The Battle Of The Bulge: Hitler's Armored Counterattack | Greatest Tank Battles | War Stories

december 16 1944 german tanks roll into the ardennes forest of belgium [Music] at that point the heavens opened up and all hell breaks loose the next lane we came to there is the only tiger tank i ever saw they attack american lines in one last desperate attempt to change the course of the war and it started in one fell swoop and we chased away the americans they dropped everything and ran away the americans respond with one of the biggest and most daring armored counter-attacks in the history of tank warfare there's tanks being hit bang bang bang all over the place at stake is the fate of western europe this is the battle of the bulge now it's a matter of survival the ardenne region on the belgian german border is a picture postcard of majestic forests [Music] deep gorges and rolling valleys it's also a notorious killing ground this rugged part of the european heartland is a gateway to france and the ports of the north sea armies have fought here since roman times and in december of 1944 the ardennes once again erupts this time in one of the biggest and bloodiest armored clashes of the second world war december 16th 5 30 am german artillery breaks the predawn calm and soon after more than a thousand german tanks attack u.s forces along a 140 kilometer front hitler's aim is to stop the allied advance across france and belgium toward the german homeland through the summer and fall of 1944 the allies have pushed the germans 850 kilometers across europe but now as they near the german border their supply lines grow thin and the advance loses steam hitler hopes to capitalize on this and prepares a massive counter-attack in the ardennes it's his last big role of the dice the german attack plan is to smash the weak american line along the german border with belgium and luxembourg and seized the bridges over the muse river clearing the way for a push onto antwerp hitler gave a strategic goal which was to capture antwerp harbor and with that huge allied supply dump the second goal was basically more tactical if he had succeeded in pinning down about 25 plus allied divisions in the ardans which were resting this would result in a tremendous amount of losses for the americans and for the british and would eventually bring them back on the negotiation table the germans estimate they have only three days before the allies can mount an effective response in the ardan they need to strike quickly with a massive highly mobile armored force [Music] they assemble eight panzer divisions over 1700 armored vehicles including hundreds of tigers and over 400 panzer mark fives the deadly panther the panther is armed with a high velocity 75 millimeter armor piercing gun and is protected by 80 millimeters of sloping frontal armor that deflects incoming fire it can do 30 kilometers an hour even over the roughest terrain giving it an edge in the tough winter conditions of the ardennes the germans secretly muster their enormous armored force at night over eight weeks and wait for bad weather to ground allied warplanes on the morning of december 16th the temperature falls well below freezing and there are snow storms across the ardennes everything is in place and the germans [Music] strike and it started in one fell swoop when we chased away the americans the americans dropped everything on the tables and yeah dropped everything and ran away we left huge amounts of equipment fuel and shells the bad germans are coming let's run that's kind of what it looks like the germans catch the americans off guard and the shape of the ardennes battlefront begins to change giving rise to a name that will live in u.s military history the battle of the bulge at the spearhead of this bulge is the fifth panzer army attacking the weakest part of the american line held by the u.s 28th division and the handful of tanks attached to them the m4a3 sherman is the us force's main battle tank and it's no match for the german panther the shermans are light and fast but carry a low velocity 75 millimeter main gun that cannot penetrate the panthers heavy frontal armor their own frontal armor is just 51 millimeters thick making them highly vulnerable to the firepower of the pan folks spread across a front over 24 kilometers long the 28th has only 32 sherman tanks 57 anti-tank guns and thousands of battle-weary men the ardans was an ideal territory to accommodate tired troops wary troops during that time the 28th division received a steady stream of reinforcements from the states so in other words young soldiers that had just not seen active combat yet that's why all these troops here that vetted down on the night from december 15 to 16 they were totally caught by surprise [Music] one of the exhausted soldiers holding the front line with the 28th division is 23 year old john marshall of the 707th tank battalion when the bulge broke we were just going to eat this lieutenant comes with his club and he knocked all the muskets out of your hand leave them leg get on your tanks and assemble down at the bottom of the town they were frozen and the oil settles down to the bottom of the the motor the top of the motor has no oil at all and the oil now is sludgy and as a result it wasn't going to move and we couldn't get it started and that's when the tanks pulled out on [Music] us we started putting everything you're not supposed to do i think we had five bunsen burners on the motor and under the motor and everything else and luckily we finally got it started [Music] marshall searches for the rest of his tank unit unaware that the germans have already broken through the 28th division's line but he's lost and eventually joins two other shermans in the same predicament two other tanks were there when we got down here the other two tanks saw us come down and they says we'll follow you or we we had no idea where we were going i jumped out of our tank to guide our tank across the bridge and when we were safely across i pointed to the uh time commander for him to do the same thing he no sooner got over the bridge when it was a tremendous flash the germans under the bridge had hit him with a brazilian and the other two tanks they all got machine gun when they climbed out of the tanks the fifth panzer army seems unstoppable all that stands in their way are scattered pockets of u.s forces under-equipped outnumbered and in marshall's case completely lost we now we're really on our own december 16 1944 in an effort to turn the tide of war on the western front eight panzer divisions launch a surprise attack on american forces in the ardan on the central front the fifth panzer army breaks through thinly defended american lives in the chaos many americans like tanker john marshall are lost and surrounded by the advancing germans we now we're really on our own hoping to find our platoon or anybody we decided to pull off the road and we uh debated what to do so i says i'm going to lower the gun so it looked like it was knocked out because i don't want some son of a [ __ ] rolling a hand grenade down the barrel [Music] all night long you could hear the germans walking by aktung kaput and all of that they assumed that the tank was knocked out the next morning somebody saw us whether it's the germans or americans a shell come in hallie jumped onto the road turned left and started going down the main road the next lane we came to there is the only tiger tank i ever saw and on both sides of it were two smaller tanks and i shot at it the german tiger is a 57-ton monster almost twice as heavy as a sherman it's protected in places by up to 100 millimeters of steel plate the tiger is one of the heaviest tanks on the world war two battlefield with an 88 millimeter main gun that can rip a sherman to pieces by comparison the sherman's a peashooter its 75 millimeter main gun has a short three meter barrel producing a low muzzle velocity and a weak punch and you might just as well throw an orange at that wall here it was so powerful why they didn't get us i don't know they had the whole board side to hit and but we still kept going and so do the germans they must take the bridges over the muse river while overcast weather continues to ground allied warplanes and before the americans bring up reinforcements just 20 hours into the attack lead elements of the fifth panzer army are only 90 kilometers short of their objective and have already pushed eight kilometers into belgium the germans reinforce their gains and throw more and more armor into the ever deepening bulge including the elite 116th panzer division we were up on this hill we didn't take the street but drove across the fields and meadows because of all the mines this tank with its small cannon was barely a threat for us jokingly we just called it a knocking device and the punter that was standing next to me short [Music] from the first shot the shell hit here actually bounce back so instead of a hit it bounced up [Music] it must have hit the [Music] that are standing out here [Music] and they fired for his third time the panther's main gun has a long five and a half meter barrel enabling it to penetrate sherman armor at ranges of up to two thousand meters with our advanced so the two or three first days of the german attack the americans were totally exhausted with constant fighting day and night and so forth and we're lacking supplies and higher authorities and there's nothing we can do here retreat the americans fall back towards bastogne a transportation hub which includes roads to the all-important crossings along the muse river allied command issues orders whole bastone at any cost the 101st airborne division is sent to reinforce the town for three days in the cold and snow and without air support the 101st and remnants of the 10th armored division fight off repeated attempts by the germans to take bastogne on december 19th frustrated by the stubborn u.s defense the fifth panzer army's main armored force is ordered to bypass bastogne and continue their advance toward the bridges on the muse river concerned that bastogne will be encircled allied command orders general george patton's third army to the rescue patton's forces are in france 260 kilometers away he orders an immediate mass movement of three divisions north to bastogne at the spearhead are 127 tanks of the 4th armored division at about 8 30 that night i was told to be ready to move 50 minutes after midnight heading north he had to turn his army 90 degrees and that's where we went onto the boat my tank and my battalion with the lead elements of patton's third army to make this 161 mile approach march to bestow the situation was absolutely unknown we went all night all day snowy icy roads the weather was horrible bitter wind the last night was under total blackout conditions you can't imagine to have a black black knight to be traveling black out all the tanks had were little things called cat's eyes in the rear so the tank commander is looking taken from the cat's eyes and that enables him to know where he's going and how much distance he is with the tank but i was in the front tank and there were no cat size in front of me there was nothing and we reached for a sign that said nerf chateau bastogne and he thought he stopped 32 sherman tanks of the 8th battalion reached the outskirts of bastogne in less than 24 hours that was a tough tough much it was the greatest mass movement of men in the shortest period of time in military history [Music] but every tank made it but by the time they arrive the germans have already surrounded bastogne the americans in the city are trapped and across the ardennes so are many others like tanker john marshall who's just trying to find his way back to friendly lines we were hoping to find our platoon or anybody we were moving and as we moved up i saw two guys come out from between the buildings and he walked down the road they walked quite militarily max says to me get him and uh i didn't uh for some reason they weren't bothering anybody i should have known better i should have done what i was told i didn't and as they walked they made a military left turn and went right between the barn in the house they turned like it was on a signal and at the end of that street there's a tank there and the minute they turned that tank let the shot go and he fires at us it just went over it missed the tank aliye makes a hard left lever and he goes down the lane and as we go down we could see a crowd surrendering he looked like a kid we knew something was wrong as we go down there is the two officers and they jump up with the panzer force and they fire at us december 21 1944 it's day five at the battle of the bulge the german armored offensive now extends 60 kilometers into belgium and many americans are still trapped inside the bulge john marshall of the 707th tank battalion is one of them and he's trying to find his way back to american lines as we go down from the lane we could see a crowd surrendering we knew something was wrong and there is the two officers and they jump up with the panzer force panzerfaust it means tank fist and it's one of the deadliest anti-tank weapons on the battlefield it fires a 140 millimeter rocket at ranges of up to 60 meters and can penetrate 200 millimeters of armor unleashing a devastating explosion inside and they fire at us it missed it missed the tank i didn't need any any uh orders or anything like that your own sense i just pressed the old selling area the machine gun the hell out of him and uh i heard a sickening clack i said spencer did 30 caliber is jammed and this time they were just starting to get up he says 75 millimeters loaded and all you have to do is just turn your heel and press that solenoid and i let that solenoid go in i hit right into them and the odd part of it is the kid was still standing with his hands in the air and he he was holding his stubs up so anyway we went on marshall and his crew dodged the advancing germans for days and eventually make it back to allied lines on december 22nd the german pushed towards the muse river bridges begins to slow the rugged country northeast of bastogne is a challenge even for the panthers of the 116th panzer it division much more difficult in the ardennes because there were all these narrow forest roads it was catastrophic because of all the close forest paths our tanks couldn't maneuver [Music] the open field is typical landscape for tanks while the ardennes were poisoned for the tanks this is where our painter tank was hit [Music] up the first shell hit the tank track and the tank became disabled and if the one track keeps moving the tank turns in a circle it turned until it was standing at an angle with its corner facing the anti-tank gun we had no idea that the americans were firing phosphorus grenades you can't really bring a tank down with phosphorus grenades they just got lucky on the first shot that they hit and disabled our track white phosphorus rounds are incendiaries used to create smoke screens or mark enemy targets they burn fiercely but have little effect against the heavy armor on a panther tank unless they ignite exposed ammunition or fuel and there is an order that all german tank troops know can only get out of the tank when it is on fire not allowed to get off before that only when the tank is on fire most of the wounds suffered inside a tank are burns because of the fuel tank if it gets hit full on the tank catches fire immediately and then there's only one thing you can do get out as fast as you can we sat inside the tank and counted 22 hits on our tank [Music] it's not very enjoyable the only feeling you have is am i going to survive this month finally the 20 second hit went into the hull of the tank where the fuel canisters were [Music] when the fuel tank got hit that's when it caught fire and we were allowed to get out [Music] by the evening of december 22nd the german push to the muse river bridges has almost completely halted panzer columns clog the narrow arden roads and many tanks run out of fuel the germans now turn their attention back to bastogne but the americans in the encircled town are getting help three combat commands of general patton's fourth armored division moved north to break the german blockade we're almost halfway to bastogne and we reached a place called burn on and by the time we reached the bridge it was uh getting late in the afternoon the bridge was blown the river was cold raging in no way could the tanks for them so we had to uh stop and put in a bridge now our tanks were firing at the enemy across the river and they was firing us so once we felt it was safe enough the engineers came in and we put in the bridge mostly under the cover of darkness and our tanks started crossing the bridge one tank one tank one tape and uh then we're ready to rest for the night i got word no keep moving [Music] patton said i want them to move now here are the exhausted men now they're told to fight all night finally at about first light we reached the outskirts of chaumont [Music] suddenly seemingly out of nowhere it came a shot saw a three deep from the 25th cavalry hit [Music] i immediately stopped my force they must be down there in strength i think i've got to have a planned operation [Music] it's a pincer maneuver that splits his force into three units the tanks of sea company will attack from the west while a company attacks from the ridge east of the village with his flanks protected erzick will drive his b company down the main road and right into the center of shomo they'll vote at fort knox kentucky taking a tactics course i probably would have gotten an a for my plan but as you know in combat there were imponderables of the battlefield c company reports to me that five of his tanks its first platoon was completely bogged down this ground was supposed to be frozen so right away i knew c company was of no help so bee companies started to advance down the town we were heating resistance but it was not major resistance the 10th armored infantry was working with us as we got down into town they would go into the buildings around the buildings where the german soldiers [Music] were [Music] a bee come he gets through the town and at that point uh the heavens open up and all hell breaks loose suddenly it all at once by direct fire now it's a matter of survival urzik and his men have driven into an ambush and now face the most lethal tank killer in the german arsenal a massive self-propelled gun called the jag tiger the battle of the bulge enters its seventh bloody day elements of the fifth panzer army have driven 80 kilometers into belgium and encircle the key allied hell town of bastogne general george patton sends the fourth armored division to break the siege and on the morning of december 23rd lieutenant colonel alvin erzick leads his tanks into the village of shomar 12 kilometers south of bastogne so bee company started to advance down the town and at that point uh the heavens open up and all hell breaks loose you just cannot describe the chaos that's there it was a platoon of four tiger jags the jagdtiger is a self-propelled tank killer a 71 ton armored beast with a 128 millimeter cannon that can tear open a sherman more than three and a half kilometers away there's tanks being hit bang bang bang all over the place b company of downtown and you can't turn in town so we're very vulnerable so i told my driver to start backing up now he's backing up blind he needs some help for me so as we move back out i had the turret turn so i could see the road and i'm directing the driver so i mean the back of the turret is toward the enemy which makes it very very vulnerable and i began to breathe a little easier when it seemed like we were out of range [Music] when suddenly i heard this loud screeching horrible sound just for an instant and the tank was pushed forward as though some sleds 128 which should have breezed through the turret like uh button i threw butter but it must have hit me off so i told the driver keep keep going as we were moving back i noticed there was a sea in the tank turret with daylight chilling so i knew something had hit the turret and he finally pulled the tank out of range i asked myself the question why are we still here why did my tank survive this battle when i had this terrible terrible blow next to the antenna well with something it was an object and to this day i don't know why it was there and the only thing i can conclude is that you must have hit this appendage and ricochet off there was an absolute miracle that i survived that battle when i'm still in here at the battle of shomo combat command b loses 18 tanks and most of their crews the germans and their deadly jag tigers have stalled colonel erzick's drive to bastogne 12 kilometers to the southeast tanks of the combat command reserve move towards bigonville their mission is to take the heavily defended town and protect the flank of units advancing towards bastogne on route they encounter a german patrol but we made our approach into big oneville and i pulled our tank up behind the railroad track momentarily here came a sherman tank and two german sps they captured an american sherman and painted out our stars and painted on their cross and when i came up behind the railroad track my hull was in defilade definitely the tank comes up from the rear and as it approaches up its gun points over the hill that's called hull defilade because the hull is not seen by the enemy the gunner's periscope was about 14 inches higher than the tube the gun was looking at the track the sight was above the track so when he fired he hit the first rail and i said push up a little bit he pushed up a little bit more fired against second rail i said push up further yeah roger so i pushed it up enough that i got beyond the track and we got a shell into the sherman tank and i also added another shell to each of these sp with the german patrol outside begunville eliminated captain leach leads his b company into the center of the town so our approach and every village we would recon by far with the bow gun shooting one direction and the coax machine gun shooting another on the side of the roads so we were an avalanche of fire movement fire and movement we fought in the hatch open mode so you can see the target channel quickly with the periscope you're limited you're blind except for where you're looking and with your eyes like this you can move your head back and forth and see targets so we can engage quickly but the enemy could also engage us quickly because we're exposing ourselves so we had a lot of injured tank commanders as a result of fighting unbuttoned our infantry had failed to clear out all the houses the german soldiers were still in some of these houses but my tanks were all over the streets moments later i'm hit the bullet went into the helmet as you see right here it cut the sweat band off of my head and this i had underneath and uh here is where the bullet hit my head and uh knocked me out so i passed out fell into the turret floor they jokingly said captain get your butt back in the church you got work to do well i did have work to do in 16 hours the ccr takes begumville and on december 24th general patton orders them to join the main attack towards bastogne and they spend christmas day moving west finally on december 26th the tanks of the combat command reserve are poised to launch one of the most daring armored charges in the history of tank warfare december 26 1944 the belgian town of bastogne has been under siege for five days just south of town lead elements of the fourth armored division ccr prepare to make one last attack against the german line and finally relieve the besieged bastogne i led the attack that day and abrams joins me on position well he said i'm going to run rc company bogus and pass through you straight ahead and go through assenwa and try to link up with 101st airborne to make that final breakthrough into bastogne lieutenant charles vargas leads eight sherman tanks into the heavily defended town of assenwar vargas led the attack through here and he had an armored infantry company with him and they were busy fighting a germans who were resisting trying to mine the road and the arcturian knocked out several half tracks and mortar shells that knocked out several vehicles the german fire is intense but vagas and his men push right through it and advance down the final stretch of road leading to best stone uh it was a it was quite a fight really i could hear it all shooting up ahead of me because abram's left me in position there at close your mouth hill [Music] there he encounters the final line of german defense and bogus and his wingman fire three rounds into it the last obstacle on the road to bastogne is eliminated moments later men of the 101st airborne emerged from the trees august saw what looked like american uniform and hollard and it's just fourth armored come on out and hesitatingly the americans come into them chewing themselves the siege of best stone is broken but for the fourth armored division the cost of relieving the town has been steep in just 10 days of combat over 1 000 men are killed or wounded and they lose 28 tanks [Music] but their efforts mark the turning point in the battle of the bulge the weather clears and for the next 21 days american tanks now supported by air strikes forced the germans out of the ardennes once the weather cleared up when the sun was shining [Music] they were able to deploy the artillery and air force and stabbed [Music] were dangerous for us on one tank believe it or not we counted 500 hits from a machine gun [Music] we couldn't compete with that and shortly after christmas we barely had any tanks left and i thought for god's sake they have a lot of equipment in us with our tiny amount of tanks at the end of 44 beginning of 45 we had no further supply we had no further equipment to fight with the battle of the bulge the largest battle on the western front ends on january 12 1945. the casualties on both sides are enormous more than 90 000 german soldiers are killed wounded or captured almost 20 000 americans die and 50 000 are wounded it's their bloodiest battle of the war the americans lose over 320 tanks but the germans final gamble has cost more they lose more than 500 irreplaceable panzers and will never launch another offensive [Music] sitting here now uh i looking back unbelievable i i can't believe i was there i can't believe i did what i did it's a very strange [Music] feeling it was the lead element of patton's army it was the force that was successful in breaking the siege of bastogne i firmly believe that was a turning point of the battle of the bulge the battle bulge was the turning point of a war in europe [Music] you

Channel: War Stories

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Keywords: military history, war, war documentary, military tactics, war stories, history of war, greatest tank battles, battle of the bulge, tank war, tank command, ardennes counteroffensive, montogomery, eisenhower, ww2 documentary

Id: mxZF6Sz_P3k

Length: 46min 33sec (2793 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021