From: Darrell Ramsell (daram@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Dec 17 2005 - 14:39:45 PST
Thanks Rick, Everette. Nice stuff!
I belong to an airsoft organization that often does historical reenactments.
If fact we have one to day that's being played in the Sierra Mountains in
the snow that's based off the Battle of the Bulge.
http://www.cimmerians.org/OP_BASTOGNE_WALL.html
This is excellent material for us to plan future operation.
Thanks
Darrell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick v100" <rickv100@yahoo.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 4:29 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] 1944 Battle of the Bulge
> Allied Weekly Intelligence Summary No.19 for 16 Dec
> 1944
>
> http://www.carlisle.army.mil/cgi-bin/usamhi/DL/showdoc.pl?docnum=160
>
> Interesting reading.
>
>
> --- Everette <194cbteng@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> 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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>
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