[Granville-Hough] 16 Dec 2009 - The Battle of the Bulge

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:41:44 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: The Battle of the Bulge - 16 Dec 2009

*This was the most disastrous battle the American Army has ever fought.  
It might be called, "How to get surprised, lose 19,000 men killed and 
have 60,000 more wounded or captured." But first, the official Army version.

       THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

    Sixty-five years ago, German Tiger, Panther, and Mark IV tanks 
smashed into the American lines in the Ardennes Forest in the last 
German offensive of World War II.  The German target was Antwerp, the 
port city of Belgium, but the Gis, fighting with dogged determination, 
denied them their goal and crushed Adolph Hitler's last strike in the west.
    On December 16, 1944, two German armies attacked the American First 
Army in Belgium and Luxembourg.  Two divisions, the veteran 28th 
Infantry and the green 106th Infantry, were virtually annihilated in two 
days of heavy fighting.  Two other divisions, the 99th and the 4th, also 
took casualties, but remained intact.
    As the fighting gaged, GEN Dwight D. Eisenhower raced his only two 
reserve divisions into the fray.  On the northern edge oof the growing 
bulge, the 82nd Airborne worked with the 3rd Armored Division to stop 
the Germans cold and push them back.  In the south, the 101st Airborne 
Division reached the town of Bastogne, where outnumbered elements of the 
10th Armored Division were putting up a desperate defense.  The Germans 
got around Bastogne's defenses and laid siege to the town, leading to a 
dramatic moment when BG Anthony McAuliffe replied to a German demand for 
surrender with one word: "Nuts!"
    Three days after the battle began, Eisenhower called a meeting of 
his commanders to get a better picture of the counteroffensive and how 
to defeat it.  All of his generals begged off any kind of action, except 
one.  LTG George S. Patton, Jr, a flamboyant, profane and unpredictable 
warrior, Patton promised to start fighting toward Bastogne in three 
days.  Eisenhower thought Patton was kidding, but Patton assured his 
commander he was ready.  Three days later, the men of Patton's 4th 
Armored Division pushed seven miles north towards Bastogne.
    As Patton's men advanced, the troops in surrounded Bastogne fought 
desperately.  In one instance, an NCO paratrooper walked out into the 
blinding fog until he found a German tank with his hands.  He then 
backed away, dropped on one knee and fired a bazooke round into its 
side, destroying it.  He then repeated the process on two more tanks.
    In the north, the German offensive rolled on despite stiff 
resistance near St. Vith.  During the American retreat, and M-5 light 
tank from the 7th Armored Division accidentally fell in line behind a 
German Tiger tank.  Instead of discretely rolling off the road, the 
American tanker opened fire and scored a lucky shot, destroying the 
behemoth.
    Whenever the shies cleared, American fighters rained down on German 
positions while bombers laid waste on enemy traffic intersections and 
captured towns,.  Fleets of cargo planes dropped supplies on Bastogne, 
enabling the defenders to fight on until the 4th Armored cracked the 
German stranglehold on the town the day after Christmas.  On January 1, 
1945, the Germans launched their last air offensive of the war, striking 
Allied airfields with hundreds of aircraft, but losing 277 planes in the 
process.
    The Bulge was closed on January 13 when Soldiers from the First and 
Third Armies met in Houffialize.  In the end it was the GI - the 
infantrymen, tankers, engineers, clerks and paratroopers of the U. S. 
Army - fighting against the German wave that gave the American generals 
time to organize an effective strategy.  With the plan in place, 
courageous Americans pinched off the Bulge and defeated the last German 
offensive of the war.

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    I have not studied the German side of this battle.  There are always 
two sides, but we generally get to read about the victor's side.  The 
gems of battlefield tactics, however, are often more clearly delineated 
by the loser.  But, perhaps our future should be embodied in the old 
refrain: "I ain't gonna study war no more."  Grampa Hough.