From: Rick v100 (rickv100@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Dec 16 2005 - 04:29:42 PST
Allied Weekly Intelligence Summary No.19 for 16 Dec
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/cgi-bin/usamhi/DL/showdoc.pl?docnum=160
Interesting reading.
--- Everette <194cbteng@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
1944
> December 16
>
> 1944 Battle of the Bulge
> On this day, the Germans launch the last major
> offensive of the war,
> Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive
> and the Battle of the
> Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west
> from northern France to
> northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge,
> so-called because the Germans
> created a "bulge" around the area of the Ardennes
> forest in pushing through
> the American defensive line, was the largest fought
> on the Western front.
> The Germans threw 250,000 soldiers into the initial
> assault, 14 German
> infantry divisions guarded by five panzer
> divisions-against a mere 80,000
> Americans. Their assault came in early morning at
> the weakest part of the
> Allied line, an 80-mile poorly protected stretch of
> hilly, woody forest (the
> Allies simply believed the Ardennes too difficult to
> traverse, and therefore
> an unlikely location for a German offensive).
> Between the vulnerability of
> the thin, isolated American units and the thick fog
> that prevented Allied
> air cover from discovering German movement, the
> Germans were able to push
> the Americans into retreat.
> One particularly effective German trick was the use
> of English-speaking
> German commandos who infiltrated American lines and,
> using captured U.S.
> uniforms, trucks, and jeeps, impersonated U.S.
> military and sabotaged
> communications. The ploy caused widespread chaos and
> suspicion among the
> American troops as to the identity of fellow
> soldiers--even after the ruse
> was discovered. Even General Omar Bradley himself
> had to prove his identity
> three times--by answering questions about football
> and Betty Grable--before
> being allowed to pass a sentry point.
> The battle raged for three weeks, resulting in a
> massive loss of American
> and civilian life. Nazi atrocities abounded,
> including the murder of 72
> American soldiers by SS soldiers in the Ardennes
> town of Malmedy. Historian
> Stephen Ambrose estimated that by war's end, "Of the
> 600,000 GIs involved,
> almost 20,000 were killed, another 20,000 were
> captured, and 40,000 were
> wounded." The United States also suffered its
> second-largest surrender of
> troops of the war: More than 7,500 members of the
> 106th Infantry Division
> capitulated at one time at Schnee Eifel. The
> devastating ferocity of the
> conflict also made desertion an issue for the
> American troops; General
> Eisenhower was forced to make an example of Private
> Eddie Slovik, the first
> American executed for desertion since the Civil War.
> The war would not end until better weather enabled
> American aircraft to bomb
> and strafe German positions.
>
>
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