Posted on 12/14/2014 4:58:02 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
I was reading some personal memoirs of my uncles unit that was with the 9th ID. One of the passages that surprised me was the Battle of the Bulge was a surprise to everyone but the guys on the front line as there had been a ton of weird activity across the line for a week or so.
My uncle is dead, but I am reading his war letters. They are for the most part very boring. But every once in a while you get a gem.
In addition to the concerns about Belgium, I should note that the weather to the east of the Phillipines should be starting to show signs of disturbance and formation into a weak Tropical Cyclone, which will be getting stronger.
Unfortunately there is no Joint Typhoon Warning Center yet...
Fog of War. With so much going on elsewhere, unusual activity in a quiet sector of the front never got noticed higher up.
I am surprised the infiltrator alert would be out prior to the German jump-off.
Broken Enigma codes?
Just two days after this article was published the US Army would be involved in the biggest battle of it’s history.
No, not sure.
(Side note: I believe von der Heydte himself eventually surrendered to Uncle B's 47th Infantry.)
At this time, Uncle C's truck company was - IIRC - actually attached to either the Seventh or Third Army, and he was nominally living in a tent near Rouen, yet "his" trucks are going missing up in the First Army's part of Belgium… in any event he was apparently pleased to have taken care of business and gotten out of Dodge. I do know that he once had to get some trucks back that the Third Army had "borrowed," and he made the trip all the way to George S. Patton's very office before they were returned, but this would not be the same event.
There were a number of people up near the MLR who detected movements, and others who had gotten enough info from prisoners to know that something was up, but the powers that be were excruciatingly obtuse about a lot of things in late 1944.
Mr. niteowl77
Although WWII was a horrific event, it is always refreshing to read these old newspapers — no mention of bearded barbarians, anywhere.
As if they haven’t already had enough rain, right?
I hear ya. But the Japs were as barbaric as any Islamo-terrorist.
Palawan Massacre, December 14, 1944:
http://americanpowsofjapan.blogspot.com/2011/12/palawan-massacre-december-14-1944.html
Seems like a serious failure of Allied and U.S. intelligence, like 9-11.
Well, I guess our OSS was on a steep learning curve because it appears our intel failed to anticipate this kind of defense and response to our upgrades and code-breaking. Reminds me of how computer hackers are constantly figuring out how to overcome the latest defenses which, in-turn, need to be constantly upgraded and course-corrected.
Intel is a never ending cat-and-mouse game.
As I said on another post, it looks like the OSS was on a steep learning curve. This seems like a serious intel failure and reminds me of 9-11. I’m not sure Roosevelt and Ike were ready for the kind of focused effort needed in this area.
Hitler's orders that there be no radio communication about the operation resulted in no Ultra intel, which contributed to the brass being caught unaware. They were so used to being briefed on major operations that the absence of Ultra led to them discount reports.
Intel was aware that there was a panzer army in the region, but tended to think it would be used in a counterattack to defend the Ruhr.
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