An American journalist was interviewing George Patton. The journalist needed a unique, American-sounding word that could become shorthand for the battle.
And the word "bulge" popped into his mind. It was adopted pretty soon after the battle, and it stuck. I had some friends who restored secondhand military vehicles. One summer in the mids they invited me to return to the area where the Battle of the Bulge had been fought. We drove in these vehicles, and to make it look right, we put on some khaki, then drove through the little villages of the Ardennes. I was amazed by the older generation, who came out of their houses and could remember what was by then 30 or so years earlier.
You could see by their faces how much it had meant to them. Some of them burst into tears the moment they saw a U. One farmer led us up a small trail to the top of a hill and showed us where the American and German lines had been.
I couldn't see anything, which was somewhat of a disappointment. Then I kicked idly at a stone. It turned out not to be a stone but an entrenching tool. All of a sudden beneath the undergrowth, when I looked, there were cartridges, bits of helmet, canteens—all the debris you'd associate with a battle. When you're a teenager, that makes a huge impression. You say Hitler's decision to launch the Ardennes offensive was more political than military.
How so? I feel I was breaking new ground by asserting that the decision by Hitler to launch the Ardennes attack—and it's his alone—is a political one rather than a military one. The traditional view is that this is an attempt to turn around the military situation as it was at the end of See a World War II time line.
I came to the conclusion that this is rather Hitler's attempt to reassert his personal political control over the German general staff and the entire Nazi hierarchy. It's a reaction to the von Stauffenberg bomb attempt on his life on the 20th of July, After that, he hides away. He goes into shock. He doesn't know whom to trust. His health goes downhill. The genesis of Hitler's plans to launch the Bulge is his grappling to retain control of the direction of military affairs and prove to the Third Reich that he's still the man at the top.
A fascinating section in your book explains the mythological and cultural significance of forests to the German psyche. How did the Ardennes campaign fit into this? Again, I think I was breaking new ground here. I wondered why Hitler had specifically chosen the Ardennes. It's his plan, and everything about it had to have significance. Therefore, I wondered if there was more to the Ardennes than simply a region where the Allies were weak. I went back to Hitler's pronouncements, his beliefs, and his fascination with Wagner.
In Wagner , a huge amount of the action takes place in woods and forests. This taps into the old Nordic beliefs and gods—that woods are a place of testing for human beings. The Germans could then methodically destroy the Western armies. Hitler believed he could exploit the unease between the Anglo-Americans and the Soviets to achieve a negotiated peace with the US and Britain which not only would preserve the Nazi regime, but allow him to concentrate solely on the war on the eastern front.
These were the stakes when the Germans launched their surprise attack through Belgium on December 16, Eighteen men put up devastating fire against the first attack of over German paratroopers. But the element of surprise and the strength of the Germans were overwhelming. On the third attack, Bouck and his men were captured.
This was despite the fact that his platoon had held up the spearhead of Kampfgruppe Peiper of the 1st SS Panzer Division, preventing a force of over 5, men from advancing for eight crucial hours, a feat which would later make the platoon the most decorated in US Army history. It would be hours before the Allies realized the German offensive was more than a feint, and not all were so lucky to share the fate of Lyle Bouck, now a German POW.
The next day at Malmedy, Belgium, Kampfgruppe Peiper overtook a group of Americans from the th Field Artillery Observation Battalion and rounded the prisoners into a field. Even General Omar Bradley himself had to prove his identity three times—by answering questions about football and Betty Grable—before being allowed to pass a sentry point.
The battle raged for three weeks, resulting in a massive loss of American and civilian life. Nazi atrocities abounded, including the murder of 72 American soldiers by SS soldiers in the Ardennes town of Malmedy. The devastating ferocity of the conflict also made desertion an issue for the American troops; General Eisenhower was forced to make an example of Private Eddie Slovik, the first American executed for desertion since the Civil War.
The war would not end until better weather enabled American aircraft to bomb and strafe German positions. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! December 16, sees the U. One of the most expensive films ever made, it was also one of the most successful, holding the title of highest-grossing film of all time for nearly a decade.
Were any of your ancestors involved in the Battle of the Bulge? If they were in western Europe from December to January , then the answer is likely yes! You could do the same for photographs and other images you come across. And did you know that learning about the challenges your ancestor had to face can help you and the other members of your family with the challenges you face?
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