Sixty-two years ago today American Soldiers (including one of my uncles) were battling Hitler’s armies in The Battle of the Bulge.
In late 1944, in the wake of the allied forces’ successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed as if the Second World War was all but over. But on December 16, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler’s favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as The Battle of the Bulge. The courage and fortitude of the American Soldier was tested against great adversity. Nevertheless, the quality of his response ultimately meant the victory of freedom over tyranny.
The Battle of the Bulge was fought between December 16, 1944 and Januray 25, 1945. Six hundred thousand Amercan men fought three German Armies in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg. 81,000 American troops were killed or wounded in the battle. These men won the largest land battle ever fought by the U.S. Army.
Before the American Troops left to face the German Armies, Eisenhower told them, ‘Full victory, nothing less.’ American Soldiers have never lacked courage, strength, will and determination.
They fought in the snow and sleet of the bitter winter and turned what seemed to be a certain defeat into what the Bristish Prime Minister Winston Churchill called ‘an ever famous American victory’.
It was truly ‘A Triumph of Courage’.
Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge [slide show, newsreels, historical data]
The U.S. National Archives
More at: Argghhh!
linked with: Assorted Babble of Suzie, STACLU, Jo’s Cafe, bRight & Early, Nathan Bradford,
December 17th, 2006 at 11:19 am
One of the finest tributes we can pay the men and boys who lost their lives and limbs in battle then is to not drop the ball now. We came close to losing WWII, and if our leaders had listened to the war protestors and whiners then, we might have.
December 17th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Norma: It would have been nice to just leave this tribute to the guys in the battle of the Bulge alone.
December 17th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
gregdn: I understand some things should just sink in unfettered. Yet Norma is right. In addition, they may not have had to fight there at all had so many not listened to the appeaser Chamberlain after he accepted Hitler’s promise to leave them alone (eat them last). It is an important part of the lesson.
December 17th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Daniel:
World War Two has nothing in common with our war in Iraq. The twenty percent who still think it was a good idea to invade that country shamelessly invoke the last ‘good war’ for political purposes and that was my objection.
December 18th, 2006 at 9:22 am
gregdn, those who can’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Refusing to see correlations between the build up between that war and any other war, including this one if is just a choice to put on blinders.
Norma, thanks for your comments. I’ve often thought the same thing. Those men fought and sacrificed for us to have a better world, we really need to be willing to do the same. How sad if they made our world better and we let their sacrifices be for nothing.
Good points Daniel! That certainly is an important part of the lesson. I don’t know of any time in history that appeasement was successful in maintaining peace.