16th December 1944 Battle of the Bulge begins

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by CL1, Dec 15, 2017.

  1. nicks

    nicks Very Senior Member

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  2. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    The weather on December 16th, the day of the German attack:

    The weather in Luxembourg was overcast and certainly flyable. I was on a road block detail between Mersch and Echternach, Luxembourg, and remember the mass confusion that took place that day. Nobody knew for sure if there was a major attack or not. We weren’t prepared. As I recall the weather was flyable before the attack and our spy planes could have seen the Germans buildup if they would have looked. As an example, the Germans flew a light plane over our positions in Luxembourg. Every night about 10-11 pm, we called him “Bed Check Charlie.” He was looking for lights and any info that would help the German cause. He flew without any lights at all, and was at a low altitude for better observation.

    The Weather on 16 December 1944
     
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  3. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Was the weather around Monschau and along Skyline Drive the same as it was where this man was? And for how many days before the attack was it clear, if clear it was? I'd check other original sources on this assertion.
     
  4. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    The M3 SMG was issued to some British units in Italy. The M3 does not appear in the list of US Lend-Lease equipment on hyperwar but that list does not cover so-called Theater Transfers, equipment allotted locally to Allied troops by US commanders. I have seen a picture of an officer of 168 Bde (56 Div) carrying one. It appears I think in one of the regimental histories which cover that brigade (Royal Berks, LS, L Ir R), but I can't remember which. I'd never seen M3s in British hands in NWE before, but then I've also seen images of Canadian paras and a Welsh Guardsman in that campaign armed with M1 Garand rifles. The M3 was a pretty good weapon anyway, better than a Sten and not so heavy as the Thompson.

    As for the curved magazine on the Thompson, I think that is an optical illusion caused by the light color of the mag against the light color of a part of the soldier's uniform or other piece of his equipment.
     
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  5. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    A 'quiet sector'
    Troops recounting an operation, around camp fire ©The Ardennes sector was held on an 80-mile front by only six American divisions. It was considered a 'quiet sector', suitable for introducing raw formations to the front line, and resting units that had been battered in heavy fighting. In their time out of war, soldiers amused themselves by shooting wild boar from spotter aircraft.


    BBC - History - World Wars: The Battle of the Bulge
     
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  6. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    I always liked this pic.

    [​IMG]

    T/Sgt. Lawrence J. Gettings from Ottumwa, Iowa, (E Co., 2nd Bn., 320th Inf. Reg., 35th Division) heats a can of rations and takes time out for a rest during the fighting southeast of Bastogne, Belgium. 7 January 1945.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2020
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  7. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

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  8. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    At this time Hitler was under a state of regular intoxication from a wide range of drugs and developed remedies from animal offal concocted by Morell,"the injection specialist". He was taking cocaine and yearned for it, but declared to Morell that he did not want to become a cocaine addict. Morell's supervision of Hitler's health over the nine years he had charge of Hitler as his personal physician led to Hitler being slowly poisoned and showing symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.

    Such was the state of his mind that the important aspect of this was that he saw the Ardennes offensive as a rerun of the successful Bltzkreig of 1940.Apparently during this time he neglected any concern for the happenings on the Russian front.

    Norman Ohler's Blitzed from the German language version gives an insight to the use of drugs by Hitler,the SS,Wehrmacht and the German people as a whole.

    A Methamphetamine Dictatorship? Hitler, Nazi Germany, and Drug Abuse
     
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  9. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

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  10. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    [​IMG] He Led the Way into Bastogne.....
    Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams, commanding the 37th Tank Bn, arrives in Bastogne on December 26th for a head-to-head fight with the Panzer forces. Frequently the spearhead of the Third Army during World War II, Abrams was one of the leaders in the relief effort that broke up the German entrenchments surrounding Bastogne and the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge.
    Leading the 37th Tank Battalion from the front, Abrams and the crew of his own M4 Sherman tank, Thunderbolt VI, are estimated to have destroyed about 50 German armored fighting vehicles. Abrams wore out numerous tanks – all named Thunderbolt – during the war, but he never had one shot out from under him.

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    [​IMG]The 76th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge: A Salute to the Veterans of the 83rd Infantry Division

    Staff Sergeant Joseph "Sonny" Arnaldo of New Bedford, Massachusetts, from Company A, 331st Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division is photographed after he had just come off the line after 10 successive days of fighting. His hood and face covered with snow, Arnaldo had recovered from temporary blindness when an 88 mounted on a German tank was fired a few yards from him.

    Joseph J. "Sonny" Arnaldo passed away on April 28, 1977, he is buried at the Rural Cemetery, New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was 59 years old. Lest We Forget.

    [​IMG]
     
  12. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    [​IMG]An ATS girl with 'A' Troop, 484/139 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery at her position in the control room at Haecht in Belgium, 10 January 1945. The 139th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment was an air defence unit of Britain's Royal Artillery formed during World War II. It was one of the first regiments in which women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated into the unit's personnel. The women worked the radar and plotting instruments, range-finders and predictors, ran command posts and communications, and carried out many other duties.

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  13. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    [​IMG]The 76th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge: A Salute to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion

    Paratroopers of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion preparing for a patrol, Bande, Belgium, 15 January 1945. Approximately 55,000 troops of the British Army, including the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, also participated in the battle.

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  14. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    December 23, 1944
    Bastogne's Envelopment Begins


    Bastogne's envelopment begins as the German main advance widens and moves north and south of the town. However, the 4th Armored Division, 10th Armored Division, 26th Infantry Division, and the 80th Infantry Division from General Patton's Third Army have moved against the southern flank of the German main advance.

    [​IMG]

    [December 23, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map.

    Interactive Timeline  |  The Battle of the Bulge  |  Articles and Essays  |  World War II Military Situation Maps  |  Digital Collections  |  Library of Congress
     
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  15. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Remember Bande at this time for the civilian atrocities carried out by the SS after the village had been retaken by them, the village having been previously liberated in September 1944 when the local resistance had killed a number of Germans.

    The photograph #93 must have been taken shortly after Bande had been finally liberated and the atrocity discovered.
     
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  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    December 25, 1944
    The 101st Airborne Division is Encircled


    The 101st Airborne Division is shown as encircled in Bastogne with three German infantry division and one panzer division deployed around the town. The distinct bulge in the American front lines that gave the battle its name has formed.

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    [December 25, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map.
    Interactive Timeline  |  The Battle of the Bulge  |  Articles and Essays  |  World War II Military Situation Maps  |  Digital Collections  |  Library of Congress
     
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  17. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
    earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
    snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
    in the bleak midwinter, long ago.



    'In The Bleak Mid Winter' – by Keith Hill
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  18. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    January 1, 1945
    British Reinforcements Move Against the German Advance


    The reinforced British 6th Airborne and 53rd Infantry Division are shown moving against the western tip of the German advance. Notice that some German units that were identified in the bulge on earlier maps have begun to be listed as Unlocated in a box on the right portion of the map near Frankfurt.

    [​IMG]

    [January 1, 1945], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map.
     
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  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  20. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

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