Snade
humble AK member
Just wanted to share a short and well-written article from today's WSJ about one of the most important battles in American and European military history.
Cheers,
Snade
_____________________________
The Wall Street Journal, Dec 7, 2019
The Battle of the Bulge Was Hitler’s Last Gamble
Seventy-five years ago this month, Germany’s last-ditch offensive gave the U.S. Army its biggest test of World War II
By
Frank Lavin
Dec. 7, 2019 12:01 am ET
The biggest battle fought by American forces in World War II didn’t involve conquering enemy territory or liberating an occupied country. Instead, 75 years ago this month in the Battle of the Bulge, U.S. troops won a major victory simply by hanging on. If D-Day was the key offensive battle of the war in Europe, the Battle of the Bulge—known to the Germans as Operation Wacht am Rhein (“Watch on the Rhine”)—was the key defensive battle. The Normandy landings tend to occupy a bigger place in our national memory, even though a defeat in either operation would have dealt a decisive blow to the Allied war effort.
The offensive that Adolf Hitler launched on Dec. 16, 1944, was brazen. The Wehrmacht hoped to smash through the Allied lines near the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and advance several hundred miles to the Atlantic coast. The blitz was a gamble, based on Hitler’s belief that even though the Allies had superior manpower, he would have the initiative. He thought that it would take two weeks for Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied forces, to figure out what was happening and coordinate a response with London and Washington.
By then, Hitler believed, German troops would have split the Allies’ front and shut down their largest continental port, Antwerp. A similar tactic had succeeded brilliantly early in the war, in 1940, when the Wehrmacht broke through the French lines and drove British forces north to Dunkirk, where they were forced to evacuate.
In the greatest U.S. intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor, Hitler was able to launch his attack with complete surprise, hurling 200,000 Wehrmacht troops against 100,000 Americans. By the time the battle ended at the beginning of February, however, U.S. forces had swelled through reinforcements to 600,000 combat soldiers, with another 400,000 troops in support roles. In all, roughly one in eight Americans in uniform at the time, anywhere in the world, took part in the Battle of the Bulge. It remains the largest battle the U.S. Army has ever fought.
In terms of casualties, too, the Battle of the Bulge was unparalleled. More than 100,000 Americans were killed and injured, accounting for roughly one-tenth of all U.S. combat casualties in World War II. The 106th division, the first in the path of the German attack, was almost wiped out, suffering more than 8,000 casualties. One of its soldiers was Kurt Vonnegut, who was taken prisoner; he drew on his experiences in his 1969 novel “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
But numbers don’t tell the whole story of the battle’s brutality. On the second day, for example, some 100 American artillery spotters were gathered for a briefing in Malmedy, Belgium, when they were captured by rapidly advancing Wehrmacht troops. Soon after, a Gestapo unit appeared and machine-gunned the prisoners. This coldblooded murder of POWs electrified the GIs—as did Operation Greif, in which some 2,000 English-speaking German troops were outfitted in U.S. Army uniforms and infiltrated across American lines. The operation caused little actual damage, but it spread fear in the American ranks.
Roughly one in eight Americans in uniform at the time, anywhere in the world, took part in the Battle of the Bulge.
Given the initial advantage of surprise and numbers, Hitler made headway for almost three weeks. For the first time since D-Day, the enemy was deciding the location of the fight and setting the pace of the battle. The Allies tried to manage a tactical retreat, while simultaneously stabilizing the front and marshaling reinforcements—a three-pronged effort that made for confusion and chaos. But there were also episodes of heroism: In the Belgian town of Bastogne, 20,000 GIs led by the 101st Airborne Division held out against more than 50,000 Germans for a week.
The German advance ground to a halt by the end of December, but they controlled a salient that extended some 35 miles into Allied lines, immediately nicknamed “The Bulge.” American efforts were hampered by foul weather, which negated their advantage in the air. Supplying the front-line troops was difficult, since the Germans had been sabotaging ports and railways as they retreated after D-Day; fuel had to be brought in by trucks, which were only 20% as efficient as railroads. Contributing to the misery, the winter of 1944 was one of the coldest on record, with temperatures averaging 20 degrees. Thousands of GIs were treated for frostbite.
By January, however, the front had stabilized and the Allies could bring their superior manpower to bear, while a break in the weather allowed Allied air forces to disrupt German supplies. By the end of the month, the Allies had recaptured all of their lost territory, and the Bulge had been ground down.
My father, Carl Lavin, was 20 years old when he arrived at the front on Christmas Day, 1944. He served as a rifleman in Company L, 335th Regiment, 84th Division. When I was reviewing company records a few years ago at the Library of Congress and I saw that Company L had a casualty rate of 150%, I had to ask the archivist how that was possible. She explained that casualties over 100% meant, in effect, that the original members of the company were killed and then their replacements were killed, so that on average every soldier was killed 1.5 times.
No wonder my father said, “If I never have a lucky day as long as I live, I will still die a lucky man, such was my luck during the Battle of the Bulge.”
—Mr. Lavin has worked on the staff of the White House and the State Department. He is the author of “Home Front to Battlefront,” a history of his father’s service as a combat rifleman in World War II.
Cheers,
Snade
_____________________________
The Wall Street Journal, Dec 7, 2019
The Battle of the Bulge Was Hitler’s Last Gamble
Seventy-five years ago this month, Germany’s last-ditch offensive gave the U.S. Army its biggest test of World War II
By
Frank Lavin
Dec. 7, 2019 12:01 am ET
The biggest battle fought by American forces in World War II didn’t involve conquering enemy territory or liberating an occupied country. Instead, 75 years ago this month in the Battle of the Bulge, U.S. troops won a major victory simply by hanging on. If D-Day was the key offensive battle of the war in Europe, the Battle of the Bulge—known to the Germans as Operation Wacht am Rhein (“Watch on the Rhine”)—was the key defensive battle. The Normandy landings tend to occupy a bigger place in our national memory, even though a defeat in either operation would have dealt a decisive blow to the Allied war effort.
The offensive that Adolf Hitler launched on Dec. 16, 1944, was brazen. The Wehrmacht hoped to smash through the Allied lines near the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and advance several hundred miles to the Atlantic coast. The blitz was a gamble, based on Hitler’s belief that even though the Allies had superior manpower, he would have the initiative. He thought that it would take two weeks for Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied forces, to figure out what was happening and coordinate a response with London and Washington.
By then, Hitler believed, German troops would have split the Allies’ front and shut down their largest continental port, Antwerp. A similar tactic had succeeded brilliantly early in the war, in 1940, when the Wehrmacht broke through the French lines and drove British forces north to Dunkirk, where they were forced to evacuate.
In the greatest U.S. intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor, Hitler was able to launch his attack with complete surprise, hurling 200,000 Wehrmacht troops against 100,000 Americans. By the time the battle ended at the beginning of February, however, U.S. forces had swelled through reinforcements to 600,000 combat soldiers, with another 400,000 troops in support roles. In all, roughly one in eight Americans in uniform at the time, anywhere in the world, took part in the Battle of the Bulge. It remains the largest battle the U.S. Army has ever fought.
In terms of casualties, too, the Battle of the Bulge was unparalleled. More than 100,000 Americans were killed and injured, accounting for roughly one-tenth of all U.S. combat casualties in World War II. The 106th division, the first in the path of the German attack, was almost wiped out, suffering more than 8,000 casualties. One of its soldiers was Kurt Vonnegut, who was taken prisoner; he drew on his experiences in his 1969 novel “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
But numbers don’t tell the whole story of the battle’s brutality. On the second day, for example, some 100 American artillery spotters were gathered for a briefing in Malmedy, Belgium, when they were captured by rapidly advancing Wehrmacht troops. Soon after, a Gestapo unit appeared and machine-gunned the prisoners. This coldblooded murder of POWs electrified the GIs—as did Operation Greif, in which some 2,000 English-speaking German troops were outfitted in U.S. Army uniforms and infiltrated across American lines. The operation caused little actual damage, but it spread fear in the American ranks.
Roughly one in eight Americans in uniform at the time, anywhere in the world, took part in the Battle of the Bulge.
Given the initial advantage of surprise and numbers, Hitler made headway for almost three weeks. For the first time since D-Day, the enemy was deciding the location of the fight and setting the pace of the battle. The Allies tried to manage a tactical retreat, while simultaneously stabilizing the front and marshaling reinforcements—a three-pronged effort that made for confusion and chaos. But there were also episodes of heroism: In the Belgian town of Bastogne, 20,000 GIs led by the 101st Airborne Division held out against more than 50,000 Germans for a week.
The German advance ground to a halt by the end of December, but they controlled a salient that extended some 35 miles into Allied lines, immediately nicknamed “The Bulge.” American efforts were hampered by foul weather, which negated their advantage in the air. Supplying the front-line troops was difficult, since the Germans had been sabotaging ports and railways as they retreated after D-Day; fuel had to be brought in by trucks, which were only 20% as efficient as railroads. Contributing to the misery, the winter of 1944 was one of the coldest on record, with temperatures averaging 20 degrees. Thousands of GIs were treated for frostbite.
By January, however, the front had stabilized and the Allies could bring their superior manpower to bear, while a break in the weather allowed Allied air forces to disrupt German supplies. By the end of the month, the Allies had recaptured all of their lost territory, and the Bulge had been ground down.
My father, Carl Lavin, was 20 years old when he arrived at the front on Christmas Day, 1944. He served as a rifleman in Company L, 335th Regiment, 84th Division. When I was reviewing company records a few years ago at the Library of Congress and I saw that Company L had a casualty rate of 150%, I had to ask the archivist how that was possible. She explained that casualties over 100% meant, in effect, that the original members of the company were killed and then their replacements were killed, so that on average every soldier was killed 1.5 times.
No wonder my father said, “If I never have a lucky day as long as I live, I will still die a lucky man, such was my luck during the Battle of the Bulge.”
—Mr. Lavin has worked on the staff of the White House and the State Department. He is the author of “Home Front to Battlefront,” a history of his father’s service as a combat rifleman in World War II.
