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The Western front was quiet and soldiers were at rest
They took time out from battle having done their very best.
The tired and the wounded, now at recreation time
As replacement troops arrived, to fill the battered line.
The skies lit up one early morn, from the blasts of German guns
The Panzer Troops were breaking through, on another Blitzkrieg run.
It was operation CHRISTROSE, Hitler’s hidden secret pawn,
the sixteenth of December, a cold DECEMBER DAWN.
The outposts were alerted on the thin defended front,
Brave soldiers stood their ground but soon were over-run.
It was the beginnings of a battle, hereto not divulged.
It was "A TIME FOR TRUMPETS"--THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE.
Peiper and his KAMPFGRUPPEN led the foe’s attack
The Tiger tanks and Grenadiers drove the Allies back.
Model and Manteuffel let the Wehrmacht on a ruse,
It was Rundstedt's Last offensive to reach the river Meuse.
Now Eisenhower’s Lieutenants rushed to halt the German flow
There was Middleton and Hodges and the Corps of Len Gerow.
There were armored tanks with infantry fighting by their side
And bridges blown by Engineers to stem the rushing tide.
The noise of battle sounded throughout the dark ARDENNES
The purrs of churning motors and the tramp of marching men.
Armor clashed with armor on the roads to gain the towns
The GI's met the Grenadiers to hold the frozen ground.
Winter days were harsh that year, with temperatures so low
The bitter cold that claimed the troops became a soldier’s woe.
Hip-deep snow and ice slick roads proved the Army’s bane
But none-the-less with Stamina the GI staked his fame.
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>>2151974
The battle raged from town to town, to Stavelot and St. Vith,
The armored columns turned their tanks to face the Nazi myth.
This was the German "waterloo" as Peiper turned about
His Kampingruppe columns shattered and Panzer tanks en route.
On Christmas Day in Bastogne, McAuliffe’s troops prevailed.
The 'Battered Bastards' held the town while help was on the trail.
Armor-men and Infantry came to join the bloody fray
The hurrying Fourth Armored arrived to save the day.
The clouds above cleared that day, our planes were in the skies
Supplies and ammunition dropped —A Christmas Gift surprise.
Now Patton’s Best came from the West to end the German thrust
The BULGE was closed by Stalwart men who gave their very best.
A liberated people, now toast those Battling men
Who paid the price for Freedom in the woods of the ARDENNES.
The Battle won by Stamina of youth who stood so tall
Winston Churchill said it, "The Greatest of them all.”
John t . McAutilTe
87 LNKD 347 INF M
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How did the allied intelligence miss the German build-up prior to the Bulge?
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>>2151983
>Before the offensive the Allies were virtually blind to German troop movement. During the liberation of France, the extensive network of the French resistance had provided valuable intelligence about German dispositions. Once they reached the German border, this source dried up. In France, orders had been relayed within the German army using radio messages enciphered by the Enigma machine, and these could be picked up and decrypted by Allied code-breakers headquartered at Bletchley Park, to give the intelligence known as Ultra. In Germany such orders were typically transmitted using telephone and teleprinter, and a special radio silence order was imposed on all matters concerning the upcoming offensive.[43] The major crackdown in the Wehrmacht after the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler resulted in much tighter security and fewer leaks. The foggy autumn weather also prevented Allied reconnaissance aircraft from correctly assessing the ground situation. German units assembling in the area were even issued charcoal instead of wood for cooking fires to cut down on smoke and reduce chances of Allied observers deducing a troop buildup was underway. [44]
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>>2151983
>>2152895
>For these reasons Allied High Command considered the Ardennes a quiet sector, relying on assessments from their intelligence services that the Germans were unable to launch any major offensive operations this late in the war. What little intelligence they had led the Allies to believe precisely what the Germans wanted them to believe-–that preparations were being carried out only for defensive, not offensive, operations. The Allies relied too much on Ultra, not human reconnaissance. In fact, because of the Germans' efforts, the Allies were led to believe that a new defensive army was being formed around Düsseldorf in the northern Rhineland, possibly to defend against British attack. This was done by increasing the number of flak (Flugabwehrkanonen, i.e., anti-aircraft cannons) in the area and the artificial multiplication of radio transmissions in the area.
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>>2152896
>Allied High Command considered the Ardennes a quiet sector
>every war in history where german and france have fought germany has gone through the ardennes in a quasi-sneak attack
really makes you think
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Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
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>>2152909
Given that the Allies probably could had won the war in '39 if they had fully committed to the Saar Offensive such incompetence is hardly surprising.
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>>2152895
Apparently some of Patton's intelligence guys predicted it.
https://youtu.be/-I803ncnvMY?t=209
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>>2151974
Can anyone explain to me how Lanzerath ridge happened?I thought the Fallschirmjäger were supposed to be pretty good,how did 20 recruits stall 500 of them for so long while inflicting massive casualties?
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>>2152943
boots boots boots marching up and down again
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>>2152971
Not him, but I doubt it.
For starters, while the Sigfried line isn't as famous as the Maginot line, the German side of the border was fortified almost as heavily.
Secondly, the Germans had about 130 divisions mobilized by the end of October. Any "fully committed' Saar offensive would have faced mounting resistance enormously quickly as the 60+ new divisions came online (As big as a force as the entire invasion of Poland), even if the French had the logistical capability or the doctrine to make rapid advances, which they didn't.
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