Posted on 12/16/2009 7:15:00 AM PST by OKSooner
Today marks exactly 65 years since The Battle of the Bulge began. AKA "The Ardennes-Alsace Campaign" by the US Army, and called "Watch on the Rhine" by the krauts who planned it.
Probably not a lot of commentary required for Freepers...
Recommended additional reading: "To Save Bastogne", by Robert Phillips, veteran of the 110th Regiment, 28th Division. It describes "The Battle of the Bulge before The Battle of the Bulge", the delaying action beginning on this day that made it possible for the 101st Airborne Division and other units to have a Bastogne to go to.
Oh you mean THAT battle of the bulge.
“..called ‘Watch on the Rhine’”
I thought the Germans called it “Operation Christ Rose”.
I thought it was called Operation Arschschuss!
A real waste of German resources that could have been put to better use holding back the Red Army. Had the Germans actually reached Antwerp and held their flanks, little would have been accomplished aside from a lengthening of allied supply lines due to the loss of the major port city.
I have read or heard when Eisenhower heard the Germans attacked he was actually very pleased as you mention because this was last strategic reserve the Nazis had left.
From Wikipedia:
“Operation Christ Rose was the German code name (translated into English) for the counter attack by the Nazis that led to the Battle of the Bulge.”
Nuts!
God Bless the 101st Airborne.
This last major German offensive of WWII, I think more than anything else, reflected Hitler’s disposition as a warlord. Of course most of his senior commanders were skeptical of the offensive as resources were dangerously low for the Reich. However, Hitler loved to roll the dice, felt that fate was on his side, and more than anything else, hated playing on defense all of the time.
History has been too kind to Gen. Bradley for placing green units on what in early Dec 1944 looked like a quiet front sector. Perhaps in addition to the official explanation, Bradley thought any serious German activity would be foolhardy.
Please see my original post for recommended reading. :)
Gotta go.
From what I understand, Bradley performed horribly in the battle.
I’ve been fighting the battle of the bulge since I was 23 (and the bulge is winning)
Yep. People tend to repeat patterns of behavior that they perceive as being successful. Hitler was all about gambling. He had a long hot streak rolling paired sixes with each throw. That streak finally broke in 1941 and by 1943, he was rolling ones and twos.
and more than anything else, hated playing on defense all of the time.
Probably the best examples were in the East. The East was where his entire war objectives lay. Hitler like so many others who did not personally experience Russia (or the North African Desert) may never have fully understood the vastness of Russia and that natural lines of defense may be hundreds of miles apart.
When his luck began turning he issued his "not one millimeter back" orders. These orders were probably shaped from his own experience in the trenches of WWI thinking every foot of territory was contestable. The effect of these orders being withdrawal, when it finally occurred was a last ditch chaotic effort to avoid catastrophic encirclement rather than an orderly retreat that would have better enabled the Germans to bleed the Russians white and possibly force an Eastern Armistice.
"Looks like you guys are going to be surrounded."
"We're paratroopers, Lieutenant, we're supposed to be surrounded."
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