The Largest US Surrender In Europe in WW2 - The Infantryman's Perspective

to follow Henry Martin was an infantryman in 106th Infantry Division which was Manning a forward position on the morning of the 16th of December 1944. after days without even seeing the enemy a massive artillery barrage suddenly forced him to take cover in his Foxhole about half an hour later Martin spotted hundreds of German Volks Grenadier infantry charging towards his position he later recalled the scene they acted like they were drunk they came over the hill screaming and shrieking their shrill screams went right through my head I was absolutely terrified this attack marked the beginning of the schneid fell encirclement the largest mass surrender of American troops ever in the European continent and the worst disaster to before the United States during the Battle of the Bulge more than six months earlier on June the 6th the Western allies launched a cross-channel Invasion of France Landing in the region of Normandy following a nutritional battle on the beachheads the Allies broke out into the French Countryside and drove the German armies all the way back to the reich's Border a combination of fierce enemy resistance poor terrain and lack of supply forced the Allies to pause offensive operations for the rest of the year by December of 1944 both the allies and the Soviet Union were prepared to invade Germany itself in Berlin the fuhrer had grown increasingly isolated and desperate to turn the tide he decided to launch an All or Nothing counter-offensive in the west with the objective of destroying the American and British armies the plan codenamed watch on the Rhine was intended to smash through the American forces defending the heavily forested Arden region before encircling the Commonwealth armies in the Netherlands then he hoped to negotiate A Separate Peace with the Western allies in order to turn his attention to defeating the Soviets the plan was extremely risky and required pool weather to keep the overwhelming air power of the Allies grounded furthermore the Panzer spearheads would need to navigate the dense woods and poor roads of the Arden at rapid pace Germany's top generals doubted such an operation could succeed even if they agreed that it was worth attempting one of the key objectives of the counter-offensive would be the capture of the Key Road Junctions of sanvit and bastonia the fifth Pan's Army was tasked with seizing these two towns which lay in the central part of the attack first American units in the schneifel forest must be destroyed to allow for Columns of German tanks and mechanized infantry to advance the schneid fell is the only part of the Arden which extends into Germany representing a valuable propaganda tool for the allies the forest was occupied by the American 106th division which was entirely inexperienced having arrived on the front just five days prior to the attack facing them were two German Vault Grenadier divisions made up mostly of new recruits and older men they were to be used in frontal assault in order to open up the way for the Panzer formations in the days following their deployment to the front the men of the 106th division had the rattle of German tanks and other vehicles as they formed up in assembly areas but their inexperience made them oblivious to the danger by the first class Fred Smallwood remembered there were sounds drifting across the valley of wheels turning and grinding and Motors running but what did we know we were new to combat and anything we heard sounded ominous we told the officers what we had heard they said it was probably the Germans playing the noises over a PA system to harass us although the full 22nd and 423rd infantry regiments occupied an exposed Salient which could be threatened with an encirclement the 106th divisions Commander General Alan W Jones was forbidden from pulling his men back rather Allied High command saw the area as a potential springboard for a future offensive into Germany at 6am on December the 16th the ground offensive began one of the first attacks was repulsed by American cavalrymen defending the Left Flank of the 106th division as the German forces were retreating one shouted to the Americans in English take a 10-minute break we'll be back to which a U.S Lieutenant responded will be waiting for you however the sudden assault caught most other U.S army units off guard and the Volks grenadiers made steady advances throughout the day the German forces took heavy losses despite the advantage of surprise a veteran German company commander loiten and Kurt schwert Vega later wrote that he couldn't help but pity the soldiers under his command most of whom were barely 18 years old some openly cried with fear before this their first and last battle the volts grenadiers Advanced and were immediately hit with artillery and machine gun fire as schwertfeger's men took massive casualties one of my boys had brought along his Hitler Youth trumpet which he played to urge his comrades into muscle until American fire cut him down nonetheless the attack made progress threatening to cut off the almost 9 000 men of the 422nd and 423rd regiments although there was still a chance to rescue the situation two miscommunications doomed the men of the 106th division at his headquarters in sanvit general Jones did not have a clear view of what was happening and decided to send his only reserves to secure an Escape Route for his forward regiments as night fell instead his men found themselves lost in the dark and took the wrong road furthermore a shoddy phone connection between Jones and his own Commander left Jones believing that he should leave his exposed regiment in place rather than withdraw them by the morning of the 17th of December the Germans had encircled the schneid fell two-thirds of the 106th division the unit with the youngest average age in the U.S army was now cut off the 422nd and 423rd infantry regiments in the heart of the schneid fell still had no idea the disaster which had befallen them in fact most of their units didn't fire a single shot during the first day of the offensive as the main battles were raging on their flanks like the German counterparts many of these men were not fit for combat the future writer Kurt Vonnegut was an infantryman in the 423rd regiment who later described his comrades as four physical specimens who should never have been in the army they were now faced with the terrifying Prospect of either having to fight their way out of an encirclement or starving in sandvit general Jones held out hope that the seventh Armored Division would launch a counter-attack to re-establish Communications with the trapped men however Brigadier General Bruce Clark arrived at Jones's headquarters just before noon on the 17th of December and told the commander of the 106th division that his men were on their own Chaos on the road system had paralyzed the movement of American units and no counter-attack could be launched Jones whose son was among those trapped in the pocket became despondent and succumbed to the events swelling around him the situation rapidly deteriorated within the pocket German artillery constantly bombarded the forest causing many of the young GIS to fall apart under the mental strain Corporal Hal Taylor recalled a fellow Soldier reacting to artillery for the first time the GI collapsed on the floor of a concrete bunker and crouched with his hands over his head even though he was completely safe some intentionally shot themselves in the hand or foot hoping to be evacuated from the area without knowing they were cut off many of the men spent the next two days without food as not even emergency Russians had been issued before the battle began furthermore German jamming and poor radios made Communications outside of the pocket nearly impossible the enemy brought up loudspeakers to play music by American bands inducing homesickness among the trapped men as German armor continued to move into the area on mass the only hope of Escape was to break out the last message from divisional headquarters arrived at 8 pm on the 18th of December ordering the regiments to break out towards the town of Schoenberg artilleryman Pete house recalled the preparations it was with great pleasure that I destroyed two Communications radios with a pick as they had rarely worked the attack started at 10 am the next morning but the German forces used their time to fortify the ring around the schneid he fell faced with masked machine gun and artillery fire the attack was a disaster as the gis were repulsed with heavy casualties the commander of the 422nd Infantry Colonel George deschino called a council of war with his subordinates after the failed Breakout we're being slaughtered I don't believe in fighting for Glory if it won't accomplish anything it looks like we'll have to pack it in Colonel Charles Cavender of the 423rd came to the same conclusion he informed his staff that there's no ammunition left I was a GI in World War one and I tried to see things from their standpoint no man in this outfit has eaten all day and we haven't had water since early morning at 4 pm an American officer waving a white snow cap was sent forward to negotiate with the German forces soon after men emerged from the forest with their hands up as they marched into captivity the German forces were astounded by how many men they had captured even considering the lofty hopes attached to the offensive an officer described the scene in his diary endless Columns of prisoners pass at first about a hundred later another thousand some pockets of GIS refused to surrender and fought on but all organized resistance in the snail had ended by the 21st of December the surrender of the 422nd and 423rd was the largest mass surrender of American forces in Europe and the second largest ever only behind the fall of the Bhutan Peninsula during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1942. the exact number is disputed but an estimated eight thousand to nine thousand men were lost to the enemy American High command was shocked and dismayed as one eighth Corps officer bitterly remarked that the regiments were like two Wildcats in a bush which might have done some clawing of the enemy instead of surrendering as they eventually did General Jones was blamed for the disaster and relieved of command he later said that I lost a division faster than anyone else in the US Army despite the loss of so many men the snakey fell DeMarco did cost the German forces valuable time and resources the offensive called for fifth Panzer army tanks to capture sand beat by the second day of the attack the town was taken a week later after an intense battle the days spent encircling and destroying the efl pocket severely delayed the enemy advance Kurt Vonnegut and the rest of his comrades became prisoners of war and were forcibly moved to POW camps around Germany Vonnegut along with many prisoners were transported to the city of Dresden where they were detained in a slaughterhouse for the rest of the war there the future writer witnessed the firebombing of the ancient Saxon city which inspired one of his most famous novels Slaughterhouse Five thank you

Channel: The Intel Report

Views: 313,188

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

Id: y_dKmMcqdbI

Length: 11min 53sec (713 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 04 2022