60 years since the Ardennes Offensive, 16 December 1944 - 16 December 2004

Exactly 60 years ago, on 16 December 1944, the Germans started their Ardennes Offensive, also called "The battle of The Bulge".

This post has been edited by Florin on December 16, 2004 07:24 am

And this winter is so different from that winter. I don't know how it is now in Ardennes, but here is like is not winter... Santa Claus dont came this year, because his vechicle is just for snow...

Iama

We, the humans, have some guilt in that, by keeping polluting our atmosphere with carbon dioxide from burnt coal.

The biggest polluters from burnt coal are:

The United States

China

Russia

Maybe also India, even though she may be still polluting less than some Western European countries...

Article on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/12/16/battle.bulge/index.html

Col. Dénes

60 years ago the Germans almost did it to the amazement of the Western Allies. That's a pretty interesting Battle to study and with the U.S. involment in that Battle they are tones of litterature on the subject...

Regards

The U. S. Army suffered the most casualties counted for a single battle, considering any war other than the Civil War.

Maybe even including the Civil War, but I am not sure...

This post has been edited by Florin on December 18, 2004 03:20 am

Regarding the article on CNN, higlighted on a Internet link here:

We can read:

.......a U.S. Army intelligence and reconnaissance platoon made up of 18 elite soldiers .......On December 16, a huge column of German paratroopers got wind of Bouck's platoon, dug in on that hill.

The Germans threw some 700 men, in three waves, at Lyle Bouck and 17 other Americans.....by day's end, hundreds of Germans were dead.

Some Americans were badly wounded, but not one was killed, and they were captured only when they ran out of ammunition.

And now here it comes, the best part:

"Had they not stood and held the Germans and halted their attack, or rather postponed it for a crucial 24 hours, the Battle of the Bulge would have been a great German victory," says Kershaw.

And now my dumb question: Is this last remark quoted from CNN referring to the 18 soldiers, or to the all 3 American Armies? According to my understanding, it refers only to the 18 guys!

A re-enacting of Thermopile, with the paratroopers as Persians!

I am glad that in this moment, right after reading the article, I am about to go to bed and take a good sleep.

Brainwashing, sweet brainwashing...

This post has been edited by Florin on December 18, 2004 03:44 am

Battle of the Bulge:

-100 000 German casualties, killed, wounded or captured.

-81 000 American casualties, including 23 554 captured and 19 000 killed.

-1 400 British casualties and 200 killed.

-800 tanks lost on each side.

- 1000 German Luftwaffe Airplanes lost.

-The Malmedy Massacre, where 86 American soldiers were murdered, was the worst atrocity committed against American troops during the course of the war in Europe.

-the Battle of the Bulge was the worst battles in terms of losses to the American Forces in World War II.

Regards

This post has been edited by Benoit Douville on December 18, 2004 05:54 pm

What is not mentioned in that list from the Internet site where you picked the data is that Luftwaffe performed a raid in the first hours of January 1st, 1945, and they destroyed on the Allied airfields almost 1000 American and British airplanes.

This post has been edited by Florin on December 25, 2004 01:51 am

German paratroopers in philately...

Source: Scan of personal stamp, at 600 ppi

Attached Image

My father just bought a copy of WWII Presents: Battle of the Bulge, it is an amazing magazine with about 10 unique stories. Some are told by veterans and others are articles by historians. There also some great pictures.

What is not mentioned in that list from the Internet site where you picked the data is that Luftwaffe performed a raid in the first hours of January 1st, 1945, and they destroyed on the Allied airfields almost 1000 American and British airplanes.

Actually, Operation Bodenplatte wasn't a success at all. Nowhere near 1000 allied planes were destroyed, more like 350. Worst of all for the Luftwaffe, many of their last experienced pilots were killed.

The allies were certainly amazed but the German never came close to do it. My personal view is that they had almost 0% chance sucess from the start. It's a bit like Nappy in 1815. He could delay but he could no longer win anything.