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Posted on 12/31/2006 5:51:17 AM PST by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Jan 1 - 7, 1945 The campaign star on the European Theater ribbon for the bitter winter combat during December 1944 and January 1945 is titled "Ardennes-Alsace". Over the past 50 years the "Battle of' the Bulge" in the Ardennes region in northern France and Belgium has received as much publicity as Gettysburg.  The German First Army launched its initial attacks on schedule a few hours before New Year's Day, with Simon's XIII SS Corps pushing south over the Sarre River valley and Petersen's XC and Hoehne's LXXXIX Corps heading in the same general direction through the woods of the Low Vosges. In both cases the leading German echelons began to hit the main American lines about midnight. In the Sarre valley the assault force was met by determined resistance from the 44th and 100th Infantry Division troops, who were well dug in and deployed in depth. Expecting the major attack in this area, Patch and Haislip had jammed the XV Corps zone with three infantry divisions buttressed by the two regiments of Task Force Harris and-if the theater reserve units are counted-two armored and another infantry division in reserve, with a third armored division arriving. The Germin attack barely made a dent in the beefed-up Allied line. In some cases the SS troopers advanced in suicidal open waves, cursing and screaming at the American infantrymen who refused to be intimidated. The infantry of the 36th Volksgrenadier did little better. Although Simon's forces finally managed to poke a narrow hole, about two miles in depth, at Rimling on the right wing of the 44th Division, the 100th Infantry Division held firm. In the days that followed the Germans saw their small advances continuously eroded by repeated counterattacks from the 44th, 100th, and 63d (TF Harris) Division infantry supported by elements of the French 2d Armored Division. Allied artillery and, when the weather broke, Allied air attacks, together with the bitter cold, also sapped the strength of the attackers. On 4 January the German high command formally called off the effort. As General Simon, the attacking corps commander, caustically observed, the Sarre assault had shown only that the German soldier still knew how to fight and how to die, but little else. Blaskowitz, with Hitler and von Rundstedt's approval, obviously chose not to throw the German armored reserves into the battle there, as planned, and sought weaker links in the American lines.  During Operation NORDWIND, the last German offensive on the Western Front, three German divisions attempted to encircle and annihilate the 100th Infantry Division. Near Lemberg, on the Division's right, the XC Corps attackers were stopped by the 399th and elements of the 398th Infantry Regiment after three days of ferocious fighting. On 5 January, after NORDWIND's main effort had failed, Himmler's Army Group Oberrhein finally began its supporting thrusts against the southern flank of Brooks' VI Corps, with the XIV SS Corps launching a cross-Rhine attack north of Strasbourg. Two days later, south of the city, the Nineteenth Army launched Operation SONNENWENDE ('WINTER SOLSTICE'), attacking north, astride the Rhone-Rhine Canal on the northern edge of the German-held Colmar Pocket. These actions opened a three-week battle, whose ferocity rivaled the Ardennes fighting in viciousness if not in scope and threatened the survival of the VI Corps. SONNENWENDE sparked a new crisis for the 6th Army Group, which had too few divisions to defend every threatened area. With Brooks' VI Corps now engaged on both flanks, along the Rhine at Gambsheim and to the northeast along the Low Vosges mountain exits, Devers transferred responsibility for Strasbourg to the French First Army, and de Lattre stretched his forces to cover both the city and the Belfort Gap 75 miles to the south. But the real danger was just northeast of Strasbourg. There, the XIV SS Corps had punched out a 10-mile bridgehead around the town of Gambsheim, brushing off small counterattacks from Task Force Linden. Patch's Seventh Army, reinforced with the newly arrived 12th Armored Division, tried to drive the Germans from the Gambsheim area, a region laced with canals, streams, and lesser watercourses. To the south de Lattre's 3d Algerian Division defended Strasbourg, while the rest of the French First Army kept the Colmar Pocket tightly ringed. But the fate of Strasbourg and the northern Alsace hinged on the ability of the American VI Corps to secure its besieged flanks.  Having driven several wedges into the Seventh Army, the Germans launched another attack on 7 January. The German XXXIX Panzer Corps, with the 21st Panzer and the 25th Panzergrenadier Divisions, attacked the greatly weakened VI Corps center between the Vosges and Lauterbourg. Quickly gaining ground to the edge of the Haguenau Forest 20 miles north of Strasbourg, the German offensive rolled along the same routes used during the successful attacks of August 1870 under Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke. Moltke's successors, however, made no breakthrough. In the two Alsatian towns of Hatten and Rittershoffen, Patch and Brooks threw in the Seventh Army's last reserve, the 14th Armored Division. Assisted by a mixture of other combat, combat support, and service troops, the division halted the Germans. While the VI Corps fought for its life in the Haguenau Forest, the enemy renewed attacks on both flanks. During an intense battle between units of the 45th Division and the 6th SS Mountain Division in the Low Vosges, the Germans surrounded an American battalion that had refused to give ground. After a week's fighting by units attempting its relief, only two soldiers managed to escape to friendly lines. Although gaining ground the enemy had achieved no clear-cut success. Hitler nevertheless committed his last reserves on 16 January, including the 10th SS Panzer and the 7th Parachute Divisions. These forces finally steamrolled a path along the Rhine's west bank toward the XIV SS Corps' Gambsheim bridgehead overrunning one of the green 12th Armored Division's infantry battalions at Herrlisheim and destroying one of its tank battalions nearby. This final foray led Brooks to order a withdrawal on the twenty-first, one that took the Germans by surprise and was completed before the enemy could press his advantage.  Forming a new line along the Zorn, Moder, and Rothback Rivers north of the Marne-Rhine Canal, the VI Corps commander aligned his units into a cohesive defense with his badly damaged but still game armored divisions in reserve. Launching attacks during the night of 24-25 January, the Germans found their slight penetrations eliminated by vigorous counterattacks. Ceasing their assaults permanently, they might have found irony in the Seventh Army's latest acquisition from SHAEF reserves-the "Battling Bastards of Bastogne," the 101st Airborne Division, which arrived on the Alsace front only to find the battle over.
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| 'Fighting in the Alsace region has been sparsely covered' --50th Anniversary Commemorative Pamphlet |
Special ping.
December 31, 2006
READ: Proverbs 1:1-7
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. —Psalm 115:11
In our increasingly dangerous world, think of what we have to fear: Ominous terrorist threats, frightening crime rates, increasing natural disasters, sobering energy crises, . . . God.
Yes, God. Ironic, isn’t it, that in a world full of fearful things, the single source of our refuge and safety is also the One we are instructed to fear?
Consider Solomon’s words: “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge” (Prov. 14:26). Then look at the next verse: “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.”
We try to avoid life’s fearful things because they interrupt our peace. Yet we are told to move toward fear—the fear of God. For those who “fear the Lord, . . . He is their help and their shield” (Ps. 115:11).
Our faith in God can deliver us from the fears of the world (Ps. 23:4)—but only because our faith relies on a fear that is different from worldly fear. Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”
To fear God is to sense His awesomeness. When we acknowledge that greatness and trust in Him, we no longer want to sin against Him. He becomes our refuge from the fears of this world. In Him we find peace.
Happy New year to everyone at the Freeper Foxhole from E.G.C. of Southwest Oklahoma.
Not very French of De Gaulle. On second thought, I guess the hissy fit part is very French.
Good morning, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my fellow foxholers!
A special thanks goes to Snippy for all the work she puts in to these threads. A big Bravo Zulu to you for that, Snippy.
All of you take special care, and I'll see you next year < BG >.
I remember my dad mentioning "seeing a little action there" as the battalion surgeon of the 14th Armored Division.
Capt. John L. Battenfeld, receiving the Legion of Merit from Gen. Patton.
good morning!
Well, there isn't any foul weather but we are prepared nonetheless.
milk, check
bread, check
eggs, check
cheese, check
champagne, check
sparkling white grape juice, check
movies, check
blackeyed peas, check
leftover honey-baked-ham, check
The Nazis crossed the Rhine north of Strasbourg. Their arsenal included white colored tanks and troops. We were the last American unit on the line and next to the French. Of some interest, the French forces consisted of a lot of Algerians. We had no officlal translators but used two men from the Rhode Island area who had a French background. One of the Colonel's jeep driver, the other I think was in I&R.
We did, as the article indicated, 'withdraw' to more defensive positions awaiting support from other units. It was a 35 mile front exceedingly large for three Regiments but higher command thought this would be a quiet area for green troops. It was for a while. We had Midnight Mass in an abandoned school house with only the sight and sound of flashing artillery barrages overhead from both sides. Sort of a warped version of 'all is calm, all is bright'.
When the full Rainbow Division arrived we proceeded into Germany toward Sweinfurt [where I was when Roosevelt died], then Nurmburg, Dachau, Munich [where I was when Hitler died], finally occupation in Austria. One of our Regiments went to share Vienna with the Russians. Mine stayed around Salzbourg. The castle of Sound of Music fame was a beer hall for us.
Their Edelweiss, Edelweiss, Every morning you greet me, Small and White, Clean and bright ... Edelweiss Edelweiss Bless my home land forever ... was replaced by "In the Mood", our Bless America Forever.
Thanks again.
Well, dang, I had a long missive to you and lost the entire thing.
HAPPY NEW Year.
No snow, lots of sunshine.
snippy was kind enough to post up a new Foxhole so I thought I would throw in a Flag-O-Gram for y'all
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Whoa, fierce looking rascal, alfa.
:)
I hate it when that happens. OH well. I hope your New Year's Eve is merry and safe! We have officially decided to stay home and have a family celebration.
If i read it correctly, Jake Devers, who was NOT an Ike favorite, wanted to defend Strasbourg, Ike ordered him to abandon it and of course threatened relief and all of that. Now I understand that Devers, being a bright guy and a bit closer to the political as well as military situation in Alsace, left Ike's order on his desk and went for coffee as the French Liasion officer to 6th Army Group was in the office. Devers gave his French guest plenty of time to read, and maybe even copy , the order. Once Ike was faced with the reality the the French were quite ready to sacrifice it all for the city and make damned certain the world would "know" it was Ike's fault, he began his grinning and acted like saving the place was his idea all along. Nordwind had potential be be even more devastating than the Bulge in the long term . The Political implications as well as the obvious supply( like up from the Riviera) as well as the potential breakthrough that could have easily undone the gains made by pushing back in the Bulge. Another note, the 12th Armored was sent in to face the 10SS Panzer without information on who and what they were facing. 43d Tank Battallion died like men , the Germans thought they'd insult them by calling them the "Suicide Division" Big mistake, the Hellcats wore it proudly and you all know what they call payback.
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