in some cases that it could be bent and rendered useless simply by dropping it on the ground.
The whole plan hinged on a lot of hopes and ifs: breakthrough the weak point in the allied line (in the same place that Germany attacked France in 1940, no less), and then race north to Antwerp, cutting the Allies from their biggest supply port (though not the only one) catching enough supplies, especially the ever vital fuel,
Even if Hitler had achieved all his objectives in this battle, it would have changed nothing.
The only exception would have been to quickly negotiate a peace with the west from a temporary victory for some slightly better terms.
Here is an interesting take on Bradley, and Eisenhower, as news of the German offensive reached Allied HQ.
https://humanevents.com/2011/12/20/bradley-and-the-battle-of-the-bulge/
It has been noted perhaps from the outset but for reasons unclear to me, Bradley has always received a pass by the media and historians.
Because Ike had no combat experience and wanted a "safe" strategy.
I would think that it was more of a political decision than a military decision.
But, what was the desired political outcome?
-——The Allies advance on an extremely large front. Why?-——
Isn’t there usually more than a single reason for any decision, especially a military decision?
As I recall, there were lots of things going on here . . . supply issues, troops that had run out of momentum, a tough slog across the Rhine up north, some hope about internal disintegration of the Reich, the Russian situation, the continued bleeding and total deterioration of the Luftwaffe, ugly results in Normandy with an expected fast armored thrust that didn’t work out, etc.
The Allies advance on an extremely large front. Why?
Because Ike had no combat experience and wanted a “safe” strategy.
Is there anything wrong with a “safe” strategy?
We or the Brits were not going to negotiate anything with the Germans. Even if they captured Antwerp, we still could pour men and material into Western Europe at a pace the Krauts could not stop. With the Soviets kicking in the German’s back door, and us, the Brits, Canadians, and French kicking in the front door, it was only a matter of time before the demise of the third Reich.
Victor Davis Hansen has a brilliant observation about the Allies strategic bombing campaign.
It forced the Nazis to pull tens of thousands of the best weapon they had against the Soviet tanks, the 88 cannon, and use them against our bombers.
Our bombers as targets paved the way for the Soviet tanks to take Berlin.
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