The Battle of the Bulge

 

So the failed Operation Market Garden ended in September. On the plus side a few Dutch towns had been liberated and some V-12 rocket launch pads were destroyed (the first guided, unmanned missiles). At least the Allies had established an area from which to launch a future offensive into the Rhineland area.

Little did they know that Hitler had one more trick up his sleeve.  Against the advice of his advisors and generals (they already saw the inevitable outcome of the war) he ordered them to plan for a major offensive in the Ardennes forest area of Belgium against the very unsuspecting Allies.  

Don't forget that by this time there had been an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Hitler by his own men on July 20, 1944.  Watch Valkyrie.  So many of his men knew that he was quite mad but were afraid to openly oppose him lest they meet the same fate of the the Valkyrie men.  Hmmm...sound familiar?

Feeding his delusions, he sent valuable troops and armored divisions from the Eastern front to Belgium, Luxembourg and France to mobilize what would be called the Battle of the Bulge.  He hoped he could surround the Allies and perhaps negotiate some kind of peace agreement where Germany would not loose all.  That was never going to happen.

Our historian took us to a town called Neuville near the city of Bastogne, Belgium this morning.  Not much of a town.  Just a few buildings at a crossroads in a tiny village.

The Nazis occupied Neuville since the spring of 1940.

The Allies managed to liberate the town on September 10, 1944.  The towns people were so happy they danced in the street with the soldiers and gave them flowers and hugs.  Someone took pictures.

By December 18th, 1944 the Nazis recaptured the town. Someone found the pictures taken with the Allies. Those towns people were rounded up (the Nazis like to round up people) and made to clear the debris from the battle.  Once the debris was cleared they were told to line up in a straight line and count off by 3's.

The 1's were sent home.

The 2's were sent home.

The 3's were lined up in front of this wall and shot.

Over 100 people died there.

Just another day in Nazi Paradise.

The famous Siegfried Line that was also called the West Wall building started in 1936 and was 400 miles long.  It was supposed to make Germany impregnable by tanks.

Many miles of it still exist today.  You see it driving down the roads.

We stopped by the memorial of the Massacre at Malmedy.  84 American POW soldiers were mowed down by the SS because they were slowing down their progress.

We visited foxholes that are still there that were dug by our boys in the Ardennes. The Battle of the Bulge lasted from December 16, 1944 to roughly January 25, 1944.  Record cold temperatures, average 8 below zero each day, no hot food, no winter clothing and our guys had to fight in this forest and cling to their foxholes as their only defense.

This area had to be fenced off by the locals because re-enactors wouldn't leave it alone and were damaging the foxholes.  People!   

It was truly a busy day and we spent some time at the Airborne Museum in Bastogne.  This is privately owned and the owner opened just for us.  This is by far the best war museum I have been to. The exhibits are amazing.

There was a bomb shelter reenactment in the cellar that shook your bones. 

He told us the story of how "Airborne Ale" came to be.

During the American occupation some GI's were desirous of beer as GI's sometimes are.  One of them, Private Vincent Speranza ventured into a blown up tavern and found a beer tap still in tact.  No glassware was to be found so he filled his helmet with the beer and brought it back to his buddies.  He made numerous beer runs back and forth for helmet beer.  Someone started calling it Airborne Ale and it is still produced today.  He visited there in 2009 and the owner of he museum had his likeness made in tribute.

I would have loved to bring some home but I think I can order it online.

Glad there are some good stories that came out of this

war.

We arrived at our hotel this evening in Luxembourg and I discovered something wonderful.  HEATED toilet seats.  Dave, if you're listening please put it on the list!

Tomorrow is my last day here.  We are going to see Patton's grave.  Woo hoo!

I am always anxious to get home but so thankful for this experience and the great people who have been along on the trip with me. Some really nice people interested in the war just like me from all over the USA. Not once was current politics mentioned on this trip (yes, even by me!) and it has been great. Our young historian, Jonathan, made the places we visited come alive with his stories. 

Escaping Paris - Operation Market Garden - Highlight of the Trip for Me So Far

The idea was to leave Paris for Brussels via the fast, super quiet, super smooth, electric train and to give we Americans a taste of efficient French mass transit. 

What happened was that on the way to the Paris train station our train struck a vehicle.  That put us in limbo in the Paris train station for nearly two hours.  The Paris train station is not the most desirable place to spend any time.  There is no where to sit and sketchy characters all around.  We were told ahead of time to be very vigilant of our purses and backpacks.  Two of our fellow travelers, get this -- a retired 4 Star Combat General and his Air Force pilot daughter traveling together had their backpack stolen!  The General's passport was in the backpack!  So, we left them behind to deal with the Paris Police and wait for the American Embassy to open Monday morning.  This happened on a Saturday of course.

Super bummer!  These trips are not without risk.  I compulsively check my passport, cell phone and credit cards multiple times a day.  Trust no-one!  

Operation Market Garden was our next objective. The operation went from Sept 17-25, 1944. Hopes for a quick end to the war quickly turned to ashes as the Allies outstretched their supply lines and Germans reinforced their defenses.  Montgomery had a plan to flank the Germans to the North.  He would then attack into the Netherlands with an armored force. He would drop three airborne (paratroopers) ahead of the ground force to capture the all important bridges and towns.

The Allies were under the delusion that the forces left to defend this area were the lower echelon of the German forces.  Old men and very young men with no combat experience.  Some of the soldiers were 16 years old. However, these young men had grown up in the Hitler Youth and had the Nazi ideology so engrained in their souls that they fought fanatically for the Fatherland.  Hitler said something to the effect of  "Give me your youth and I will control the future".  Take warning my friends.

Operation Market Garden was not considered an Allied success by any means.  It cost us over 17,000 soldier's lives with very little gain.  It did liberate some Dutch towns and they are forever grateful.

We visited one such family in Sonbruggel at their farm.

On the morning of September 17, 1944 a little 6 year old boy walked out into the farm field behind his house and saw this.

This is the same field today.

Thousands of Allied paratroopers were being dropped in to start Operation Market Garden.  

We met that six year old little boy and his family at the same farm house.  He is now 84 years old and  doesn't speak English so his grand-daughter translated for us.  The have a little museum set up to commemorate this big moment in their family history.

We were able to ask him questions and he seemed happy to answer them all.  He told us of a paratrooper who landed near his back door and was hurt and his mother helped bandage his wounds.  He showed us the exact spot as he remembered it as a little boy.  40 years later that same solider came back to visit the family and they had a huge dinner together to celebrate.

Their museum is full of military items that they have found in their fields through the years.

               His prized item is a parachute.  

They served us apple cake and coffee and couldn't have been more gracious to a bus load of Americans.

The 4 year German occupation of their homeland was a nightmare. Many people starved to death and the German soldiers pillaged their homes for what ever they pleased.

The war for them was over on that Day 1 of Operation Market Garden, as they were liberated by the paratroopers.  So, for the Dutch the operation was a success.

This visit with an old man was the highlight of the trip so far for me.  Dates and statistics and bridges and strategies are interesting but talking with him touched  some of us to tears.  

Tomorrow we set out for the Ardennes and a whole new bloody chapter of this war. 

P.S. The Paris police actually caught the General's thief, but the passport was, of course, gone.  They had tried to use his credit card unsuccessfully and that tipped off the police. 

 

 

American Cemetery - Pegasus Bridge - Paris

Visiting the American Cemetery in Normandy is a solemn honor that I wish all Americans had the chance to do.  It grabs you by the heart and it is one of those "quiet" places that makes you want to whisper out of respect.  It sits on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach and roughly 9,400 Americans are buried there.  White marble headstones mark each one.  There are over 1,500 names of the still missing carved on the walls and a small chapel sits in the middle.  Three medal of honor winners rest here. Forty-five sets of brothers lie side by side.  Two of the three brothers killed that inspired Saving Private Ryan lie here.  The third brother died in the Pacific and the brother "Ryan" (not his real name) did get sent home.

What I see here, as a mother, is endless rows of dead sons.  Sons who were barely men yet. Lives that were never finished and grandchildren that were never born. These sons went to fight in Europe by enlistment but mostly by draft.  But it was a noble war that had to be fought, unlike some that came later and tore apart our country.

The Cemetery is immaculately maintained.   The US Government does a lot to keep it manicured but so do volunteer community groups in Normandy and many, many vets who also volunteer.  The people of Normandy still appreciate what we did for them and treat American visitors with respect and grace.  Gotta say the closer you get to Paris that isn't always the case!

Our historian did something really cool.  At the start of the tour he asked for our maiden names.  I thought that a bit odd but OK.  It seems many of the graves have never been visited by family from the US.  It is not an easy trip and sadly they have never had anyone pay respects.  He searched the cemetery records using current last names and maiden names to find graves with that name.  He marked the location on post its so it could be found and passed out the info to us on the tour.  Most of the people has someone to look up.  There were no matches for Zingo or Tufts.  My fellow tour members were able to locate all the gravesites and pay their respects.  Awesome.

At the end of the day we visited Pegasus Bridge.

It crosses the Caen Canal.  English gliders flew in 181 men and they had to hold the bridge until relieved by the British invasion forces.  The object of this action was to prevent German tanks from crossing the bridge and attacking our forces at Sword Beach.  This happened in the wee dark hours of June 6th before the beach landings.  One of the glider men, Lt. Brotheridge, was mortally wounded while crossing the bridge and became the first member of the invading Allied Armies to be die of enemy fire on D-Day.

The bridge was captured after a fierce ten minute fight!

It was a rainy ride to Paris along the French countryside.  Looking out the window it could have been the same view along upstate New York roads.  But so much happened here.  So many thousands of stories in those little farm houses and villages.

Got to our hotel after passing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triumph a little after 4pm.  Just spending the night here then tomorrow morning taking the fast train to Brussels.  Lucky for me I have been here with Kristy before so I'm just going to find a bistro for dinner and catch up on this blog before I forget everything I saw.

Crossing the English Channel to Cherbourg France and the D-Day Beaches

My 5 hour ferry crossing from England to France was quite posh; air conditioned, had a restaurant, bar, recliner chairs and smooth seas.  I was reasonably sure there wouldn't be anyone shooting at me once I got to the other side.  (I wasn't in the USA after all).

The average age of the boys who stormed the beaches on June 6, 1944 was 18-19. Think of our current day kids at that age! Mostly draftees and although trained; they had never experienced real combat.  The seas were extremely choppy and once loaded into their landing craft a few miles out, they had to wait around for all the other landing crafts to be loaded, by circling around in big water. Toting their 80 pound packs and rifle they we given anti-nausea pills but the majority were retching their guts out, shaking uncontrollably and scared out of their minds.  The opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan" show it best.

Operation Overlord was underway and no turning back now.  Utah Beach was the westernmost landing beach. I could go on and on about the details but that even bores me.  You've seen enough old movies I'm sure to get a picture of the carnage.  

The beaches, and especially Omaha Beach, where our boys landed, were sacrificial grounds for the first waves who landed. 

The Germans on the hill, although caught by surprise, had a real advantage (always be above the enemy--right?) and mowed our boys down. 

The most unbelievable mission was the scaling of Pointe du Hoc by our Army Rangers.  9 stories high and very steep.

Out of 225 Rangers only 90 survived.  They had to get up there and destroy some big German guns and bunkers early before the first waves landed.  When you look at those cliffs you think no way that could have been done.  But it was.  

Ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.

We visited all 5 beaches but of course with our group Omaha Beach was the holy ground. Dave and I visited there 13 years ago.  It still grabs you.  It happened to be a beautiful sunny day and there were many visitors milling about from many countries.  WW2 touched everyone in some way.

There is a tribute in the sand on the beach where the first boys landed.  Every day at 4:30 someone plays the Star Spangled Banner here on trumpet along with Taps. 10,000 Americans died at Omaha Beach in the opening days. Fewer than 3,000 D-day vets were still alive as of 2021.  Very soon there won't be any.

Think of them the next time June 6th rolls around and there is no mention of D-Day on the news, social media or the history channel.

Our historian, Jonathan Carroll, (a  Military History Professor at Texas A &M) is making this solemn trip so interesting.  At each memorial or site he injects personal stories of our soldiers who were there.  That means so much more than dates and statistics.  Great job.  Good storyteller.

Sainte Mere-Eglise was occupied by the Germans in June of 1940.  5 roads pass through the town and it was only 7 miles east of the landing beaches. Transport wise it was a very strategic location for both sides. Supplies had to reach the troops or game over.

On June 6, 1944 it was the first occupied town in France to be liberated by airborne troops.  The 82 Airborne Division dropped in town late at night.  Many landed in trees and utility poles and were shot before they could cut loose. As luck would have it there was a big fire in town that night and the sky was lit up.  Not good. One paratrooper, John Steele, became famous as the one who got stuck on a church spire.  He hung there limply for 

two hours playing dead before the Germans took him prisoner.  The town pays tribute to him still today. He managed to escape the Germans and rejoin his infantry going on to help capture 30 Germans and killing another 11.  The incident can be seen in the movie "The Longest Day".   He was played by actor red Buttons.  Hollywood still loves WW2! Endless stories to tell.

Moving along through Normandy we stopped at various memorials.  Too many to mention.  One that was very special was a monument to Lt. James M. Gavin of the 82nd Airborne.  At this site  (a bridge) he and his men held this crossing site over the Merderet Causeway with many casualties.  A very small bridge.  No big deal huh?  Very big deal.  Very important supply route.

This is the same bridge today.  Our historian brings these stories to life and you start to see the importance and difficulty of advancing inches at a time into France and ultimately to the Rhine.   

I thought maybe this tour would calm down my obsession with the subject of WW2 but it seems it's only feeding it. (Sorry Dave)  We visit the American Cemetery next.

Bletchley Park & Eisenhauer's Command Center for the D-Day Invasion

To get in the mood for today's visit to Bletchley Park last night I watched "The Imitation Game" movie on my phone.  It came out a few years ago and was about Alan Turing; the genius behind the first computer.  As so many inventions were born due to the war, this one was created to help break the codes the Germans used to command their attacks.  The machine used was the Enigma machine.  

Early in the war the Brits managed to get their hands on a German Enigma machine.  The hard part was decoding the cyphers as they were changed daily by the Nazis.  Amazingly enough the Germans never found out that they had the machine all throughout the war.  If they had things might have turned out differently.  

The Bletchley Park complex housed the Government Code and Cypher School and the nature of the work remained secret until many years after the war.  According the British Intelligence the "Ultra" intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years.

The mansion was the main building but spartan huts were constructed for the codebreakers.  Turing's computer was made in a small brick building.

It forever changed the world beyond the war.

Turing had a tragic life.  Ridiculed in school because he was a genius, on the spectrum of autism and a homosexual.  Illegal in those times.  He committed suicide after the war.

After a long ride through the English countryside we arrive at Eisenhauer's command center for D-Day.

We stood in the room where he made the fateful decision to go forward with the invasion.  They said by D-Day the stress was making him  smoke 6 packs of cigarettes a day; vs his usual 4.

There was some ego drama the day before he decided to go ahead with the landing,  DeGaule was quite an arrogant man and was very put out that Ike and not he was going to make the final decision.  Since his country was to be invaded he thought he should get the honor.  He stormed out of the room and made it all about him.  

If they didn't go on June 6 the next opportunity would have been June 19.  Every day lost there was a chance the Nazis would figure it all out and the two years of planning and deception on our part would have been a failure.  

They thought we were going to invade Calais in the North of France.  The most direct route across the choppy English channel.  They never thought the beaches in Normandy were the objective.  

The Enigma machine was able to break a message confirming the Germans were poised in Calais and although the Normandy Beaches were fortified; they were not nearly the obstacle they could have been.

See how it's all connected?

Tomorrow we cross the channel into France.  

  

Churchill's War Rooms & Imperial War Museum

Churchill had been warning the British people and government for years that Hitler was not to be trusted. Yet you believe what you want to be true.

Chamberlain came home in 1938 after the famous Munich meeting with a piece of paper with "Herr Hitler's" signature on it that was supposed to guarantee that the German and British people would never again go to war with each other. Gullible little man.  You can't make a deal with the devil and come out on top.

Churchill was really in no position in government to have his way with any foreign policy.  Once Hitler invaded Poland,  France and Germany had to keep their promise to defend the small, beleagured nation. Chamberlain resigned and Winston was chosen by the King and others to succeed him.  It wasn't a real act of love as many in the Parliament opposed him but thankfully for Britain he was placed in charge.  So not only did he have to fight Nazis he had to spar with his peers in government at the same time. 

We visited his War Rooms.  Surely you have seen WW2 movies set in that clostrophobic storage cellar with the pudgy little bull dog of a man barking out orders to his staff all the while puffing on a cigar.

Watch the movie Darkest Hour.

We were lucky to have a local tour guide with us who is also an actor and has played Churchill on stage.  He had Churchill's shape and look and peppered our tour with quotes from the great man himself with his great imitation of his voice and mannerisms. Chilling.

The war rooms were never discovered by the Germans.  Good thing because they were only 10 feet underground.  Not secure from aerial bombing at all.  They did reinforce it with additional concrete walls but a direct hit or even close would have taken out the men and women who were the brain trust of the whole operation in defending the island and conducting the offensive. 

I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed with the map room.  That was the real nerve center of it all.  There were maps on the wall with pins marking different strategic operations.  Very lo-tech and not the giant table with little wooden ships and planes being moved around (like in the movies).  A row of telephones and an operator running the board. That's about it.

The Generals and secretaries pretty much lived in the bunker,  They had tiny little bedrooms and chemical toilets.  There was a kitchen and a small dining room.  Churchill had his own bedroom of course but only spent a hand full of nights there.

I always feel when I visit these historically important sites that I should whisper like in a library. They deserve respect. The emotions and stress, personal stories and human sacrifices that went on there from 1940-1945 can not be measured. 

On the way to the Imperial War Museum our Churchill guy pointed out many statues and monuments to British and American soldiers and statesmen.  Do men like that exist now?

The War Museum had a new Holocaust exhibit and I spent most of my time there.  You were not allowed to take pictures.  Just as well.  Of course it was depressing as hell.  Learning our history is not all rainbows and bunnies but I feel it is important to make sure these stories are told.

Many of the guests are still adjusting to the jet lag thing so we went back to the hotel and I suppose many are taking naps.  I have been here a few days so I am raring to go,  On my way out to find somewhere for dinner and say goodbye to London.  Tomorrow we pack up and drive a couple hours to Bletchley Park to check out the Enigma Machine.  It's truly a WW2 nerd's paradise!

P.S.

Near the end of the war Churchill warned FDR and then Truman that although "Uncle Joe" Stalin was an ally in this war he would soon become an enemy.  Right again!