75 years ago today, German tanks roared through the Ardennes to commence what they called Operation Watch on the Rhine, what we call today the Battle of the Bulge. Almost half a million German soldiers and 1,400 tanks attacked what was regarded as lightly-defended terrain.
It was a Hitlerian gamble, an attempt at a grand stroke. Like most such gambles after 1941, it ended in failure and massive German casualties. It was the last gasp of the German Army on the Western front. The Luftwaffe air offensive, Operation Baseplate, marked the end of the Luftwaffe as an effective combat force.
One of the better books on the battle is Infantry Soldier by George W. Nell, which was published 19 years ago.
WWJD: What Would Jesus Drink?
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We visited the excellent museum in Bastogne about 10 years ago. It had a modest structure, but I understand it has a new building now.
There are about 5 roads into the city, and on each one there is a Sherman tank turret set in concrete, gun pointed outward...they mark the perimeter held by the 101st.
One of the high school teachers at Tarpon Springs was a US soldier captured during the Bulge. He talked about the reports the POWs were getting about the Malmeady massacre even then, how the prison camps were like, that food was so scarce that he resorted to eating dandelions until liberated in April 1945.
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