Britain's Battle of the Bulge - A Christmas Special

[Music] British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said that the Battle of the Bulge was undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war in this of course he was quite correct for what many people don't realize is it was not only Americans who halted and defeated Hitler's Ardenne offensive there was a small but important contribution by British Commonwealth forces that was written out of the story almost as soon as the fighting was over largely as general Sir Alan Brooke chief of the Imperial General Staff noted quote for political reasons unquote Hitler's great Ardenne offensive struck a thinly defended sector of the American front line on the 16th of December 1944 and raged for a month of hellish fighting Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery commanded the 21st Army Group the British Commonwealth contribution to the invasion of northwest Europe and advanced steadily from northern France into the Netherlands and northern Germany when the Germans struck in the yard n they pushed a salient deep into American lines creating the famous bulge Montgomery's forces like American forces south of the Bulge would be sucked into the fighting the German plan was to get clear of the Ardennes Forest crossed the river Murs and then strike out over good tank country to Antwerp the major Allied supply base captured by Montgomery's forces by the first week in December the whole line of the mass river was firmly held while the Americans were probing into Germany itself the bag of Nazi prisoners on this front had grown to pretty sizable proportions [Music] as German forces slowly advanced held up at several points by very determined American resistance particularly around the important crossroads town of Bastogne a battle group from the fifth Panzer army managed to move towards the mers River 600,000 American troops fought in the Bulge and the Churchill's description is accurate but what is often ignored is the fact that 55,000 British and Canadian troops also fought and were responsible for denying the ford german units an important bridge to cross the mers River the town of Dino ham for stopping any further westward advances by two armored battle groups from the fifth Panzer army that came closest to reaching the river Hitler's intermediate objective before the push on to the city of Antwerp on the 19th of December 1944 supreme Allied commander General Dwight Eisenhower in agreement with Prime Minister Churchill made some temporary command changes in light of the dire Ardennes situation all American units deployed north of a line from the towns of j'avais to Plume were placed under Field Marshal Montgomery's British 21st Army Group while those south of the lion were full and the General Omar Bradley is 12th Army Group this placed mini US divisions under British command the next day Monti ordered the British 30 Corps under Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks to leave its positions in the Netherlands and rush to defensive positions between j'avais and Maastricht they would provide a last line of defense to prevent the Germans from crossing the mers River and advancing on Antwerp the 51st Highland division and 53rd Welsh division took up positions along with the 29th and 33rd armored brigades these units dug in between the mers River and Antwerp to provide a last line of resistance in case the Americans failed to contain the German offensive and German forces actually got across the mers Eisenhower knew that the loss of Antwerp would have been catastrophic to the Allied advance on Germany an ordered Monte to protect the port and all car but Monty was also able to be proactive and assist hard-pressed US forces on the northern shoulder of the Bulge by dispatching some of Britain's best troops to help stop the German advance the famed Red Devils the parachute regiment the British 6th Airborne Division had last seen action on d-day dropping alongside American paratroopers and was trucked to the our den the Paris digging in between de Noir and Marche off MN right in the path of the advancing Germans 2nd Panzer Division battle was joined early on the morning of Christmas Eve when the third Royal Tank Regiment supported by US Sherman's actually crossed the river MERS and entered the first Ardenne battle between British and German forces two German battle groups from the 2nd Panzer Division were fast approaching the mers comfor / korkin Heusen named for its commander major ernst von Koch in Howsam reached the town of cell a few kilometers south of Foy atom and about 12 kilometers from the river kokin Heusen was heading for Dino on the mers but his leading panther ran over a u.s. mine and was knocked out locals told hook and Heusen untruthfully that the road to Dino was heavily mined fearing being spotted by Allied aircraft kokin Heusen pulled his camp grouper back into nearby woods setting up his command post the 2nd Panzer divisions other battle group approaching the mers was come for bone a subject I made a programme about some time ago please check out the link in the description box below major von boom was moving steadily towards Dino when first contact was made with British troops just outside the village of Foy Norodom a Sherman Firefly the third Royal Tank Regiment lay in wait the crew could hear the rumble of German tank engines approaching as a German vehicle came in sight the Firefly fired its powerful 17 pounder or seventy six point two millimeter gun that missed the shell instead struck a German truck loaded with ammunition causing a massive explosion the Firefly fired again knocking out a Panzer four Panthers move forward to try and locate the Firefly that the sergeant commanding reversed rapidly away and reported the contact to headquarters major von berms column was almost out of fuel and halted at fight not freedom in the meantime members of the Belgian resistance had located major von cocoon house ins hidden battle group and informed British headquarters the forward elements of the 2nd Panzer Division were now only seven kilometers from the mers at Dino but frustratingly for the Germans the ford elements were running so low on fuel and supplies they came virtually to a halt American divisions were fighting hard on the German flanks and in the rear areas Kumpf Gruber Cochrane housing in two pockets between cell and cano had dug in and awaited reinforcements from the ninth Panzer Division but the ninth was also delayed and awaiting fuel itself the Germans were very close to their initial objective and the delays were insufferable Field Marshal Valtor mudal ordered reconnaissance units to leave their vehicles and capture the Bridger Dino on foot by now both camp groupers were under British artillery fire the Germans own guns captured were now turned against them [Music] worse was to come on Christmas Day the British counter-attacked camp grouper burms Reconnaissance Battalion was heavily bombarded infinitely damn us divisions were attacking German forces close by on the afternoon of Christmas Day Sherman's of the third Royal Tank Regiment supported by the u.s. 82nd reconnaissance battalion advanced from the village of Sahin on Foy Mottram in heavy fighting the village was retaken a major von boom and a hundred and forty-eight of his men were captured Sam managed to escape through the deep snow back to German lines but all the vehicles had been lost cell was assaulted by combat command B of the u.s. 2nd Armored Division over two days of vicious fighting two and a half thousand Germans were killed or wounded and 1,200 captured 82 German armored fighting vehicles were captured or destroyed by the Americans major von Koch and Heusen with 600 men managed to escape on foot in small groups back to German lines throughout the 26th of December the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment continued with mopping up operations in the area supported by rocket firing typhoon aircraft of the Royal Air Force [Music] [Music] in the last days of December the British 30 Corps extended its positions between the MERS and the town of ATO the weather grew worse making aerial reconnaissance impossible the 53rd Welsh division replaced the Americans at Marsh offer men headquarters wanted to know the dispositions of what remained of the Panzer Lehr division and the 2nd Panzer Division a 350 strong team of reconnaissance troops mounted a machine gun armed jeeps were sent to the large forest south of rush for and marsh it consisted of the British 61st reconnaissance regiment from the 6th Airborne Division and some Belgian and French SAS troops a jeep mounted reconnaissance party from the 5th SAS regiment located part of the Panzer Lehr division 10 kilometers south of Raja of the town of Buer on the 31st of December three SAS were killed when their Jeep was hit by a German t28 Bernie's Lachelle the British were ordered to capture Biewer on the 2nd of January 1945 the British paratroopers were supported by Sherman's of the five and for failure Maneri from the 11th Armored Division the intention of the attack was to fully hold any further German advances on the mers River which could have resumed if the Germans had managed to sort out their supply and fuel problems elsewhere stubborn US counter-attacks had halted or isolated other German units on the 3rd of January the 13th Lancashire parachute battalion began its assault on buer on foot through deep snow facing them where elements of the Panzer Lehr division both attacking companies were plastered with German mortar and machine gun fire and German tanks also joined in pulling back the British regrouped and attacked again a company managed to gain a foothold in the village and B Company took the high ground and also entered pure C Company was sent in as reinforcements the Germans launched immediate counter-attacks fighting from strong points in buildings at one point a company of the power actually cooldown artillery fire on their own position such was the close-quarter nature of the fighting on the 4th of January the Germans bombarded the Paris with intense artillery fire before Panzer grenadiers attacked the Paris fort of five German counter-attacks that day all supported by Panzers the Parra's knocked out several German tanks with peer launchers Europe was reduced to ruins on the evening of the 4th of January British reinforcements arrived C Company 2nd battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire light infantry came up next day 5th of January the British launched an all-out assault that eliminated remaining German resistance the last German outpost falling at 9 p.m. that night 16 Sherman tanks of the Fife and for failure Maneri and the 23rd who's ours were knocked out the Panzer Lehr division lost 500 men and 11 tanks knocked out or damaged in the fight with the British the British took up the advance and throughout early January assisted the general u.s. assault on the German bulge fighting and capturing 13 towns and villages on the 16th of January 1945 having achieved all of its aims Montgomery withdrew 30 Corps to Holland in preparation for the battle for the Rhineland and ultimately the crossing of the Rhine River in total 325 British troops were killed in the our den and over 1,100 wounded or missing it was a small sacrifice in comparison to the tens of thousands of Americans killed and wounded in the Battle of the Bulge but the small British commitment at dinner was at the time very important finally preventing any German forces from reaching and crossing the mers which would have had dire results for the u.s. positions on either side of the Bulge German logistical problems severely hampered their advance but the British successfully slammed the door in the face of the - 2nd Panzer Division battle groups that almost made it to the offensives first major objective and bought time for US forces hard right across the region to begin to counter-attack and crush the German bridgehead the British contribution to defeating Operation Vox Tom Ryan should not be forgotten don't forget to visit my new audio book channel war stories with mark Felton linked below and I'd like to thank all those who have subscribed and especially those who have kindly help support my channels at PayPal and patreon I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,181,287

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Battle of the Bulge, Montgomery, General Eisenhower, Ardennes

Id: wvcJfXtkCW8

Length: 15min 8sec (908 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 24 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/uunintrestedd]

One of the best ww2 channels on youtube if not the best along with tick.

[u/M4A1_Sherman_76w]

British Battle of the Bulgey Wulgey UwU XD