I meant to post this yesterday, but I assumed someone else would. I visited Bastogne and the museum 30+ years ago, but it was in August and I could not imagine the conditions our men fought in. "Band of Brothers" depicted it well.

Nuts!

Yeah, it was a very rude shock - people were talking about being 'home for Christmas,' and then this German army nobody knew about (though Patton and his staff knew about it, nobody would listen to him) came out of nowhere and steamrolled over our lines. Many of these US troops were war-weary or really inexperienced, and were put there to give them rest, and/or get them out of the way from the 'real fighting.'

God bless General McAuliffe (who's "Nuts" line has been so widely quoted), General Patton and the 101st Airborne (and everybody else that took part).

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
God bless General McAuliffe (who's "Nuts" line has been so widely quoted), General Patton and the 101st Airborne (and everybody else that took part).

Earlier this year I met a man who was present to hear McAuliffe's response given to the German officer. He'll never forget that moment, and I'll never forget meeting him.

I had a friend and mentor, who retired as a brigadier general, who was a lieutenant in the field artillery at the battle of the bulge. He was the battalion fire support officer for an infantry battalion. As he and the battalion commander were observing terrain, a German mortar round hit, killing the battalion commander and wounding my friend. He talked a lot about how cold it was. Very cold.

I grew up with an old guy named Coy Denton. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Never said much about it, but every time I would say something about being cold, he'd just smile a little smile and say "Just thank God you ain't in Bastogne."

I never knew what he was talking about for many years, but once I did I really wished I had sat and talked about it with him.

Coy and my dad rabbit hunted and quail hunted for years, and I tagged along as often as they'd let me. I miss those days.

RIP Coy.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Huffman:
...I miss those days.

RIP Coy.

And those men! My Father was part of Patton's relief force, but he never told me, and I only figured it out after he died. As he was in Quartermasters, he didn't get that close to the action and as so many of them did, downplayed his participation.

The Father of a friend was there as well. He had participated in the Italy campaign, and liberated a Beretta 7.65mm when we overran the factory. At The Bulge, he killed a German soldier with it, one shot to the heart.

My FIL had just been sent to the hospital for schrapnel wounds suffered when his armored car was hit (his third wound of the war) when the battle began.
Someone came into the hospital and told everyone who could stand to get up they were going back, which they did.
He said to me he had never been as cold either before or after that winter.

An uncle of mine was there, had problems with his feet until the end (many years later).

Related:
My Dad had a nephew killed at the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, which was the leadup to the Battle of the Bulge. My Dad mentioned that he thought his nephew was awarded some kind of "star", but passed away before I could get the details.
Forgot to add the nephew was in the Big Red One.

PC

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PCWyoming,

Both my grandfathers were there. One was in the tank destroyers. The other was a scout. They both passed before I knew enough to talk to them about it.

quote:

Originally posted by PCWyoming:
Related:
My Dad had a nephew killed at the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, which was the leadup to the Battle of the Bulge. My Dad mentioned that he thought his nephew was awarded some kind of "star", but passed away before I could get the details.

PC

I studied that battle. The on the ground soldiers were forced to slug it out with the Germans, and suffered a high casualty rate. They should have brought our soldiers out to the perimeter, and burned the forest to the ground. I blame our commanders for making the battle worse than it had to be.

I've got Soldiers who whine when the temp is in the 50s and they have to be outside. I can only imagine how today's Soldiers would fare in that environment.

My wife’s uncle was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and spent the rest of the war as a POW. He would never really talk about it at family reunions

My stepdad was in that MCF, took 3 German machine gun rounds through the middle. Among other exciting events. He almost never talked about it, except a couple times when it was just the 2 of us. I was in the army so we had enough in common for him to share some of what took place.

My dad worked with a guy who was with Patton on the run up into Germany. Not a pretty trip. I think he was wounded 3 times. Spent time in hospital, back to the unit.

My FIL was involved at Bastogne. He parachuted in with the 101st at the beginning of the BOTB. He survived. Zebulon

Can you imagine how Patton would have handled one of today's transgendered "soldiers".

One of my fathers cousins and his best friend after the war was in the battle. He wouldn't talk about it. As kids, we worshiped him as a God. He could also play baseball. He was a big guy and could just about send a softball into orbit. Laughing the whole time. At family events it was the fathers against the kids. I played outfield.

You know the positions, left field, center field, right field. Except when Cousin Mel came to bat. I climbed the fence and played in the next field. For whatever reason, he really enjoyed hitting the ball really hard. And he laughed a lot, too. I think he was happy to be alive.

My Uncle George was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge; thankfully, not too seriously.
Sadly, he passed in the late 60's due to a heart attack.

quote:

Originally posted by Zebulon:
My FIL was involved at Bastogne. He parachuted in with the 101st at the beginning of the BOTB. He survived. Zebulon

Was your Father in Law a Pathfinder?

The 101st Airborne Division didn't parachute in to Bastogne. They had been resting and refitting back in France when the battle started, and as one of the only available units in reserve, they were brought in by truck to reinforce Bastogne, just prior to the town being encircled.

The only members to parachute into Bastogne were 20 men of the 101st's Pathfinder detachment, who had been back in England training, and who jumped into Bastogne with signaling equipment needed to allow supplies to be accurately airdropped to the encircled American troops.

Visited the museum this past June. Most expensive one I had visited, but their self guided tour was top notch. You follow 4 individuals through the battle: a young Belgian boy, a teenage girl, a US soldier, and a German soldier. Each display would tell a piece of their story. Unfortunately they were closing early because there was some kind of festival going on in town and we didn't get to see the entire museum.

After we left the museum we wandered into town hoping to get dinner. Got kicked out of a pizzeria because they didn't want us to split a pizza. It was strange. I admit there was a language barrier, but they didn't even offer us the menus back to pick another pizza. We already had our drinks; they took them back. I got one sip of my beer. Very rude.