THE DEFENCE OF BASTOGNE

Looking at the first map I posted on the Battle of the Bulge you will see that there are 7 roads converging on the town, making it a very strategic centre insofar as supplies for the German army was concerned. The American high command realised this and ordered that Bastogne be held at all costs. Eisenhower therefore sent reinforcements to the area and orders to set up roadblocks on the approaches to the town to slow the German drive.

As the Germans advanced westwards they ran into these defences and also small Allied units occupying the smaller villages to the north, east and south of Bastogne. The resistance put up by these small American units was often quite disproportional to their size and they succeeded in slowing the German thrust significantly. The village of St Vith north of Bastogne was held for 48 hours before being overrun by the German forces.

When Eisenhower finally realised the scale of the German attack he sent further reinforcements to Bastogne - the veteran 101st Airborne under General McAuliffe who had proved their mettle in the Battle of Normandy.

The delaying tactics of the outlying pockets of resistance gave McAuliffe two days in which to set up a good perimeter defence around the town as well as artillery batteries covering the approaches.

the 116th Panzer division under Major General Fritz Bayerlein approached Bastogne from the east and realized that it was strongly defended. Bayerlein ordered most of his division to bypass the town so that the impetis of the thrust was not loss. He then sent four officers to Bastogne under cover of a white flag with a message to the American demanding their surrender, failing which they would be annihilated. McAuliffe wrote as a reply "Aw Nuts" - on their departure one of the officers asked an American soldier what this meant. He was answered "Go to Hell"

With Bastogne under siege and completely surrounded. the Germans attacked and the battle was soon raging. Because of the foul weather supplies could not be dropped into Bastogne by aircraft and the defenders soon ran short of ammunition which was then rationed to the troops.

General Patton in the meantime was advancing eastwards with his 3rd Army in the vicinty of Metz, south of the Ardennes, when he heard of the German offensive to his north. His instincts told him that this was a bigger problem that his commander realised and unilaterally made contingency plans to turn part of his army 90 degrees so that they could proceed north if necessary to relieve Bastogne.

When Eisenhower realised the gravity of the situation of Bastogne he called a meeting of his generals at Verdun. No British or American commanders were in a position to assist. However, Patton said he could provide relief within 48 hours - he was ridiculed by his colleagues as well as by Eisenhower as being "gung-ho" and out of touch with reality but, as there was no alternative, was given the go ahead.

Patton immediately contacted his staff and told them to effect his plan. The army swung north and proceeded to Bastogne. This was the worst winter in Europe in 40 years - there were snow storms and ice patches but Patton personally drove his men unrelentingly. Approaching the Ardennes he started running into German forces but he drove through them. He called in the unit's chaplain and ordered him to prepare a "Weather Prayer" which he circulated amongst his troops.

The following day the weather completely cleared. Fighter-bombers attacked the Germans and transport aircraft dropped supplies into the beleagured town.

With Patton's advance and the elements against them the Germans broke off their offensive and retreated.

This was Patton's finest hour.

KAMPFGRUPPE PEIPER AT THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

Obersturmbannfuhrer Jochen Peiper, formerly commander of Panzer Regiment 1 of the 1st Panzer Division SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler which seen much action on the eastern front, was tasked with commanding a Battle Group to drive through the Ardennes, cross the River Meuse and await further orders.

Peiper was considered to be a tank ace in the same league as Michael Wittmann, and had been awarded many medals including the Knights Cross and the Iron Cross. He was a natural leader and much admired by his troops for his courage and calmness under fire and his concern for his men.

The battle group consisted of infantry, SS PanzerGrenadiers with their support elements, and units of Panzer IV, Panther and the dreaded King Tiger tanks, 800 vehicles in total. The group was to divide into three "spitze" or groups, centre, north and south and enter the Ardennes at Losheim.

Below is the map of the route

Taking the Americans by surprise the group proceeded to Lanzerath and then Schoppen with little opposition. When the northern Spitze reached Baugnez, near Malmedy, they surprised a truck convoy of a battery of the US 291st Artillery Observation Battalion. This group was naturally no match against the German panzers and immediately surrendered and the 140 prisoners were ordered to move to a field on the side of the road. They were later executed by the SS soldiers in this field in the infamous event later known as the "Malmedy Massacre". Only a few soldiers managed to escape.

Peiper then proceeded to Stavelot - by this time the American had recovered from their surprise and and figured out the intentions of the Germans. American artillery and tank units made for the River Meuse to stop the Germans from crossing the river -they also mined and blew up the bridge crossings. American and British fighter bombers attacked Peiper's forces from the air with great effect. The other major problem encountered by Peiper was that he was running out of fuel and had failed to take enemy fuel depots east of Honsfeld. Also the terrain of the Ardennes was not conducive to tank warfare - the roads were narrow, winding and steep and the area heavily wooded

Eventually Peiper's group was trapped in La Gleize. With his tanks immobile and being bombed by American artillery he realised that he was in a hopeless situation and his only option would be to escape eastwards by foot.

On the night of the 23rd of December Peiper,after destroying his equipment and leaving a small rearguard in La Gleize, led some 800 of his men down a valley and made their escape. After 2 days of bitterly cold weather and suffering many privations the group reached their own lines. Peiper himself had encouraged and exhorted his men to keep moving and the fact that all 800 made it to safety is a credit to his leadership.

Peiper was captured at the end of the war and together with several other members of his Kampfgruppe were charged with war crimes for the Malmedy Massacre. Although it was never proven that he personally had given any order for the execution of the American soldiers, as leader of the group he was found to be one of those responsible person and was given the death sentence. However, it was later found that there were inconsistancies in the interrogation and in his defence at the trial - his death sentence was mitigated to life imprisonment. In 1956 he was released from incarceration and after living in Germany for a while he moved to a village in France near the German border and worked as a translator for technical magazines.

On Bastille Day in 1976 his house was attacked by ex members of the Marquis using Molotov Cocktails and that was the end of Jochen Peiper.

Charlotte and I will follow the route of Kampfgruppe Peiper where there are many reminders of this offensive such as tanks, artillery pieces etc.

THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE - DECEMBER 1944

THE GERMAN BATTLE PLAN - WACHT AM RHEIN

After their decisive defeat at Falaise the German retreated from Normandy with the Allied forces in hot pursuit. General Le Clerq entered Paris and the city was liberated after 5 years of occupation by the Nazis.

The Allied forces advanced to the Siegfried Line near the German border with France and also liberated Belgium taking the port city of Antwerp in which they could dock their ships and establish a supply their armies. There the advanced stalled as to a large extent they had outrun their supply lines.

Montgomery's failed attempt to take the bridge at Arnheim (Operation Market Garden) was a setback to the Allieds and in the meantime winter had set in. They were basically in a holding position excepting for Patton who was attacking the German border at Metz in Alsace.

Hitler in the meantime had suffered numerous setbacks besides that of Normandy. In July there was a failed attempt by a group of German army officers to assassinate him (Operation Valkyrie) and to overthrow the Nazi regime. The Russian's Operation Bagration was defeating the Germans in Russia and the Ukraine and driving the German army back towards the Reich. Hitler was becoming increasingly out of touch with reality, distrusted his generals and insisted on directing military operations himself.

Hitler decided to take a huge gamble to alleviate his bad situation and planned a major thrust which would invade Belgium through the Ardennes forest and drive through to take Antwerp. By doing this he would be depriving the allieds of a supply harbour and would also drive a wedge between the British and American armies. He drew up his plans in the greatest secrecy on a "need to know" basis and codenamed it "WACHT AM RHEIN", in English "Watch on the Rhine" and below is the plan of battle which was drawn up.





At the beginning of December 1944 he started amassing an army of some 250,000 men with armoured and artillery units in the forests on the German/Belgian, moving them only at night so that Allied air reconnaissance would not spot what was happening on the ground. He reinforced them by diverting troops and equipment from the eastern front, thereby weakening his positions there. Most of the units were made up of elite SS troops, many of whom had escaped from Normandy. Overall command was given to the highly experienced Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt. The operation had to be a lighting thrust so that a breakthrough to Antwerp could be made before the Allieds could reinforce their defences. As the Germans had by now lost access to their fuel supplies from the Caucasus the Germans would have to capture the enemy fuel dumps to keep their vehicles running. It was also essential that this assault be made in a period of inclement weather to negate Allied air supremacy.

Because the Americans believed that the Ardennes area would be difficult to assault their forces there were mainly comprised of troops on relaxation and refit after fighting on more active fronts as well as replacements fresh from the USA. They were comparatively lightly armed and had not yet been equipped with winter uniforms.

On the 16th December the German artillery let loose a huge barrage on the American lines whereafter their troops commenced their assault westwards. The American were taken completely by surprise. This was one of the biggest and vicious battles on the western front in World War II.

In the next postings I will deal with two of the most important battles, that of Kampfgruppe Peiper and the defense of Bastogne.

OPERATION TOTALISE AND DEATH AND DESTRUCTION IN THE FALAISE POCKET

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

BREAKTHROUGH AND THE MORTAIN COUNTER ATTACK

Eisenhower, Bradley and Montgomery decided that after 6 weeks of static fighting the time had come to make a breakthough from the seaboard areas to the hinterland and Operation Cobra was initiated.

Middleton's US 8th Corps pushed south from the harbour of Cherbourg along the west coast of the Cotentin peninsular taking the towns of Coutances, Granville and Avranches as well as securing the Pontaubault bridges, the gateway to Brittany in the west. Collin's 7th Corps pushed south in the hinterland finally capturing St-Lo, St Denis, Villedieu and then meeting up with Middleton's forces at Averanches.

American forces quickly advanced into Brittany and captured the area south to the Loure River at St Nazaire as well as the strategic city of Rennes.

This greatly alarmed the Germans as the road to Paris and the rest of France was now open. Hitler, the advice of his generals who wanted to stage an orderly retreat to the River Seine, decided to launch a major counter attack against the American forces at Mortain, some thirty miles east of Avranches.




Hitler initiated Operation Luttich by ordering his troops to proceed to the area west of Mortain thereby thinning his forces south of the British army. The Germans launched their attack on the 7th August. Although this action took the Allieds by surprise Bradley had received intelligence that something was afoot.

The Germans attacked Mortain with extreme ferocity with artillery and then by throwing their panzer brigades into the foray. The Allieds called in air support and squadrons of Typhoon fighter bombers wreaked havoc against the Germans. However the defenders of Mortain were under extreme pressure, short of men and ammunition, and it was decided to pull them out of the city. Once they had vacated the city allied artillery and aircraft virtually carpet bombed Mortain totally destroying it and stopped the German offensive it its tracks.

The Germans lost a lot of men and materiel in their failed counter attack and this put them in a far worse position.

The Allieds were about to lauch Operation Totalise, the beginning of the end of the German occupation of Normandy

NORMANDY: FROM D-DAY UNTIL END JUNE

My apologies for the quality of the above map but I could not find another one of the whole area discussed hereunder - you can enlarge it by clicking on it.

After the initial bloody battles on the beaches of the 6th June and the establishment of the beachheads the Allieds attempted to advance inland. After their initial surprise the Germans brought in some of their reserves to reinforce their troops near the coast.

The British army in the east advanced on Caen as from that city all roads led to the western part of Normandy and to Paris and German border in the east. Hitler ordered that the Germans army vigorously oppose this advance on the strategically important city on which there were eventually four assaults by Montgomery until finally it was heavily bombed and captured with the loss of many lives, both soldiers and civilians. It was a bitter and hard battle.

There was also heavy fighting just west of Caen at the village of Villers-Bocage where panzer ace Obersturmfuhrer Michael Wittmann of the 101st Heavy Panzer Battalian snuck in behind a column of British Cromwell tanks destroying some 13 tanks and troop carriers. He then entered the village and took out six more tanks until his own Tiger sufferred a hit. Wittmann and his crew escaped but were killed a few days later in a tank battle near Caen.

The reader should not be under any illusions as to the effectiveness and strength of the German army. Their soldiers were highly trained in all aspects of ground combat and a signaller could quite easily double up as a machine gunner, mortarman or join a gun crew - this was quite different to the American and British soldiers who were only effective in their particular musterings. The Wehrmacht soldier was highly disciplined and motivated at the same time being very innovative and had a thorough knowledge of battlefield strategy.

The equipment of the German army was far superior in quality to that of the Allied forces. Their Panzer tanks were superb and their Tiger and King Tiger tanks were in a league of their own. The Tiger was equipped with the dreaded 88mm cannon which had an effective range of 2,000 meters compared whereas the American Sherman or British Cromwell had to be closer than 700 meters to effectively attack its target. The allieds lost 4 times as many tanks as the Germans. The German M42 machine gun was highly accurate and had a fire rate of 1200 rounds per minute which was twice that of their opponents.


KING TIGER VI



What the German forces lacked at this stage of the war was airpower and the allieds had almost complete control of the skies over Normandy with the only real threat being that of the enemy's anti-aircraft guns which were very effective. The British Typhoon and American P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers wreaked havoc strafing and bombing German tanks, troops, trains and other targets.

It must also be taken into account that at the time of the Normandy campaign the Germans were also fighting on their eastern front and most of their men and materiel was concentrated attempting to oppose the Russian advance.

In the Allieds favour were their overwhelming number of soldiers and their almost unlimited supply of equipment. It was not uncommon for an American tank to be knocked out and within a few hours the crew (if they survived) picked up a new tank from their vehicle depot and rejoined the fight.

On the western end of the invasion the Americans needed to advance in the direction of St. Lo in order to consolidate their position which entailed them entering the bocage area of Normany.

The region that centres on St-Lô, just south of the Cotentin, is known as the Bocage, from a word that refers to a type of cultivated countryside common in the west of France, where fields are cut by tight hedgerows rooted into walls of earth well over a metre high. An effective form of smallhold farming – at least in pre-industrial days – it also proved to be a perfect system of anti-tank barricades. When the Allied troops tried to advance through the region in 1944, it was almost impenetrable – certainly bearing no resemblance to the East Anglian plains where they had trained. The war here was hand-to-hand slaughter, and the destruction of villages was often wholesale. The American forces suffered numerous losses in this area.

Now that the Allieds had established their foothold on the continent their next task was to breakout from the seaboard moving south and west towards the occupied countries and on to Germany.

PLANNING: TOUR OF THE INVASION BEACHES

I realised that to get a good feel of all the areas we intended touring, that a lot of research would be necessary.

First port of call was Amazon.com to see what published material was available. What caught me eye pretty quickly was Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches authored by Major and Mrs Tony Holt which is omplemented by an excellent 1:116,000 battle map depicting all the military details clearly shown as well as points of interest. Reading the feedbacks on Amazon there seemed to be no doubt that this was the guide to go with and and I ordered it - I was not dissappointed. The map is beautifully laid out and the book is of a high quality glossy print with the history and sequels of the battle as well as detailed directions and guides to the relevant sites.

Above is a basic map of the invasion beaches.

Following the organising of the largest ever logistical exercise in history, Operation Overloard, the Allied forces invaded Europe at Normandy on the 6th June 1944 under the overall command of General Eisenhower. The British forces, on the eastern beaches, were commanded by Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery and the Americans on the west, under General Omar Bradley.

Although the story is well documented I will attempt to give the reader a broad and simple explanation of what happened.

Prior to the main seaborne landings at dawn there were two airborne attacks to secure the flanks, both in the east and in the west.

In the west paratroopers of the US army were supposed to be dropped in the area of St Mare Eglise. However, due to the poor weather conditions prevailing at that time and the effective anti-aircraft fire of the Germans, many of the paratroopers missed their landing zones and were scattered for miles around the area and some even landed in the town itself - remember Red Buttons landing on the church steeple in the the movie The Longest Day? After taking heavy losses the Parachute Infantry Regiments captured the town and secured the approaches.

In the east British Airborne forces were landed in gliders near Benouville just south of Ouisterham with orders to secure the bridges of the River Orne. The glider pilots landed their craft by moonlight with pinpoint precision thus achieving complete surprise and the the bridges were taken and secured within hours. British paratroopers were also dropped in the area to reinforce the glider troops.

The German defence of the beaches, known as the Atlantic Wall, had been tasked by Hitler to the brilliant Field Marshall Erwin Rommell. Rommell's strategy was that the enemy should be defeated on the beaches and driven back to the sea. He personally was involved in the planning of all the defensive positions and placements of the European Atlantic coast from Scandanavia to Italy. On the Normandy beaches he placed gun batteries, tank traps, machine gun nests, concrete bunkers and many other obstacles.

Before dawn the soldiers disembarked from the boats which brought them accross the English Channel into small Landing Craft which were to take them onto the beaches. Before the Landing Craft reached the beaches the coastline was heavily bombed by Allied aircraft artillery from the gunships. Unfortunately this bombing had a limited effect on the Germans positions.

Let us start with the most western beach to be invaded, known as Utah Beach. Here the American 4th Division made a successful landing north east of St Mare Eglise and established a beach head as planned.

The adjoining beach, Omaha, was a completely different story. Here the soldiers of the American 1st Army were massacred in large numbers as the German defences were extremely strong and the conditions were horrific. For the Germans it was a "turkey shoot" - thousands of GIs were killed and wounded and the water on the seashore turned red from their blood. Eventually some senior officers got a handle on the situation and a breakthrough was made. The opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan focus on the horrors on this beach - enough to weaken the heart of any human being. Many GIs are buried in the American Military Cemetery at Colleville su-Mer and it is a central point for D-Day remeberence ceremonies.

The Second British Army landed on the beaches codenamed Gold, Juno (3rd Canadian Division)and Sword. Although the landings went more or less according to plan there was a lot of heavy resistance north of Caen and progress towards that area from the bridgehead was stalled.

The Allied forces also pretty lucky in many ways. The Allied deception plan worked out well and the Germans expected the invasion to take place at the Par de Calaise and concentrated their defensive forces in that area. Another stroke of fortune was that Hitler had ordered that a large Panzer division in the Normandy hinterland was not to be moved without his personal authorisation - his staff were too frightened to wake him as he usually slept until noon so many crucial hours were lost.

I gleaned most of my knowledge on the above and planned the trip from the following sources:

Books

D-Day - The Inasion of Normandy by Antony Beevor
Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches by Major and Mrs Holt
D-Day and the Battle from Normandy by Carl Shilleto and Mike Tolhurst


Internet

Wikipedia
Google Map
Various sites on the subject


Movies
The Longest Day which is an epic and is a remarkably accurate account of D-Day
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers
Numerous documentaries published by The History Channel, War Files and other producers


Looking at the above map you will see that Bayeux is centrally positioned in the area and day trips to the beaches will be a breeze. We also intend to visit may other places of interest in Normandy such as Etretat and Mon San Michel.

On my next posting I will cover the breakout from Normandy culminating in the closing of the Falaise pocket.