None of this suggested an enemy offensive: Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 1, Nov. 1949, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P-1 (counterattack force); Hinsley, 558–59 (“true counter-offensive”); Sibert, G-2, 12th AG, “Military Intelligence Aspects of the Period Prior to the Ardennes Counter Offensive,” sent to Hanson Baldwin, Jan. 2, 1947, CBM, MHI, box 6, 8–9 (reconnaissance of the Meuse bridges); VW, vol. 2, 175 (“bruited drive on Antwerp”).
Those nearest the front: “Estimate of Enemy Capabilities Prior to the Counter-Offensive,” n.d., in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 1, 4 (officers interviewing German prisoners); TSC, 365 (assumed to be green units); Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 2, “Division Level,” March 1949, CARL, N-16829.2 (“German army [is] disintegrating”); Ardennes, 59–61.
Several factors fed this disregard: TSC, 372 (Hitler rather than the prudent Rundstedt); VW, vol. 2, 171 (“in the hands of soldiers”); 21st AG intelligence review, Dec. 3, 1944, Oscar W. Koch papers, MHI, box 12 (No sensible field marshal); Pogue, “The Ardennes Campaign: The Impact of Intelligence,” lecture, Dec. 16, 1980, NSA Communications Analysis Association, a.p. (“we would not attack”); Sibert, G-2, 12th AG, “Military Intelligence Aspects of the Period Prior to the Ardennes Counter Offensive,” sent to Hanson Baldwin, Jan. 2, 1947, CBM, MHI, box 6, 3 (“intentions of a maniac”).
Top Allied officers also had become overly enchanted: Bennett, Ultra in the West, 191; “Synthesis of Experiences in the Use of Ultra Intelligence by U.S. Army Field Command in the ETO,” n.d., NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, SRH-006, 12–16.
“They had become so dependent”: OH, Richard Collins, 1976, Donald Bowman, SOOHP, MHI, 8; OH, Ralph Hauenstein, Jan. and Feb. 2102, author, Palm Beach and Naples, Fla. The list of Ultra recipients grew to about six hundred by March 1945 (“List of Recipients,” March 25, 1945, Richard Collins papers, MHI, box 1).
“Instead of being the best”: E. T. Williams, “Reports Received by U.S. War Department on Use of Ultra in the European Theater,” Oct. 1945, NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, SRH-037, 1, 13; Bennett, Ultra in the West, 202–3; Lewin, Ultra Goes to War, 428–33.
Some would later claim clairvoyance: “Estimate No. 37,” First Army, G-2, Dec. 10, 1944, USAREUR staff ride, Dec. 2001; TSC, 366–68 (a windy alarmist); OH, E. T. Williams, May 30–31, 1947, FCP, MHI; Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 242–43; TT, 76–77 (departure from Spa); Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 460.
A suggestion in early December: OH, W. B. Smith, Apr. 1949, SLAM, OCMH WWII General Miscellany, MHI; TSC, 365n (ample reinforcements had been positioned); corr, K. W. D. Strong to FCP, Aug. 31, 1951, NARA RG 319, SC background files, 2-3.7 CB 8 (chose not to trouble Eisenhower); OH, Edwin L. Sibert, May 11, 1951, FCP, NARA RG 319, SC background files, 2-3.7 CB 8 (“I don’t think they will come”). Bradley grew sufficiently concerned that he told Sibert he wanted Eisenhower to reinforce him with the 12th Armored Division.
Perhaps the only true prescience: TT, 52 (“has not been a rout”); Third Army intel summaries, Dec. 7 and 14, 1944, Oscar W. Koch papers, MHI, box 12 (“large panzer concentration” and persistent mystery); Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945, 245 (vulnerability of VIII Corps); TSC, 366–67; PP, 582 (“The First Army is making a terrible mistake”).
Yet in other Allied high councils a confident swagger: “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” n.d., USFET, General Board study no. 1, 69; Hinsley, 563 (“sudden attack in the West”); OH, Edwin L. Sibert, May 11, 1951, FCP, NARA RG 319, SC background files, 2-3.7 CB 8 (punch up the prose); TSC, 369n; intel summary no. 18, 12th AG, Dec. 12, 1944, Oscar W. Koch papers, MHI, box 11 (“Attrition is steadily sapping”); Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 1, Nov. 1949, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P-1 (“given time and fair weather”).
Montgomery needed no ghostwriter: Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 587n (“cannot stage major offensive operations”).
“I still have nine days”: TSC, 370n.
Marlene Dietrich cut a wide swath: Weintraub, 11 Days in December, 28–30; Atkinson, “Ghost of a Chanteuse,” WP, May 7, 1996; Joseph Edgar Martin, “From Casblanca to Berchtesgaden: A Memoir of World War II,” 2003, a.p., 53 (sequined gown); Goolrick and Tanner, The Battle of the Bulge, 41 (lipstick autographs); Kennett, G.I.: The American Soldier in World War II, 202 (eleven pistols); Codman, Drive, 200–201 (“the first girl laughed”); Spoto, Blue Angel, 196–200 (“how could it have been Eisenhower?”).
On a rainy Thursday evening, December 14: corr, Malcolm Richard Wilkey, March 7, 1983, CBM, MHI, box 1, 3; TT, 96–97; McManus, Alamo in the Ardennes, 33.
The U.S. Army’s Guide to the Cities of Belgium: Schrijvers, The Crash of Ruin, 31, 213; Ardennes, 238 (“quiet paradise”); Babcock, Taught to Kill, 63 (“crisp and sunny day”); Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 22–23 (“I’ll be getting fat”); Toland, Battle, 18 (sang while eating crackers); Blunt, Foot Soldier, 108; OH, Albert Handaly, ROHA, http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/Interviews/handaly_albert.html* (death notifications).
Among visitors to the First Army headquarters: Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 180–83; Sylvan, 211; Hogan, A Command Post at War, 207, 212 (worn down by fatigue); Holt, The Deceivers, 657 (“The retreat we beat”).
Ten thousand Belgian civilians: Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead, 12 (“connected with Germany”); corr, Ralph G. Hill, Jr., Nov. 10, 1973, Maurice Delaval collection, MHI, box 9 (Army trucks then hauled the beef); TT, 127–28 (Another roundup); corr, John I. Hungerford, June 26, 1957, JT, LOC MS Div, box 36 (“cornfield forest”); Marshall, A Ramble Through My War, 170 (“Go easy, boys”).
Of the 341,000 soldiers in the U.S. First Army: Royce L. Thompson, “Ardennes Campaign Statistics,” Apr. 1952, OCMH, NARA RG 319, E 97, LSA vol. 1, background files, box 7; Ardennes, 56; corr, Troy H. Middleton to theater historians, July 30, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584; TSC, 371; Price, Troy H. Middleton: A Biography, 212–13 (phony shoulder flashes); John C. Hollinger, “The Operations of the 422nd Infantry Regiment,” 1949, Infantry School, Ft. Benning, Ga. (frontages); Lauer, Battle Babies, 6–7.
For much of the fall, four veteran U.S. divisions: SLC, 612–15; Beck, 461 (eighteen-year-old draftees); Alan W. Jones, Jr., “The Operations of the 423rd Infantry,” 1949, IS, 6 (across the Losheim Gap).
As with so many newer divisions: John C. Hollinger, “The Operations of the 422nd Infantry Regiment,” 1949, IS (seven thousand men had been transferred); OH, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” 106th ID, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A (arriving at Le Havre); Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 15–16 (“numb, soaked, and frozen”).
Few soldiers of the 106th had ever heard: corr, John I. Hungerford, June 26, 1957, JT, LOC MS Div, box 36; Alan W. Jones, Jr., “The Operations of the 423rd Infantry,” 1949, IS, 8 (calibration of new sets); OH, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” 106th ID, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A (shortages of winter clothing); Rosser L. Hunter, IG report, “Action of 106th Infantry Division,” Jan. 26, 1945, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG, 333.9, 1 (“aggressive defense”); report, M. C. Shattuck, VIII Corps, Dec. 13, 1944, NARA RG 498, G-3 OR, box 9 (German war dogs).
“The woods are of tall pines”: Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 14; “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., ETO HD, NARA RG 498, UD 584, box 4; OH, Mark Devine, 14th Cavalry Group, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #329 (“sugar bowls”).
“It has been very quiet”: Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 15–16.
Straw and rags muffled gun wheels: Ardennes, 70; OH, Hasso von Manteuffel, Oct. 12, 1966, John S. D. Eisenhower, CBM, MHI, box 6, 21–22 (authorized to shoot out tires); Parker, ed., The Battle of the Bulge: The German View, 139–40 (portaged ammunition); memo, Walter Model, “Maximum Performance Without Sleep,” Dec. 17, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (“streng
thening foods”); Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 582 (“Some believe in living”).
Two hundred thousand assault troops: Ardennes, 72–73, 650.
“Tomorrow brings the beginning”: ibid., 74.
In the red-roofed Belgian army barracks: TT, 189; Price, Troy H. Middleton: A Biography, 215–16 (champagne corks); Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 121 (“outstanding infantry regimental commander”).
A few miles to the east, the faint clop: Ardennes, 194, 63 (“Nothing to report”); Royce L. Thompson, “Weather of the Ardennes Campaign,” Oct. 2, 1953, CMH, 22.
CHAPTER 9: THE BULGE
A Rendezvous in Some Flaming Town
Sheets of flame leaped: Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 26; OH video, I&R platoon, 394th Inf, 99th ID, compiled by NWWIIM, 2008 (“the end of the world”).
For some, yes: OH, 14th Cavalry Group, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 329; Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 3; OH video, I&R platoon, 394th Inf, 99th ID, compiled by NWWIIM, 2008 (“The whole German army”).
The battle was joined, this last great grapple: As described later in this chapter, Operation NORDWIND, effectively a coda to the Bulge attack, was the last substantial German offensive in the west (OH, 99th ID, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 209; Ardennes, 82).
Es geht um das Ganze: “Intelligence Notes on the Breakthrough,” 99th ID, G-2, n.d., CBM, MHI, box 4.
No man embraced the field marshal’s sentiments: Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH; Ardennes, 260–61; http://www.ss501panzer.com/Trail_KG_Peiper.htm.
As commander of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment: TT, 198–99, 462–63; “Malmedy Massacre Investigation,” U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Oct. 1949 (Blow Torch Battalion); Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 5–6; MMB, 418; Reynolds, The Devil’s Adjutant, 25 (Two brothers, also SS men); memo, European Command judge advocate, March 28, 1949, CMH, LAW 2-7, 2. (Hitler’s orders to wield fear).
In early December, after a test run: “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 2–3, 7, 13–14 (“these roads were not for tanks”).
Both German and American mines cost Peiper: ibid., 15; Eisenhower, The Bitter Woods, 218; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH (clattered into Honsfeld); TT, 203; Ardennes, 261; “The Battle of the Bulge,” AB, no. 4 (1974): 1+ (stripped boots).
German intelligence had correctly identified: Ardennes, 261, 91; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH. “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 16 (fifty thousand gallons). The official Army history contends that fifty American soldiers were murdered in Büllingen, but Charles B. MacDonald, a particularly capable historian, asserts that a single GI was murdered there (TT, 206–9).
This serendipity proved catastrophic for Battery B: Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, ix; Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead, 37–38 (“Boches!”); TT, 213–15.
Boches there were, and in a particularly foul mood: Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH; Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 40–50, 62; Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead, 37 (captors stripped them of rings).
“Da kriegt noch einer Luft”: Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 67.
“I was wounded in the left arm”: affidavit, Homer D. Ford, in memo to ONB, Dec. 29, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584; Ed Cunningham, “The Battle of the Bulge,” Yank, March 2, 1945, in Reporting World War 2, 582 (“then the click”).
For twenty minutes executioners prowled: TT, 219; author interviews, Bastogne, 50th anniversary, Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 17, 1994 (claret color).
Unaware for the moment that his minions: “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 16–17; “The Battle of the Bulge,” AB, no. 4 (1974): 1+ (wolfing down the lunch); TT, 229 (killing seven. The eighth fled).
“God made me to know him”: McNally, As Ever, John, 57–58.
Twilight had fallen when Pieper reached: Ardennes, 265–66; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH (strung out for twenty-five kilometers).
Behind him, near Malmédy: Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 83 (word of the massacre passed); author interviews, Bastogne, 50th anniversary, Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 17, 1994 (Vows to give no quarter); Linderman, The World Within War, 139; war diary, Ninth Army, Dec. 23, 1944, William H. Simpson papers, MHI, box 11 (“American troops are now refusing”).
Peiper had bored a small, vicious hole: Ardennes, 78, 101–6; Brower, ed., World War II in Europe: The Final Year, 225 (“red nightmare”); Lauer, Battle Babies, 17, 42 (flame pits); OH, 99th ID, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 209 (bayoneting GIs).
“One of our young lieutenants”: Brower, ed., World War II in Europe: The Final Year, 225; OH, 99th ID, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 209; Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 33–34 (killed their own major), 32 (“I’ve a rendezvous with death”); TT, 179 (played a piano); Ardennes, 123 (climb to two thousand).
Two towns, actually: Royce L. Thompson, “Tank Fight of Rocherath-Krinkelt,” Feb. 13, 1952, CMH, 2-37 AE P-12, 2–8; Toland, Battle, 80 (“more like postmen”).
A full-throated German assault: Royce L. Thompson, “Tank Fight of Rocherath-Krinkelt,” Feb. 13, 1952, CMH, 2-37 AE P-12, 4; Reynolds, Men of Steel, 87 (“perfect panzer graveyard”).
At dusk on Tuesday, with the last remnants: USAREUR staff ride, Elsenborn, Dec. 5–8, 2001 (unmarked on Belgian military maps).
Corps gunners muscled hundreds of tubes: Blue Spaders, 99–100 (Tiger tanks being dropped by parachute), 99 (“worry no longer”); Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 32 (“throw back my head”).
Just so. At the moment when artillery prowess: Albert H. Smith, Jr., ed., “Biographical Sketches,” n.d., Stanhope Mason papers, MRC FDM, 1994.126.
Here for three days and nights: Wheeler, The Big Red One, 353–57; Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 341 (“Attack repulsed”); Blue Spaders, 104 (“We are killing”).
The heaviest blows fell: corr, Derrill M. Daniel to JT, “The Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry, at Dom Bütgenbach,” June 9, 1958, CBM, MHI, box 2; TT, 404–5; Blue Spaders, 105; Ardennes, 129–32; Rivette, “The Hot Corner at Dom Bütgenbach,” IJ (Oct. 1945): 19+ (Thursday brought worse yet).
“Get me all the damned artillery”: Blue Spaders, 108; Rivette, “The Hot Corner at Dom Bütgenbach,” IJ (Oct. 1945): 19+ (finally winkled out the last defenders).
Army patrols reported enemy dead: corr, Derrill M. Daniel to JT, “The Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry, at Dom Bütgenbach,” June 9, 1958, CBM, MHI, box 2; TT, 406–7, 410–11 (five thousand others were killed).
But the American line held: Percy E. Schramm, “The Course of Events in the German Offensive in the Ardennes,” n.d., FMS, #A-858, MHI, 4, 7; author visit, 1st ID memorial, Dom Bütgenbach, June 2, 2009; Cirillo, “Ardennes-Alsace,” 16; TT, 410; Westphal, The German Army in the West, 183 (muscle-bound and clumsy). Dietrich later claimed that one-quarter of his tanks had been immobilized by various misfortunes simply in moving to the line of departure (USAREUR staff ride, Elsenborn, Dec. 5–8, 2001).
The Americans by contrast demonstrated agility: MacDonald, “The Neglected Ardennes,” Military Review (Apr. 1963): 74+; Charles V. von Lüttichau, “Key Dates During the Ardennes Offensive,” part 2, April 1952, NARA RG 319, R-series, #11, 104–8 (“the Elsenborn attack is gaining”); “Answers to Questions Asked General Westphal,” 1954, FMS, #A-896, MHI, 8–9 (tactical fortunes of Dietrich). The formal shift of emphasis from north to south occurred on Dec. 20 (Ardennes, 134–35).
Two armored corps abreast had come down: TT, 130–31; David E. Wright,
“The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry,” 1948, IS, 7 (Cota’s 28th Division); Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 2, “Division Level,” March 1949, CARL, N-16829.2, 140–41 (found themselves fighting five).
As artillery and mortar barrages shredded: Ardennes, 181–82; Phillips, To Save Bastogne, 52; AAR, 28th ID, Unit Report No. 6, Dec. 1944, JT, LOC MS Div, box 34 (German infiltrators forded the Our); corr, Bill Jarrett, May 23, 1945, Norman D. Cota papers, DDE Lib, box 2 (“While I was being searched”); Ardennes, 188 (“clay pipes”), 198–99 (“not healthy anymore”).
Yet as in the north, frictions and vexations: TT, 143–44; Ardennes, 186 (Engineers eventually built two spans); “The Breakthrough to Bastogne,” vol. 2, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, 4–6 (reduced traffic to a crawl).
On the American right, where four infantry divisions: Ardennes, 212–13; Ent, ed., The First Century, 176 (would fall back slowly for four miles). Seventh Army took several days to throw five bridges across the Our. Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds., Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View, 405–6.
On Cota’s left, two battlion kitchens: corr, Gustin M. Nelson, CO, 112th Inf, to father, May 1945, CBM, MHI, box 3; Ardennes, 193; Ent, ed., The First Century, 174.
That left Cota a single regiment: The 110th Inf also had only two infantry battalions on line, with the third held to the west in division reserve (“The Breakthrough to Bastogne,” vol. 2, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, 4–6).
Here Manteuffel swung his heaviest blow: Ardennes, 176–77, 190–91 (barricaded themselves); Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds., Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View, 394–95 (under a Führer order); Clervaux en Ardennes, 12, 26–27 (John the Blind); Toland, Battle, 99 (pleas for salvation).
A mile up the road, in the three-story Hotel: author visit, Clervaux, June 3, 2009; AAR, 110th Inf, n.d., JT, LOC MS Div, box 35 (advised Cota by radio); Toland, Battle, 88 (“Hold at all costs”).
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