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View Full Version : Good Morning...Siege of Bastogne ends



Okla-homey
12/26/2008, 10:00 AM
December 26, 1944: Patton relieves Bastogne

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64 years ago on this day, General George S. Patton employs an audacious strategy to relieve the besieged Allied defenders of Bastogne, Belgium, during the brutal Battle of the Bulge.

The capture of Bastogne was a major German goal of the Battle of the Bulge, the German offensive through the Ardennes forest. Bastogne provided a road junction in rough terrain where few roads existed and it would open up a valuable pathway further north for German expansion.

The Belgian town was defended by elements of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, which had to be reinforced by troops who straggled in from other battlefields. Food, medical supplies, and other resources eroded as bad weather and relentless German assaults threatened the Americans' ability to hold out.

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BG Tony Mac Auliffe

Nevertheless, the 101st Airborne Divisional Artillery commander Brigadier General Anthony C. MacAuliffe met a German surrender demand with a typewritten response of a single word: "Nuts."

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Enter "Old Blood and Guts," General Patton. Employing a complex and quick-witted strategy wherein he literally wheeled his 3rd Army a sharp 90 degrees in a counterthrust movement, Patton broke through the German lines and entered Bastogne, relieving the valiant defenders and ultimately pushing the Germans east across the Rhine.

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Tribute to Gen. MacAuliffe in modern Bastogne

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Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, Commander of Division Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division, speaks to flight crew members of the 434th Troop Carrier Group at their base in England on Sept. 18, 1944, prior to the allied invasion of Holland, code named 'MARKET-GARDEN'. 'MARKET' was the code name for the airborne half of the operation, and 'GARDEN', the name for the ground forces mission.

OU_PhD
12/26/2008, 01:06 PM
I used to live right on the other side of the Ardennes forest (in Germany) when I was in the service. I made several trips to Bastogne through the years. That is a great place and they haven't forgotten. Malmedy, site of the Malmedy massacre, is not far from there. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

KsSooner
12/26/2008, 01:59 PM
'Band of Brothers' has a good depiction of the battle that occurred.

Veritas
12/26/2008, 02:06 PM
Every time I walk outside and think I'm cold, I think about the poor bastards of Bastogne or Stalingrad, and remember that I don't know thing one about being cold. Those men were unwitting heroes.

MojoRisen
12/26/2008, 02:37 PM
There is no doubt, those bastages were tough... Never to cold not to think of Bastogne!

OU_PhD
12/26/2008, 08:34 PM
When I lived there, the winter's were fairly mild. We never got any super harsh winter storms that lasted more than a couple of days. I lived in the Eifel area (Bitburg Air Base, where Reagan visited in the 80s, also home to an SS cemetary) which is adjacent to the Ardennes, basically the German side. Bitburg is about 20km from the Belgian border and it's a quick drive over to Malmedy. Lots of people don't realize that many in that portion of Germany actually speak German as their mother tongue. St. Vith and a few other villages all speak German almost exclusively, although they will speak french grudgingly.

It's funny because the national food of Belgium (besides chocolate, waffles and beer, and how could I forget Ardennes ham--the best ham in the world) is actually a misnomer brought back to the US by soldiers from the war. American soldiers encountered shops all over Belgium where they sold what became known as "French Fries" (so named because of the french-speaking cooks that prepared them by soldiers that didn't know for sure whether they were in France or Belgium) known by their native name in Belgium 'Pommes Frites'. They make the best fries in the world over there, although most commonly served with mayonaise (you can get ketchup or curry ketchup and other sauces). The secret is frying the potatoes once to cook the inside, pull them out to cool, then flash fry to crisp up the outside. They're very good.

One last thing: The best remnant of all is the mannequin hanging from a store loft dressed in US-Army jump gear and the parachute is stuck on a girder. I'll try and find a picture to post it but it's a great homage.