Battle of the Bulge

[Tom]

Today is the 60th anniversery of the Battle of the Bulge. This was one of the pivital battles in the history of the world - a loss here would have allowed the nazis to split the allied forces and might have resulted in a totally different end of WWII. Thanks to the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, this battle was won, albiet at a terrible cost. Remember these guys in your prayers, and remember it the next time you listen to the French whinners today.

[schweitz]

Probably the most important victory of WW II. This battle involved 600,000 Americans, 55,000 British, and 500,000 Germans and produced 19,000 American deaths (500 per day).
This is the battle in which when the Americans were surrounded by the Germans in Bastogne and asked to surrender Gen. Mc Auliffe issued his famous one word reply: "NUTS". If you remember in the movie "PATTON" the part where he moves his whole division in record time---he was moving them to Bastogne to keep Mc Auliffe and his troops from being overrun.
And yes, the French really piss me off---especially when they have done everything to make our current military operations harder than they need to be.

[highnote]

Here is a link to a story I posted here recently about my father's experience in the Battle of the Bulge. Today is his birthday. I've heard him mention on several occasions how hard it was for him having to spend his 20th birthday being shelled my mortars around the clock.

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16487

[linrom1]

Since I do something about history, please do not confuse Battle of the Bulge as anything other than a minor scrimmage in the Ardennes. It was just yet another one of Hitler’s insane ideas. The strategy to drive towards Antwerp had no chance of success; it would have only resulted in the encirclement of the whole of the German Army. By the end of 1944, the war was already won by the Soviets who were planning final thrusts into the Reich.

[Tom]

Minor scrimmage? What the hell are you smoking?

[Larry Hamilton]

Though much of what you say is true, there are a couple statements with which I take issue.

The Battle of the Bulge was the meeting of 1.5 million combatent soldiers. The mere size of the operation rules out use of the term SCRIMMAGE. During this "scrimmage", Hitler spent the remainder of his armor, airpower and warriors. I read somewhere Hitler thought this sacrifice was necessary to give his "secret projects" time to germinate. (conjecture on my part)

Frankly, I don't understand the tone of your paragraph. You seem to be implying that the western front was irrelavent as the Russians needed only our diversionary efforts to finish them off.