Battle of the Bulge from the German Infantryman's Perspective

to follow on the 19th of December 1944 around 9 000 men of the American 106th Infantry Division surrendered to German forces which had surrounded them in the Arden region of Western Europe an officer in the 18th false Grenadier division recounted the scene the roads are littered with destroyed American Vehicles cars and tanks another column of prisoners pass I count over a thousand men it was the fourth day of the Battle of the Bulge the last great German offensive of the second World War as The Columns of American GIS marched into captivity their captors believed they were turning the tide in fact their hard-fought victory was providing false hope this is the story of the German Soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge the war was not going well for Germany in late 1944 and most of its soldiers recognized that their country was living off borrowed time after a long and attritional battle in Normandy the Allies broke out into the French Countryside and battered the Vermont armies back to the German border the disastrous and chaotic Retreat across France LED some to despair allberg fighter Hans horse wrote in his diary at this time why sacrifice more and more men allow more and more of our homeland to be destroyed in towns across France and Belgium the local populace turned out to jeer the retreating Germans while they waited for Allied liberation by the time the retreat came to an end at the German border it appeared that the rice Western armies were spent upon reaching the defensive fortifications of the Siegfried line it was estimated that upwards of 60 of the remaining Vermont soldiers on the Western Front were infested with light and suffered from malnutrition in desperation some even looted The Villages of German civilians leading a doctor in a parachute division to exclaim The Soldier's Behavior today is unbelievable they robbed their own people they tore everything out of the cupboards they were like wild animals many turned to Gallows humor overstonefura volki of the first SS Panzer Division livestandata cynically believed that when the Allies defeated Germany they will start by re-educating us the SS of all people to be Democrats however the imminent Prospect of an invasion of the Reich itself hardened the resolve of most and morale did not collapse Albert freiter ankenbile wrote to his wife I'm in the sector opposite my birthplace as a result I can defend my homeland Anew with more courage and determination we must never contemplate the unthinkable possibility of defeat aided by the shortened supply line and favorable terrain the German armies in the west stabilize the front line in late 1944. faced with determined resistance the Allied failed to break through all the way at least German defenses during operation Market Garden and at the Battle of the hertzkin forest by early December the front had gone quiet as the Allies settled in for the winter content to wait until the following spring to initiate offensive operations yet the opposite was true for the German army soldiers stationed in the Arden sector began to notice an influx of fresh conscripts along with brand new units Supply dumps and staging areas sprung up seemingly overnight throughout the region packed with mechanized vehicles charcoal was distributed to units as a cooking substitute for wood as it made little smoke and all roads leading to the front were restricted to one-way traffic heading west artillery officers were the first to see through the clouds of secrecy once they were ordered to emplace their heavy guns in offensive positions this was preparation for operation watch on the Rhine which was to be a massive counter-offensive to destroy the Allied armies opposing the Reich [Music] preparations continued at a frantic Pace throughout late November and early December 1050 trains arrived at the front carrying men and material for the offensive secrecy was ruthlessly enforced to prevent word of the coming attack from reaching the Americans gestapo officers patrolled Villages along the front and interrogated men hoping to root out any perceived cowardice before the attack in the rear area the despised SS feld's John darmory or military police guarded Crossroads and directed traffic the Feld John's Armory strictly but selectively enforced military discipline often targeting members of the regular army while turning a blind eye to SS units they were especially despised for Harsh punishments handed out to suspected deserters the soldiers who were to take part in the attack had a wide range of emotions on the eve of the offensive in the SS formations optimism spread like wildfire amongst the most fanatical of the party members a soldier in the 12th SS Panzer Division wrote to his sister I write during one of the great hours before an attack full of unrest full of expectation we are still in the dark as to where and how but that cannot be helped it is enough to know that we attack and will throw the enemy from our homeland that is a holy task an SS standard and fuhrer compared to the coming struggles to the ancient Battle of the 300 Spartans against the Persians we have all been brought up from the cradle to consider leonidas's fight at thermophili as the highest form of sacrifice for one's people it is well known that a nation which has not fought out such a fateful struggle right to the last has never risen again as a nation the mood was more realistic in the regular Vermont units the night before the attack how to man Barr of the 26th volts Grenadier division briefed his men telling them in 12 or 14 days we will be in Antwerp or we have lost the war before telling them that any equipment they were lacking would need to be taken from American prisoners an under officer wrote even if our allies abandon us we must not lose courage although most were desensitized to Joseph goebbel's constant propaganda his promise that the Americans would turn German prisoners over to the Soviet Union hit home thus many fought with goebbel's Victory or Siberia slogan in mind there is no doubt that many Vermont men desperately hoped the offensive would succeed for the sake of their Homeland and themselves the last great attack by the German Army in the Second World War began at 5 20 am on the 16th of December 1944. aided by the thick fog and low clouds grounding Allied air power over four hundred thousand men surged forward and engaged ill-prepared American positions in the thick Woods of the Arden although the Germans had surprised their outnumbered enemy many of the forward units suffered horrific losses on the first day of the battle the 26th volts Grenadier division Advanced into a hail of machine gun fire and lost 230 men and eight officers within hours casualties quickly mounted as German soldiers some as young as 15 struggle to overcome the difficult terrain ahead of them but the German Force's biggest enemy was time they needed to break through the American lines as quickly as possible in order to turn surprise into a paralyzing defeat for the allies at the Village of lanzarath Eastern Front Veterans of a powerful SS armored unit named Camp grouper Piper had been told not to advance until paratroopers could clear the ridge of a small Detachment of American Infantry yet the battle raised all day while the SS troops in their King Tiger and panther tanks seats with frustration at the delay by the time the Defenders had been overcome Camp creeper Piper was far behind schedule and its leader obaster van fuhrer yoken Piper urged his men to be brutal in their advance however initial successes in the center of the front raise German morale considerably a large portion of the American 106th division was encircled by the second day of the battle and the road to The Miz River Crossing seemed open a Corporal in the third Panzer Grenadier division wrote home I think the war in the west is again turning the main thing is that it will soon be decided and I will be coming home again to my dear wife and we can again build a new home wild optimism infected the men in the leading Vanguard units which broke through American lines near the town of sanvit a lieutenant wrote to his wife you cannot imagine what glorious hours and days we are experiencing now the snow must turn red with American blood victory was never as close as it is now the reality of the situation was Far different for German units in the rear attempting to reinforce the Breakthrough the dirt roads of the ardenne were churned into impassable mud by Tank dreads which caused massive traffic jams behind the front German tanks suffered repeated breakdowns and blocked the one lane roads further exacerbating the problem the heavy congestion also cause tanks and trucks to run out of fuel before they could reach the front forcing men to abandon their vehicles and continue forward on foot these delays made German commanders Furious as they knew the advance could not afall to fall behind schedule at one congested Crossroads many German soldiers watched with amazement as the exacerbated commander of the fifth Panza Army Lieutenant General Haso Von manturfel stood in the middle of the road and directed traffic himself the slower than expected Advance LED frustrated SS units to indulge in brutality with camprooper Piper being the worst offender taking their Leader's ruthless message to Heart Piper's men left a trail of war crimes in their wake on the second day of the offensive the SS soldiers massacred 86 U.S prisoners at the bonniere crossroads word of which quickly reached American lines the men of Camp creeper Piper had served on the Eastern front where executing prisoners was a common practice an SS man in a reconnaissance Battalion later said our Stone fuhrer just shot prisoners outright there were 12 of them the first time he just shot them because they were in the way Piper soldiers were just as cruel to civilians massacring many in The Villages they captured Tales of ss atrocities were to have grave consequences later in the battle when American GIS set their minds on Revenge despite voracious American resistance many German soldiers had little respect for their enemy one wrote The American infantryman isn't worth a penny they only operate with heavy weapons and as long as a German machine gun is still firing the American Soldier won't advance another reveled in the fact that they could no longer call on air support to help them he doesn't attack without aircraft and tanks he's too cowardly for that those who were totally committed to their fuhrer's cause went to extraordinary lengths to show their distaste a wounded soldier in the 12th SS Panzer Division was captured and brought to an American aid station but refused a life-saving blood transfusion he preferred to die rather than to have what he considered unclean blood in his body the leading German units forged ahead in the first days of the offensive with their eyes firmly set on crossing the Muse River however the arrival of American reinforcements and costly battles on the elsenborn Ridge and the towns of samvit and bastonia continue to slow the advance by the 21st of December the men on the ground could sense that the offensive was losing momentum the failure to see sanvit and bastonia were especially costly as they controlled some of the only paved roads in the area without these crucial Supply Avenues German Logistics suffered heavily men in the 26 volts Grenadier division who had been ordered to lay Siege to mastonia were forced to share one loaf of bread amongst 10 men even the Americans they surrounded had more food more importantly the Panzer divisions could not be resupplied with fuel spare parts and ammunition the situation was far worse for cancer group of paper in the north they had been trapped in the village of laglies by the 22nd of December and the German troops were starving and exhausted despite their hopeless situation surrender was not an option in raised American soldiers also committed atrocities executing SS prisoners on the spot as revenge for their massacres earlier in the battle Piper's officers use this to their advantage and urged their men to fight to the death nonetheless many attempted to flee back to German lines despite the sometimes Sub-Zero temperatures over 100 SS soldiers tried to swim across the freezing amblo River to safety only to be picked off by American infantrymen one by one just 800 out of Camp grouper Piper's original 4 800 men survived the battle a break in the weather on the 23rd of December saw the return of Allied Air Supremacy which was the worst fear of most German soldiers they were especially terrified of the rocket-firing P-47 Thunderbolts and Hawker typhoons nicknamed the yabots shortened from yard bomber literally meaning fighter bomber one officer said we prefer to walk instead of using a car on the main Highway the abbots keep on attacking everything which moves on the roads the clear winter Sky also caused the temperature to plunge to minus 17 degrees Celsius or 1 degree Fahrenheit German soldiers whose uniforms were in tatters after a week of constant combat suffered horrible frostbite but doctors could do little for them without adequate medical supplies by Christmas Eve German commanders had accepted they had failed the leading units were only four miles from The Muse River but had reached their limit in the Belgian town of Salas a family heard a knock on the door when they cautiously opened it a young and shivering soldier from the second Panzer Division fell to his knees and begged for food out of Christmas charity the family gave him some soup and a pie before sending him on his way other German soldiers were desperate to find alcohol a 14 year old girl in the village of Rochford watched a Vermont private punch through the glass door of a cafe with his bare Fist and despite bleeding heavily he made off with a bottle of wine soldiers forced their way into civilian homes to share in the warmth but there were few cases of non-ss German soldiers seizing food at gunpoint they sang silent night while drowning their sorrows in whatever alcohol they could find many stared at pictures of loved ones and wept silently bitter at having to spend Christmas away from their families the German collapsed in the Battle of the Bulge began on Christmas Day 1944 the overextended and under-supplied spearhead of the offensive was essentially wiped out in a combined British and American counter-attack these units had so little fuel that they could not even run their ambulances while Allied fighter bombers reigned Napalm and high explosives from above all across the front an Allied counter-offensive began to push the Germans back to their starting positions those who had believed the fuhrer's great attack would eject the Allies from Europe were now despondent retreating units destroyed whatever they could mostly as a scorched Earth strategy but sometimes out of spite as Germans burnt the village of yamal a woman angrily asked an officer why they would do such a thing to which he responded we want to do in Belgium what was done to Germany German forces suffered approximately 100 000 casualties in the Battle of the Bulge almost 25 percent of their original committed strength yet the German Army remained defiant in defeat as the Allies approached the rec town of sanvid an artillery officer wrote the town is in Ruins but we will defend the ruins but their bravery could not overcome a massive disadvantage in Weaponry supplies and air power soon the German forces would be defending the ruins of their own country as total defeat loomed

Channel: The Intel Report

Views: 1,153,155

Keywords: ww2, documentary, history, battle of the bulge, us army, tiger tank

Id: EiBxW46XedI

Length: 17min 10sec (1030 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 25 2022