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your selling today. We passed

1:48

over a destroyed land. We

1:50

did not see it. Do

1:53

not know what hell looks

1:55

like. We can't have today.

1:57

Only a member of this.

1:59

And that is to see

2:02

this thing through to the

2:04

end. Meanwhile in the

2:07

art then, the Americans

2:09

have recaptured the initiative.

2:12

Moving step by step

2:14

back over the lost

2:16

ground. I had gone

2:18

up to see the

2:21

attack on Bastone. It

2:23

was launched in Az creep over

2:25

the ice from Luxembourg. It was a hard,

2:27

stark thing. The wind swept over the broken

2:30

trees along the roads and the armor in

2:32

the fields. Even the tanks that had been

2:34

hastily smeared with white paint stood out in

2:37

sharp relief cold and naked. The troops built

2:39

little fires of anything that would burn, even

2:41

with inside of the enemy. Those

4:13

two unrelated. I'm saying in the Beatles hotel,

4:15

but I'm not, I'm not here on a Beatles

4:17

tour obviously. I'm here on a, on ban

4:19

of Atlantic stuff and it's been horrendous. But if

4:21

it sounds a little bit different, that's why.

4:23

Okay, there we are ladies and gentlemen. It's a

4:26

harsh winter that's got to you there, Jim,

4:28

with a cold. I'll tell

4:30

you what, was biting cold on the,

4:32

on the Mersey last night. I can tell

4:34

you. Anyway, one thing we haven't really

4:36

talked about is air power. Yeah. And that's

4:38

because in the first few days of

4:40

it, it doesn't really come into, into play

4:42

at all because the weather's so bad.

4:44

And despite Hitler's promise of 2000 Luftwaffe fighter

4:46

planes and, and ME 262 jets, et

4:48

cetera, of course, none of them really came.

4:50

In fact, just 170 sorties were flown

4:52

on the first day of the Battle of

4:54

the Bold, and only 600 on the

4:56

17th December by the Luftwaffe. And a sortie

4:58

is an individual combat flight. So

5:01

170 different planes are, you know,

5:03

are in the air at different times,

5:05

but obviously quite often flying more

5:07

than one mission over the course of the

5:09

day. And the plan for the Luftwaffe are

5:11

being to keep at least 150 fighters up

5:13

in the air as an umbrella the whole

5:15

time. Of course, this just didn't happen at

5:17

all. I mean, this was as sort of

5:19

much fantasy as anything else. And as the

5:21

battle progresses, there's even less and less of

5:23

the Luftwaffe to be seen over the over

5:25

the over the battlefield. And the thing to

5:27

bear in mind, of course, is this is

5:29

if we are relating it to the 1940

5:31

IDEN offensive, this isn't that Luftwaffe by any

5:33

stretch of the imagination, is it? Very much

5:35

not. mean, because after all, the big advantage

5:37

the 1940 Luftwaffe had is that they got the

5:39

jump on everyone in terms of tactical airpower

5:42

having worked it out. They'd done the research,

5:44

they'd trained it, they'd conceived it, conceptualized it,

5:46

they'd trained for it and they and they

5:48

used it. But in the meantime, they've been

5:50

caught up with. Well, and also there was

5:52

no air defense system over France or the

5:54

low countries. Yes, exactly. Or did Poland or

5:56

Norway or Denmark, you know, the defending air

5:58

forces back in 1940. just had to sort

6:00

of take off and hope that they bumped into

6:02

some Luftwaffe whereas a Luftwaffe could plan when they

6:04

were going to hit them and nine times out

6:06

of ten hit their enemy on the ground before

6:09

they'd had a chance to break up that that's

6:11

not in existence anymore by now there is radar

6:13

and there's radar and ground control at every level

6:15

of the Allied air forces and indeed of the

6:17

Germans as well of course, you know It means

6:19

that a the enemy can see you coming and

6:21

be you've got this problem that they're just not

6:23

experienced anymore I mean, you know, they're very very

6:25

under trained You know, they're going to front line

6:27

squadrons with kind of 90 hours or less in

6:29

total, which is just nothing You know in

6:31

the Battle of Britain, they were going in

6:33

with 170 minimum and quite a lot of

6:35

them are considerably huge amount more Yeah, it's

6:37

completely different kind of a fish whereas by

6:39

contrast the allies are super trained super well

6:42

experienced super led Have the very best machines

6:44

and once they do get into the into

6:46

the air, you know It's pretty one -sided and

6:48

that comes on the days. Yeah, the sky's

6:50

clear on the 21st But in the same

6:52

way that the Luftwaffe are held up by

6:54

the way, they're so the allies so they're

6:56

not flying very many sorties either in the

6:58

first week They manage like 450 daily during

7:00

the first week. Yes, and just to give

7:03

you some more numbers It's the ninth tactical

7:05

air command and the 19th tactical air command

7:07

part of the US 9th Air Force Which

7:09

is the tactical air force so the 8th

7:11

Air Force the mighty 8th is still back

7:13

in yeah back in East Anglia You know

7:15

bombers coming over and all the rest of

7:17

it But for the most part this this

7:20

is tactical support and this is ground attacks,

7:22

you know Air to ground attacks and shooting

7:24

stuff up This is what the Germans will

7:26

call yabba's fighter bombers and they're flying a

7:28

lot, you know 23rd of December, you know

7:30

bombers are also coming over and hitting the

7:32

rear area So this is the medium bombers

7:34

twin -engine bombers, you know B 25s B 26

7:36

is this kind of thing But on the

7:38

23rd December to be fair 624 medium bombers

7:41

come over attack the German rear and 35

7:43

a shot down 182 damage So that's pretty

7:45

pretty that's pretty steep, it? That is quite

7:47

steep That's because they're flying in you know,

7:49

they're flying in fast and low Yeah, you

7:51

know It's not much room for maneuver and

7:53

easier to hit with your lower obviously from

7:55

light flak But by Christmas Eve so the

7:57

of December the 8th Air Force is then

7:59

brought and flies 1,400 sorties. So 1,400

8:01

bombers come over. That sounds much more

8:04

oppressive because, you know, that is a

8:06

single force coming over in one dollar,

8:08

effectively. And they hit 12 Luftwaffe airfields

8:10

in and around the Rhine area. Four

8:13

airfields get off quite lightly, but eight

8:15

of them are out of action for

8:17

the next eight days. I mean, that

8:20

really shows you, when you consider two

8:22

years before this, a thousand bomber array

8:24

is a headline event, right? and it's

8:26

a sign that the Allies have got

8:29

their act together political action as

8:31

much as the strategic, because the

8:33

strategic bombing is political in its

8:35

content. The fact that you can

8:37

improvise a 1400-bomer force. Isn't that

8:39

amazing? It's absolutely amazing what the

8:41

Allied air effort can do now.

8:44

Well it really is, and if

8:46

you think that, you know, on

8:48

day one of the battle, the

8:50

Lufroffer flies 170 sorties. On Christmas

8:52

day, the Allies flies fly 6,

8:54

194, 194 1994. of which 4281

8:57

a fight assault. And our old

8:59

friend, oh burst, well he's now

9:01

general, get an al-major. Mayor,

9:03

Ludvig Harleman, Macking Ludvig, now

9:06

commanding the 5th Fauchemyakar Division.

9:08

He said, enemy aircraft left

9:10

an uninterrupted trail of burning

9:12

vehicles extending like a torchlight

9:15

procession from Bastogne, all the

9:17

way to the Westville. In

9:19

my opinion, the Art Den

9:21

offensive was irretrivably lost, then

9:24

the allies sent their air

9:26

forces into action on the

9:28

25 December. A fact, even the

9:30

simplest soldier realized. Even an... and after

9:32

all even the corporal in charge might

9:34

have worked this out by now. I

9:37

mean that's that's an air effort on

9:39

a par with Falaise though isn't it?

9:41

The Falaise cat battle. Yeah yeah yeah

9:43

yeah yeah definitely that makes it very

9:45

very difficult to manoeuvre in daylight. Now

9:47

obviously you've got less daylight and more

9:49

darkness so that's okay but basically during

9:51

the hours of daylight you know if

9:53

you try and put your nose out

9:55

from behind that wood you're in big

9:57

trouble. And also by Christmas Eve by

9:59

Christmas Eve. stop going forward really haven't

10:01

they so they're static so you know

10:03

where they are as well as their

10:05

other problem yeah it's not like they're

10:07

they're a mobile thing and you've got

10:09

to pick out where who they must

10:11

be and it's all figured out by

10:13

this stage isn't it from the American

10:15

perspective Well, yeah, absolutely. But also, they're

10:17

shooting down enemy planes as well. So

10:19

the Allies shoot down 718 German planes

10:21

between the 17th to 27th and December.

10:23

But for a 6th between the 23rd

10:25

and 27th of December. And 106 on

10:27

Christmas Eve lay. But for a loss

10:29

of 111 to fighters of their own

10:32

aircraft fighters and 370 from flack. So

10:34

there's still, yes, it's air superiority, but

10:36

it still involves a great deal of...

10:38

friction and cost you know in a

10:40

way I mean in a way that's

10:42

emblematic of this stage of the war

10:44

is yes you're winning yes you're overwhelming

10:46

yes you're suffocating the enemy but you

10:48

still are taking blows you still are

10:50

vulnerable yourselves you know this that's a

10:52

well largely because it's so dangerous doing

10:54

ground-attack stuff because there's a lot of

10:56

flack about and it's very you know

10:58

you're not really you know they're losing

11:00

111 hardly any of them to German

11:02

fighters but the three hundred seven are

11:04

three hundred and the kind of sort

11:06

debilitating losses. But there is one last

11:08

big air show to come, but we'll

11:10

get that a little bit later on

11:12

in this episode. But what we should

11:14

talk to now is the sort of

11:16

German high watermark of this whole offensive.

11:18

You know, as we've already discussed, it

11:20

doesn't come in the Sixth Panta Army

11:22

area, which is in the sort of

11:24

northern half of fifth. panzerami sector which

11:26

is normally in the middle and this

11:29

is the era which is it's north

11:31

of Bastone south of first ses panzerkor

11:33

really little south of kind of sampvit

11:35

and beyond rufely so that's the era

11:37

we're talking about lovely, beautiful area of

11:39

Belgium. And it's led by the Second

11:41

Pounded Division and the Panza Lair and

11:43

the knife Panta Division as well, which

11:45

is not to be confused with the

11:47

knife S.S. Panda Division. It's those three

11:49

divisions, but it is very much the

11:51

second Panta Division that's in the league.

11:53

And for those who were listening to

11:55

the Bastone episode, you may remember that

11:57

it was the second Panza who came

11:59

in and then skirted around the top

12:01

of Bass. and pushed on. Pansa and

12:03

there got a bit stuck in, they

12:05

kept a battle group behind and then

12:07

pushed around to the south and moved

12:09

on. So that's who we're talking about

12:11

here. And on the 21st of December,

12:13

2nd Pansa Division reaches the river Urta

12:15

at Urteville and Pansa Grenadiers follow on

12:17

the following day. And that's sort of,

12:19

it's west of Basto, northwest of Basto

12:21

and probably... It doesn't mile or something

12:23

like that. But then on the 20

12:26

seconds, second bands then has to hold

12:28

because it's not got enough fuel. You

12:30

just can't get the fuel through the

12:32

forests, on these terrible roads, on these

12:34

terrible tracks, it can't get it there

12:36

quick enough. This is a sort of

12:38

fatal floor in the whole, well many

12:40

fatal floors on the whole thing, but

12:42

this is one of the bigger ones,

12:44

is how do you actually sort of

12:46

keep it all going? How do you

12:48

keep the speed, you know, when you

12:50

haven't got a... Zilman Zeg commanded the

12:52

operations of Pansacol Klyst as you did

12:54

in 1940, you know, with fuel dumps

12:56

and trucks going on. You know, it's

12:58

just that everything is so much harder

13:00

in winter. You haven't got a command

13:02

of the squel. And also when you

13:04

are running on fumes anyway, it's a

13:06

time of plenty in 1940. There's one

13:08

attack to be delivered on and that's

13:10

Falkal. You're not also fighting on the

13:12

Eastern Front or their effort went into

13:14

1940 into 1940. It was in 1945.

13:16

God knows what those planning meetings like.

13:18

With all the officers privy to this,

13:20

thinking, well, this is this can't work.

13:22

No, it's just bonkers, is it? I'm

13:24

being served up, we're being served up

13:26

for dinner here. Anyway, by the 23rd

13:28

of December, Second, Pans the Division is

13:31

on the move again, and it's

13:33

now split into two March columns.

13:35

So one is to a town

13:37

called Marsh, and the other is

13:39

to Hargemore, which is a few

13:41

miles to the south. And this

13:43

is still a few miles from

13:45

the rivermerz. I mean, it's still

13:47

haven't six a... to eight miles

13:49

away. So General Ludfits, who you

13:51

may remember, is the core commander.

13:53

He's with the divisional spearhead and

13:55

sacks a regimental commander of the

13:57

leading formation for being too slow.

13:59

when they come up against what he

14:02

considers to be a weak US roadblock.

14:04

And Harshaw is captured quite quickly, but

14:06

Marsh is not. It's defended by the

14:08

newly arrived 84th rail splitters division. I

14:10

first came across when I was doing

14:12

my brothers in arms book, the show

14:14

would range, because they were there in

14:16

that November battle that they were involved

14:18

with. So they're comparatively new to the

14:20

ETO, but they've had this. battle in

14:22

November which has been pretty hard fought

14:24

and now here they are come to

14:26

kind of sort of rescue the day

14:28

and blunt to the second pounds of division

14:30

anyway Ludfits now orders the bulk of second pounds of

14:32

division to head straight for D not which is on

14:35

the MERS and this is the home to the saxophone

14:37

so when you go to D not there's also saxophone

14:39

there's also saxophone there's also a saxophone there's But the

14:41

thing about Denon is when you get there, it's, you

14:43

know, the actual town, there's a bridge over and everything,

14:45

that's okay. But then either side of that, it then

14:47

gets into sort of cliffs, and particularly just to the

14:49

north of Denon, there's these cliffs, there must be, you

14:51

know, 100, 200 foot high, something like that. Sort of

14:53

a gorge. And the Murs is a big old beast.

14:55

I mean, you know, 75 meters across, I mean, right.

14:57

Right. It's not a small. It's that you need that

15:00

you need that you need that you need that you

15:02

need that you need that you need that you need

15:04

that you need that you need that you need that

15:06

you need that you need that you need that you

15:08

need that you need that you need that you need

15:10

that you need that, you need that, you need that,

15:12

you need that, you need, you need, you need, you

15:14

need, you need, you need, you need, you need, you

15:16

need, you need, you need who've been rushed down and

15:19

are ready. There's that famous photo, isn't there, of a

15:21

fire flight in Dino, I think? Yeah, which they used

15:23

on the front of David Rendersburg. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

15:25

So Pansa, Second Pansa is ordered to just go helpful

15:27

ever for Dinoan, but Lutvitz, the court commander, is hoping

15:29

that Night Pansa Division is going to

15:31

kind of hot foot it to the

15:34

River Murs. But again, these Pansa divisions

15:36

are all split into Battle Group, of

15:38

Second Pans division, is KG. Burm, which

15:40

is wrecky battalion plus a handful of

15:43

pansers but mainly kind of armored cars

15:45

and whatnot. And on the night of

15:47

the 24th of December Camp Groupa Burm

15:50

races up the road towards Dinof finally

15:52

reaching the woods near Foynotradam which is

15:54

you know so they're pretty close. And

15:57

on the 24th of December Christmas Eve

15:59

Camp Groupa Cockenhausen, also of

16:01

the Second Panzer Division, is also hot -footing

16:03

it to the River Merse, which is

16:05

just south of KGB, and by evening

16:07

on Christmas Eve they're finally about a

16:09

couple of miles away from the River

16:11

Merse. But they might as well be

16:13

a hundred away. Yeah, they're not going

16:15

to get across it. Well, this is

16:17

well -received in Berlin, isn't it? This

16:19

is the Hurray! We're nearly there. Well,

16:22

you're not really. No. Well, yeah, so

16:24

Ferdykorps have got there by the 23rd of

16:26

December. So, you know, they're already waiting

16:28

for them with their 17 -pounders and all the

16:30

rest of it, and artillery and blah, blah, blah.

16:32

I mean, you know, there's not a chance that

16:35

they're going to be able to... and obviously they

16:37

don't want to blow up the bridge because they're

16:39

going to have to be able to use it

16:41

themselves, the bridge that is. So, they're guarding it,

16:43

and they've also sent over some people on the

16:45

eastern side of it as well. So, it's all

16:47

pretty covered. So, Mödel, who is the overall commander,

16:49

Phil Mushel Mödel, he sends Urge's Knight for Panzer

16:51

Division to get a move on and really hurry

16:54

up and support the Second Panzer. And he also

16:56

orders 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, which was also in

16:58

Italy, and which is like the 3rd Panzer Grenadier

17:00

Division, and has also just arrived. Absolutely

17:02

no reconnaissance on the ground whatsoever. It's

17:04

literally just arrived straight in to head

17:06

to Bastogne to kind of help crush

17:08

the resistance of those pesky Americans and

17:10

airborne, and yet the 10th Farmer Division,

17:12

which is in there. But I think

17:14

it's really important to stress that there

17:16

is absolutely no strategic significance whatsoever of

17:18

them reaching this high water. No. I

17:20

mean, this is the furthest they get,

17:22

and it's It's a big nothing. Great.

17:24

Well done. Here's your badge. Yeah. And

17:26

the truth is already, you know, the

17:28

spearheads are absolutely exhausted. They've been on

17:30

the go the whole time. Okay, so the Second

17:32

Panzer has a slight day off when they're waiting

17:34

for fuel. But I mean, you know, they're knackered.

17:36

They've been badly attracted. They're sure of absolutely everything.

17:39

You know, they're a spent force. a busted flush.

17:41

It doesn't actually seem apparent to either Hitler or

17:43

the Allies at that point, but it is an

17:45

absolute so -what moment. Yeah. But it looks alarming on

17:47

a map if you're in shape, or quite impressive

17:49

if you're in Berlin, depending on which way you

17:51

look at it. I mean, if you're there on

17:53

the ground, if you're look fits, you know exactly

17:55

what the state of play is. You know, you

17:57

know, really. Yeah, completely. anyway

18:00

because they haven't got fuel the day they

18:02

do stop and get a break is because

18:04

they haven't got fuel the whole thing's hobbled

18:06

isn't it and the skies are clear as

18:09

we've as we've pointed out so yeah yeah

18:11

so they're getting a hammered all time now

18:13

and I think it's really important to understand

18:15

that these camp group is that a couple

18:17

pushing for they might look like two fingers

18:19

but the allies are not meeting the tip

18:22

of the finger they're coming from the north

18:24

effectively and sweeping down on top of the

18:26

strung out but they're also operating in battle

18:28

groups so they're separated from the rest of

18:30

the division. So camp group of Cockenhausen, for

18:33

example, or camp creeper, Burm, they're in their

18:35

own sort of little area and they're very

18:37

easy for the allies at this point to

18:39

come in behind them, particularly since this village

18:41

of Marsh, this large village of Marsh, a

18:43

large village of Marsh Mall Town, the Marsh

18:45

hasn't been captured. So one of camp group

18:48

of Cockenhouses is completely wiped out in the

18:50

pre-dorn as it runs straight into a column

18:52

of combat command command A of the second

18:54

armour of the second armour division of the

18:56

second armour division. So you've got

18:58

you've got hell-on-wheels coming down. You've also

19:00

got the 335th infantry regiment of three

19:02

battalions from the 84th Rail Splitters Division.

19:05

So they're then cutting in behind the

19:07

rear of Second Panza and threatening the

19:09

main supply road. So as you can

19:11

see it's all going completely badly wrong

19:13

for Second Panza already and you know

19:15

the worst hasn't happened at this point.

19:17

On the night of the 23rd 24th

19:19

of December... A single captured jeep with

19:21

three German scouts approaches the main bridge

19:24

at Denont, but is hit by a

19:26

mine laid by the British. And that's

19:28

that. Yep, by Christmas Eve. Kagee Kockenhausen

19:30

is now near the village of Sel,

19:32

which I had a look around before

19:34

you got over to the Arden the

19:36

other day. Beautiful little thing on a

19:38

hill leading into the village, away from

19:40

the roads, is this lovely valley and

19:42

woods on either side and it's in

19:45

these woods. Kagee Kockenckenhausen is now desperately

19:47

trying to get some cover, from Allied

19:49

air attacks in Yarbos. but also not

19:51

to be spotted by the marauding men

19:53

of hell on wheels. You know, it's

19:55

just a nonsense, isn't it? Three RTR,

19:57

British third tank regiment, is also

19:59

now. across the murs, so they've

20:01

come from the west, across the ridget

20:04

D-not, and moving west. Later on the

20:06

24th of December, Christmas Eve, two pampers

20:08

are knocked out against three RTR roadblocks

20:11

at South. Also this day, the bulk

20:13

of the second armour division, head on

20:15

wheels, enters the fray. So suddenly you've

20:18

got a fresh armored division of Americans,

20:20

plus a tank battalion of the British,

20:22

coming up against a panza division that

20:25

has been attritted all the way from

20:27

the west wall, and is now kind

20:29

of 60 miles in or whatever, and

20:31

is about to be absolutely hammered, which

20:34

is what happens. KG Burma is also

20:36

stopped. That's just a little bit further

20:38

north of Cockenhausen. And that's stopped when

20:40

it comes under attack from third RTR

20:42

as well. On the far side of

20:45

the far. And around the same time,

20:47

Task Force B of Combat Command B

20:49

of the Hell on Wheels turns southwest

20:51

from the village of Signee and cuts

20:53

in south of K.G. Cockenhausen, while Task

20:56

Force A. of C.C.B. moves around from

20:58

the north, so K. Kockenhausen is now

21:00

completely surrounded and stuck in these woods. which

21:02

is just on the edge of the village

21:04

of cell. And there they are. And when

21:06

I was there, I was just thinking, God,

21:08

I wish I had a metal detector. Amazing.

21:11

All of this is showing the, how do

21:13

you let them get across the murs? This

21:15

is going to happen to them anyway. The

21:17

whole thing is completely, because after all, this

21:19

is a Titanic epic battle with huge, a

21:21

huge struggle and everything. But it also very

21:23

much smells of a foregone conclusion. And that

21:26

the Americans, however the Americans decide to decide

21:28

to go about it, is more the question

21:30

here, is more the question here. that the

21:32

initiative lies with the Americans, how do we

21:34

deal with this? Rather than it's no initiative

21:37

with the Germans, they've just got to go

21:39

forward. When they do, they simply offer more

21:41

flank, they spread themselves out, they offer more

21:44

vulnerability to the Americans. Whatever they do, the

21:46

Germans, these divisions are divided into camphorper, so

21:48

they're all stretched out, they're all atomised, so

21:50

you can defeat them in detail. You know,

21:53

it's like the Gazala line battle in reverse,

21:55

where Rommel goes around picking off bits of

21:57

8th army and destroying them as he such.

21:59

So choose, right? It's got that flavour from

22:02

the American perspective, hasn't it? Yeah, and you

22:04

know, the point is, is the leading spearheads

22:06

of Second Panza Division are being surrounded and

22:08

just basically destroyed and there's something they can

22:11

do about it because they're cut off, they're

22:13

cut off, they're cut off and they're supplied

22:15

from their supply lines. So, you know, they

22:17

can't fight their way out, which they can't,

22:20

they're running out of Second Panza, that sort.

22:22

coming but that's also stopped at a village

22:24

called Verden which is just to the east

22:26

of Marsh also by the rail spritters so

22:28

it's a tiny little area there it's on

22:31

the main road leading into Mars yeah and

22:33

you know at this point the Americans are

22:35

in enough numbers that they can wait for

22:37

the Germans to arrive and be ready for

22:40

them you know they're now dug in yeah

22:42

and they've got plenty of fire support in

22:44

the second armored division hell on wheels and

22:46

they've also got you know tanks from 30

22:49

corps some 30 corps and and you know

22:51

from the third RTR. You know on Christmas

22:53

Day it's just it's just more of the

22:55

same you know second armor division is into

22:58

play it's sort of pushing kind of eastwards

23:00

you know pushing from the north but you

23:02

know on a line that's running running sort

23:04

of roughly east to west down from the

23:06

north into into the Germans as they're arriving.

23:09

The fourth cavalry group remember then from the

23:11

Los Angeles Gap all the rest of it

23:13

you know they're now all as one and

23:15

pulled back and they're now involved you've got

23:18

84th infantry infantry division rail split as rail

23:20

split as to the north. of the town

23:22

of Buesonville. So second Pansa is now completely

23:24

isolated and cut off between the Murs and

23:27

Marsh with these armor corners, sort of sweeping

23:29

south to their east. You know, it's just

23:31

shocking. But at the same time, the rail

23:33

split is now holding blocking positions, this is

23:36

the 84th infantry, with armor support and of

23:38

course all the American artillery that there always

23:40

is, against the Pansa layer and the 9th

23:42

Pansa Division as they're heading from the southeast

23:44

from the southeast. runs into company B of

23:47

the 771st tank battalion and infantry of the

23:49

rail spritters. What you're seeing increasingly is the

23:51

Americans working in combined arms teams, you know,

23:53

and very effectively, you know, I think it's

23:56

really really interesting how well these little American

23:58

battle groups are kind of being pulled together.

24:00

Then the Fura, um, light brigade is brought

24:02

into the picture on the 116th Pansa's right,

24:05

but again, it gets absolutely nowhere. You know,

24:07

and again, it's, you know, these U.S. combined

24:09

arms teams are just too strong for the

24:11

arriving Pansa units to have any impact whatsoever,

24:14

whatsoever, really. you know fighting continues on the

24:16

26th and 27th December as the night for

24:18

the Pans a lair finally kind of get

24:20

into the battlefield yeah they're just they're just

24:22

hammered I mean Pans a lair gets as

24:25

far as you know almost to sell but

24:27

gets hit by Allied Yebos and gets no

24:29

further Well that's it. You see, obviously you

24:31

can't, you're not allowed to throw in the

24:34

towel are you, is the thing. Pantelaire, they

24:36

must know what's ahead of them. They must

24:38

know that the Americans have sort of congealed

24:40

things by now. I'm struck with fourth cavalry

24:43

group as well that, you know, they have

24:45

that absolutely awful day at the start of

24:47

all this battle. But then later on there

24:49

just... Of regains and malice. Yeah, exactly, and

24:52

you know, that's not unlike Villa's biklars-bocage, is

24:54

it, is it, is it, is it, is

24:56

it, is it, is it, is a... of

24:58

this, that the opening day when the Americans

25:00

are knocked off balance, or the bit where

25:03

they regain it and regain it crushingly so.

25:05

Well, yeah, I mean, 26th, 27th, December. So

25:07

boxing down the day after, combat command B

25:09

of the second armored hell-on-wheels spends a day

25:12

just, you know, they're surrounded, K.G. Cockenhausen and

25:14

K.G. berm in these woods. They're trying to,

25:16

the Germans just trying to hide in these

25:18

woods and they're just hammering, oh, just ever

25:21

more shells onto them, absolutely hammering them. Cockenhausen

25:23

and berm could do nothing about it because

25:25

they've run out of everything. So they've run

25:27

out of the... 26 boxing day at 3.30

25:30

p.m. Second Pans of Division Headquarters orders to

25:32

survive as to destroy any remaining vehicles they

25:34

can and then break out and they have

25:36

to make two breakout attempts, one on the

25:38

26th. on the 27th,

25:41

but by the end

25:43

of play on the

25:45

either by darkness on

25:47

the 27th, it's all

25:50

over. And the Americans

25:52

discover 150 tanks and

25:54

vehicles in the woods.

25:56

448 POWs are taken

25:59

and only 600 men

26:01

escape. God! And since

26:03

they started, second Panzer

26:05

Division has been reduced

26:08

from 150 Panzers to

26:10

20. Dear God! I

26:12

mean that's... And that

26:14

same day is when

26:16

Night of Panzer finally

26:19

gets there. You know,

26:21

having battled away on

26:23

these sort of chewed

26:25

up roads and with

26:28

fuel problems and supplies and

26:30

all the rest of it. But by that point it's been

26:32

hammered as well, because it's just that, you know, it's just been

26:34

handpicked by the Americans all the way. They could join in

26:36

with being smashed to pieces. I mean... Yeah,

26:38

exactly, you know, and yabos and

26:40

what have you. So when they get

26:42

there, they're just attacked immediately by

26:44

CCR and CCA of the Hell on

26:47

Wheels Division and with help of

26:49

the of the rail splitters pushing for

26:51

the south. So they get there

26:53

before even they've had a chance to

26:55

kind of recce the ground or

26:57

anything. They're just straight into it. It's

26:59

bam! It's quite something, isn't it? By

27:01

this stage, by the 27th December, both

27:03

Manteufl, who's the 5th Panzer Army commander

27:05

and Mirdle, the overall commander, their attention

27:07

is now turning to Bastogne, where the

27:10

Bastogne is the last bastion of hope

27:12

for the Germans that they can salvage

27:14

something out of this. So the Fuhrer

27:16

beglite brigade has been ordered to disengage

27:18

and head for Bastogne and so too

27:20

have been the decimated 1st SS Panzer

27:22

Division and the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division,

27:24

who we will remember, were right at

27:26

the top. Yeah. I mean, 1st SS

27:28

Panzer Division, that's Piper. Yeah. 3rd Panzer

27:31

Grenadier was against the, was against the

27:33

Elsonbourne Ridge, just to the west of

27:35

the Twin Villages that we talked about

27:37

in maybe episode three. So that's where

27:39

we're at. So I think we should

27:41

probably take a break, shouldn't we? Yeah.

27:43

It's just all though, getting your head

27:45

round what they've done, what the Germans

27:47

have done here. You have a strategic

27:49

reserve in effect here and you've just

27:52

absolutely wasted it. Maybe the thing to

27:54

consider is, does this actually shorten the

27:56

war, the Ardennes Offensive, for the Allies?

27:58

Because the Germans spend this now on

28:00

something pointless rather than actually knocking Allied

28:02

plans off track. or adding delay, what

28:04

it actually does is it sort of

28:07

clears the decks. German production is never

28:09

going to be able to keep up

28:11

with this sort of disaster, is it?

28:14

And manpower isn't going to be able

28:16

to keep up with this kind of

28:18

disaster. And so on. And aside from

28:20

that, you then also get the penny

28:23

dropping with an awful lot of people

28:25

that this is it. And so on.

28:27

And aside from that, you then also

28:30

get the penny dropping with an awful

28:32

lot of people, isn't it? is a

28:34

big favor in a mad way because

28:36

after all, you know, everything about this

28:38

is mad. We'll take a break, we'll

28:40

be back in a second, see you in

28:42

a tick. This episode is brought to Well,

28:52

with the name of your price

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tool from Progressive, you can find

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29:20

Welcome back to we have ways of making

29:22

you talk with me on Marie and James Holland.

29:24

Here we are, I think you could probably tell

29:26

from that first half that the writing is just

29:29

not just other writings on the wall for the

29:31

James, the right was on the wall on the

29:33

16th of December, let's be honest now. The writing

29:35

is absolutely everywhere. It's on the wall, it's on

29:38

the ceiling, it's in the sky, is actually the

29:40

point. Well, the 27th of December is an important

29:42

day because it's a day where it's absolutely clear

29:44

that this is no longer about containing the offensive,

29:46

the German offensive from the allied point of view.

29:49

This is about how do you counter-tech and get

29:51

rid of the bulging? What do you do next?

29:53

Yeah. So yeah, it's the counter offensive, you know,

29:55

so it's what do you do you do you

29:57

do next? And the focus, and the focus, and

29:59

the focus, town from of Bastogne. That's the first

30:01

thing. So it was this narrow corridor up

30:03

near the village of Assenoir, through which the third

30:05

army are sending men and troops from their

30:07

third corps. They've got to widen that and protect

30:09

that and make sure that it doesn't get

30:12

counterattacked. And they've got to work out how they're

30:14

going to reduce the whole pocket, you know,

30:16

the whole bold, really. So from the 27 onwards,

30:18

it's both sides are kind of having a

30:20

rethink. You know, from the German point of view,

30:22

it's, okay, let's just put six Panzer Army

30:24

onto the defensive. You know, clearly that one's gone

30:26

nowhere. By that stage, even Hitler's given up

30:28

hope of breakthrough. So he's now thinking about Alsace

30:30

and Operation Nordwind against the Sixth Army

30:32

Group, which has a bit stretched as

30:34

a result of the movement of Patton's

30:36

Third Army, pivoting north. So he's thinking

30:38

about a smaller offensive further south. There's

30:40

two pretty clear options for the Allies,

30:43

one which is a major pincer to

30:45

track the bulk of the German forces

30:47

with a third army driving in from

30:49

Luxembourg to the south and first army

30:51

from the north. And this is suggested

30:53

again by Patton, who's very keen on

30:55

his pinching outs, but I can Bradley

30:57

against this. They just feel it's too

30:59

risky in winter conditions on already badly churned

31:01

roads. And Montgomery is also reluctant to go

31:03

down that route. And, you know, they're right.

31:05

It's the truth of it. It might be

31:07

boring, but, you know, we've talked a lot

31:09

about the difficulty of the roads. And don't

31:11

forget all these roads. It's not just the

31:13

roads heading, heading eastwards. It's also the roads

31:15

heading from the west because lots and lots

31:17

and lots of American traffic has already also

31:20

been going down these roads and churning them

31:22

up as well. Churning up roads is not

31:24

the preserved purely of the Germans. So, you

31:26

know, there is this sort of, you know,

31:28

Lightning Joe Collins, who was the seven core

31:30

commander who was in Guadalcanal and then came over

31:32

and then was seven core commander for Normandy

31:34

and has been ever since. You know, he's

31:36

full of fighting talk. You know, he's cut from

31:38

the same cloth as Patton. And, you know,

31:40

he's arguing to sort of move straight away. And

31:43

Monti says, well, let's just kind of absolutely

31:45

make sure we've got all our ducks and row

31:47

in true multi -faction. And Collins says, no, I

31:49

think we should be, you know, we should

31:51

be bold and we should, we should sort of

31:53

pinch off the bulge of a really big

31:55

strike south with my core. And Monti goes, Joe,

31:57

you can't supply a core along a single

32:00

road. and Collins goes well money maybe he

32:02

British can't but we care and I

32:04

would argue no you can't I mean

32:06

I just he's wrong on that yeah

32:08

and you know because it is too

32:10

much he's never had to do this

32:12

you know this is not like you

32:14

know this isn't like the breakout from

32:17

operation Cobra Normandy on the 26th of

32:19

July when Collins is core kind of

32:21

burst through and all the infantry kind

32:23

of on tanks and stuff. Again, that

32:25

was summer. Yep. And they were using

32:27

multiple roads, not one road. You know,

32:29

this is totally, totally different. This is

32:32

winter. It's icy. There's snow on the

32:34

ground, blah, blah, blah. But there has

32:36

been a dull snow by this point.

32:38

You know, it's freezing cold. And you

32:40

know, it takes time to build up

32:42

strength, bring more reinforcements in and do

32:44

it methodically. What's the... There is no

32:46

rush. That's the thing. You know, the

32:48

war is not going to be over

32:50

by Christmas because Christmas has been and

32:52

gone. So just do it properly. You

32:54

know, Germans aren't going anywhere. You know,

32:56

they might be pulling back a little

32:58

bit, but there's still going to be

33:00

plenty of time to kind of trap them.

33:03

I just, you know, I just think it's

33:05

absolutely the right thing to do. To reorganize,

33:07

bring in replacements, bring up fuel, make sure

33:09

you've got enough shells, so that every time

33:12

you attack you can do you can do

33:14

it, you can do it, you can do

33:16

it, you can do it, you can do.

33:18

And you know it's interesting because the newly

33:21

arrived 87th Golden Acorn Infantry Division joins Middleton's

33:23

8th Corps as well as the Lemth Armour

33:25

Division nickname. Thunderballed. Also arriving is the 17th

33:27

Airborne Division, also known as the Golden Tellons.

33:30

Golden Tellons. And you know, they're moving

33:32

from 18th Airborne Corps to 8th Corps,

33:34

on Third Army on Christmas Day. So

33:37

all this takes time. You know, on

33:39

these incredibly congested roads, which are all

33:41

really churned up. So I think it's

33:43

absolutely the right decision to just take

33:46

a breather. Everyone just kind of, you

33:48

know, chip away at that corridor to

33:50

the South, obviously, obviously. to the crowds

33:53

but when you attack and you're doing

33:55

a proper counter to it let's do

33:57

it properly no half-cock stuff yeah it's

34:00

freezing cold, by the way. Yes, the biggest storm

34:02

of the snow comes on the 29th of

34:04

December, and that's when it really absolutely is just

34:06

a whiteout. And of course, this is a

34:08

bit where Garnier's losing his leg in the woods

34:10

at Foy. They just sat there in their

34:12

shell holes being shelled all the time. They're not

34:14

all the time, but intermittently, but it's enough

34:16

and you're getting these tree bursts and all the

34:18

rest of it, it's all completely miserable. But

34:20

that doesn't mean to say it's not the right

34:22

decision to stay there and just hold the

34:24

ground and just sweat it out or freeze it

34:26

out or whatever. You don't understand that when

34:28

you're in a freezing foxhole in miserable conditions. But

34:30

actually, the whole situation is easy. And

34:32

then, I mean, on the 30th of

34:34

December, though, the Führer Begleit Brigade are

34:36

now at Bastoin. They're heading south. They've

34:38

been heading south for the 28th. They

34:40

take over the sector around Sebré to

34:42

the southwest of Bastoin, but they're smashed

34:44

up by fighter bombers. And then we

34:46

run into some of the sort of

34:48

Reimer, who's the commander of the Führer

34:50

Begleit Brigade. He's then unhappy about being

34:52

put under the command of Third Panzer

34:55

Grenadier Division. So you've got the Germans

34:57

all shaking fists at one another, but

34:59

they're too late arriving anyway. It's too little

35:01

too late. Too little too late.

35:03

Yeah. Reimer's ordered to retake the Sebré

35:05

on the 29th of December. But

35:07

at the minute they... Yeah, it's just

35:09

for the southwest of Bastoin, Sebré.

35:11

But again, American artillery, which is the

35:13

sort of unglamorous end of how

35:15

they... You know, the air power is

35:17

the sort of thing you can

35:19

visualize, isn't it? The skies clearing, the

35:21

planes appear. American artillery, which has

35:23

been absolutely hammering the Germans. And their

35:25

attack's broken up by that. Well,

35:27

I mean, you know, that landscape there

35:29

is sort of, you know, it's still

35:31

softly undulating. And there's some woods north of

35:33

Sebré. And they emerge out of the

35:35

woods, coming down towards the village. And as

35:37

they go into these kind of snow fields,

35:41

they just get absolutely hammered by the

35:43

artillery. And of course, they haven't been painted

35:45

white. And so they're very black on

35:47

a white landscape against a black wood. And,

35:49

you know, they sit out like sore

35:51

thumbs and, you know, they're just absolutely hammered.

35:53

I mean, just can go absolutely nowhere.

35:55

And you know, the artillery concentrations have been

35:57

brought up for the expected Jerry counterattack

35:59

here. You know, they've... they're expecting it, of course.

36:01

So they're lying in wait ready and this

36:03

is again, this is why all this is

36:05

so much harder now because it's not them

36:08

arriving and surprising an unprepared American defense. This

36:10

is the Americans knowing exactly what they're dealing

36:12

with, expecting the Germans to reinforce Bastone and

36:14

being ready for them when they do arrive

36:17

and where, you know, and there they go.

36:19

No, so it's vicious fighting all that day

36:21

of the 29th of December, this snow covered

36:23

day. The casualties are appalling for the Europe

36:25

Galactic Brigade and that night Ramer has to

36:28

report that his force is far too weak

36:30

to attempt any further assault. That's it. That's

36:32

it. Over. He's finished. You know, because

36:34

what they're trying to do is they're trying

36:36

to have a renewed attempt to get

36:38

into Bastone from the southwest and also from

36:41

the east. It just doesn't work. You

36:43

know, while this is going on, British Ferrigor

36:45

is extending its bulge of its own

36:47

from the rivermurs down towards... the village of

36:49

Houghton. So it's sort of, you know,

36:51

also it's still a little way from from

36:54

pastone, it has to be said, but

36:56

even so, it's sort of, you know, hot

36:58

on the tails. And at the same

37:00

time, you know, they're attacking from

37:02

the newly formed 39 Pansakor, is

37:04

attacking from the southeast at the

37:06

same time as the FBB, kind

37:08

of attacking from the, from the

37:11

west. You know, it's just, it's

37:13

another, it's a little sorts of

37:15

problems. trenchfoot frostbite, dysentery as well.

37:17

The Christmas mail has arrived which

37:19

has done a lot for morale

37:21

and plus a supply of rations

37:23

but these guys are phrasing particularly

37:25

the 101st Edward as we commented

37:28

on in one of the earlier

37:30

episodes. You know arrived in Bastone without

37:32

all their winter kit you know it

37:34

was such a hurry they just jumped

37:36

into the trucks before they kind of

37:38

probably got got themselves packed and new

37:40

supplies of macanaws and so on these

37:42

these sort of winter coats are arriving

37:44

but it's kind of winter of winter

37:46

winter coats. That's really funny because he

37:48

goes on his sort of tour of

37:51

the area and he goes up to

37:53

Raleigh where there was this fight and

37:55

There's an artillery observation officer up front

37:57

with the 327th Cloud Infantry Regiment and

37:59

sees pattern and his entourage kind of

38:01

walking quite open across this field and

38:03

yells at him to get the hell

38:05

down. Then gives the order to fire

38:07

for effect. And one of the rounds

38:09

just by coincidence more than skill. Now

38:11

it's right on top a panzer which

38:13

sets off the ammunition, blasts all of

38:16

the pieces, turret hurtling into the eye

38:18

and all the rest of it. And

38:20

Patton says, now by God that is

38:22

good for him. And

38:24

comes over and of course the

38:26

artillery observation officer is incredibly embarrassed.

38:28

He's been yelling at Patton. Patton

38:30

likes to cut of his gym

38:32

and it's all fine. But what

38:35

he's seeing there isn't it is

38:37

sort of remnants of Führer Bergate

38:39

Bergata, 3rd Panzer Grenadiers, a Kampfgruppe

38:41

for 1st SS Panzer Division, 14th

38:43

Falsche Jäger Regiment, 167 Volts Grenadier,

38:45

who've just arrived from Hungary of

38:48

all places. And again I haven't

38:50

got a clue what the layer

38:52

of line was. Exactly. It's absolute

38:54

mixed bag attempt again to cut

38:56

Bastoin off. And the two companies

38:58

of the 35th Santa Fe Infantry

39:00

Division are caught napping by this

39:03

at dawn. It's interesting, isn't it?

39:05

Actually, Germans can still achieve surprise.

39:07

But again, it's the American artillery

39:09

and they're using the poset fuse,

39:11

aren't they, for the first time,

39:13

which is the proximity fuse, which

39:15

is the thing that will create

39:18

an air burst for you. I

39:20

mean, imagine you're the 167 Volts

39:22

Grenadier Division. You don't want to

39:24

be conscripted in the first place.

39:26

You've been in Hungary. You've just

39:28

got here on trains. You just

39:31

debast. You get there and the

39:33

Americans use their new, brand new

39:35

state -of -the -art proximity fuses, shells

39:37

on them and you get absolutely

39:39

cut to pieces. Straight away. You've

39:41

come from Hungary. You've come all

39:43

this way. You've had all the

39:46

things of coming to battle, the

39:48

nerves, the stirring speeches, the last

39:50

letters home, the entire thing and

39:52

you're done in the morning, basically.

39:54

Yeah. And the Waffen SS and

39:56

the Falsche Jäger are still having

39:59

arguments just like they were on

40:01

the first night with Piper and

40:03

what was it, the night Falsche

40:05

Jäger regiment, wasn't it? I think

40:07

in Los Angraba and all that

40:09

and lands are at. And this

40:11

time, you know, the First SS Panther Division blames

40:14

14th Faucher-Mega regiment for not being there and all the rest of

40:16

it. And God, it's just, it's ridiculous, isn't it? And General Cockott,

40:18

who's the overall commander of this battle, says, these units, unduly boastful

40:20

and arrogant anyway, with their total lack of discipline so typical of

40:22

them, with their well-known ruthlessness combined with considerable lack of logic, had

40:24

a downright devastating effect, and in all cases prove a handicap for

40:26

any systematic conduct of fighting. Lack of, I mean lack of logic

40:29

is a... It's absolutely extraordinary,

40:31

is it? So this is a very

40:33

amount of general talking about the first

40:36

SS guys. You know, you don't need,

40:38

you don't need the allies to fight,

40:40

you're fighting amongst yourselves, aren't you? Yeah.

40:42

And this again is in stark contrast

40:44

to the Americans, but that attack we

40:47

were just talking about is scraped together

40:49

from loads of different German units, where

40:51

we're all falling out with one another.

40:53

The Americans are able to do this

40:56

thing that the Germans are incapable of,

40:58

that for some reason... in the post-war

41:00

historiography, it's the Germans who get

41:02

the credit for being able to do

41:04

this. Yeah, a vast mystery. Anyway,

41:07

you know, there is still one big

41:09

air battle. Last gasp or showdown,

41:11

last gasp to play out, which of

41:13

course is Operation Boudenplatt, which is another

41:16

ludicrous idea. But anyway, by the

41:18

first of January, the allies have flown

41:20

34,100, 100 sorties. You know, that's

41:22

a huge number. The Lutwaffe in total

41:24

of only managed 7, 7, 7,

41:26

500. So it's an incredibly uneven, un,

41:29

uneven. balance sheet. Boden Platte, you

41:31

know, two weeks late, this is

41:33

supposed to have happened on day

41:35

one, this is the massed sweep

41:37

of every single fighter plane they

41:39

can possibly get their hands on,

41:41

including the Emmy 262, which is

41:44

a jet aircraft, which is a

41:46

fighter, but Hitler is decreed, it's

41:48

got to be a bomber. They

41:50

don't have one thousand, thirty-five, that's

41:52

all they can manage. A hundred

41:54

and forty-four British and American... aircraft

41:57

are destroyed on the ground and

41:59

62 more. and another 70 lost

42:01

in aerial combat that day, but

42:03

a third of the Luftwaffe is

42:06

destroyed. 304 planes are shot down

42:08

on that one day alone. You

42:10

know, it is just, you know,

42:12

raining aircraft plunging into the ground,

42:15

including 85 by their very own

42:17

flack, a total of 214 pilots

42:19

and crew either killed or POW,

42:22

including three Gishwada commanders, all six

42:24

groupened commanders, and 11 Stafel commanders,

42:26

which is a squadrons. I mean,

42:28

you know, it's just... So it

42:31

is absolutely the last gasp, at

42:33

that time. And a load of

42:35

night fighters are on that sort,

42:37

aren't they, and are lost? Completely

42:39

pointlessly, you punch a hole in

42:41

their night defences doing that. Yeah,

42:43

and it's absolutely arguable that life

42:45

allied aircraft is considered to be

42:47

easier after Bowdoin' plan. Yeah, it's

42:49

absolutely arguable that life allied aircraft

42:52

is considered to be easier after

42:54

Bowdoin. Yeah, because we're just on

42:56

so many, the American offensive at

42:58

Bastoyin, which follows... night on the

43:00

31st, the 1st of January 9th,

43:02

happy new year everybody, Bizori and

43:04

Marguerite, a retaker by 6th Army

43:06

Division, which is new, 6th Army

43:08

Division, new to the Battlefront, incidentally,

43:11

you know, taking over from the

43:13

10th, so again that pause has

43:15

allowed that replacement of fresh units

43:17

letting the weary units go, 35th

43:19

Santa Fe Division, kicks, really kicks

43:21

into gear on the second of

43:23

January. Yeah, and this then, Middleton,

43:25

this is Troy Middleton, it's... by

43:27

dark around the top, top of

43:30

the town. Yeah, so it's the opposite direction from

43:32

which the Fura Brigade were attacking on the 29th

43:34

of December. And you've got a lempharmid closest to

43:36

the, I think, to the town, if I remember

43:38

rightly, then the 17th, airborne, and then the 80th,

43:40

no, maybe it's the other way around. I think

43:42

it's the 11th-hand side, the western side, then the

43:44

17th, for definitely in the middle, and then the

43:46

age 7th, they're sort of, sort of swinging up,

43:48

sort of swinging up in a kind of swinging

43:50

up, north-up, north-up, north-up, north-up, north-up, north-up, north-up, north-up,

43:52

north-up, north-up, north-up, north-up, sort of north-up, north-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e Yeah, I

43:55

mean, again, that whatever's left of

43:57

the fear of regard, it's the

43:59

thing that... they're now properly under

44:01

the hammer, aren't they? It's difficult. Eleventh

44:03

arm, but have a tough time, it's

44:06

six miles in four days against them,

44:08

against German formality formations, and they lose

44:10

660 casualties, 42 Sherman's or 12 Stewart's,

44:13

which shows going forwards is difficult. It

44:15

doesn't matter who you are, going forward

44:17

is difficult, which I think also further

44:20

underlines why you need to pause, why

44:22

you need to gather your strength and

44:24

get your ducks in a row before

44:27

you try this, because it's difficult. well

44:29

first army plus 30 corps they open another

44:31

their own assault from the north of the

44:33

bulge attacking in the southeast direction seven core

44:35

leading in the center towards two fleas 30

44:37

core on the right flank 18th they're able

44:39

core on the left so they get motoring

44:41

too and yeah creating their own little bulge

44:43

yeah so there's a counter bulge and they're

44:45

sort of sweeping down in a kind of

44:47

a south-easterly direction And this is... From the

44:49

north. I mean, the thing is, that's on

44:51

the third, the day before, Mantoiffler has asked

44:53

Modal to be able to withdraw. And of

44:56

course, the boss says, Hitler says, no, no,

44:58

I want to counter thrust. on the fourth,

45:00

please, day after tomorrow, doesn't work, on

45:02

the fourth, that's the day where there's

45:04

no more German forward movement. And Manteufel

45:07

afterwards says, yeah, that's the day the

45:09

campaign was lost. But I mean, I

45:11

think if you've got this far listening

45:14

to us, we would suggest it's

45:16

lost before it begins. I mean, there

45:18

is no campaign at this point. There's

45:20

a series of scrappy, uncoordinated, uncoordinated actions.

45:23

You know, having... fought desperately to go

45:25

west, now fighting desperately to get east.

45:27

There isn't a campaign present and correct

45:30

at this point, is there? No, no, no.

45:32

Anyway, on the 5th of January, Modal is

45:34

finally forced to pull his panzer divisions from

45:36

Bastogne, after all, and you know, they need

45:39

to be sent back to kind of sort

45:41

of reinforce six panzer army, which is now

45:43

being pressed very heavily by the US First

45:46

Army. So that's... That's it. No more attempts

45:48

on Bastone. It's still snow everywhere. The condition

45:50

is absolutely brutal. Only on the 8th of

45:52

January does Hitler authorize the full withdrawal, but

45:55

largely because of weather and shortage of fuel

45:57

etc. It doesn't happen anything like as quickly

45:59

as... planned and 7th Corps, also lightning

46:01

Joe Collins 7th Corps, managed to take

46:04

the village of Roche before the Germans

46:06

had left. The plan of being to

46:08

let 5th Pansar army take over those

46:10

positions of 6th Pansar army and a

46:12

sort of gradual retreat. So basically 5th

46:14

Pansar army would cover retreat to 6

46:16

Pansar army and that's just not possible

46:18

because now 5th Pansar army is fully

46:20

engaged to where it is. Yeah, yeah,

46:22

yeah, yeah, yeah. It's everyone sort of

46:25

fleeing basically. 12th of January, Red Army

46:27

launches new offensive in the East, so

46:29

there's absolutely nothing left now. I mean,

46:31

you know, it's like, Nordwind, which has

46:33

been launched on the against 6th Army

46:35

Group, down further to the South, that's

46:37

happened on the third of January, that's

46:39

happened on the third of January, that's

46:41

also running out of steam as well.

46:44

And on the 40th of January, von

46:46

Rungsteded, who's still overall command retrieve as

46:48

far back as the West Walled. which

46:50

is where they started. Jesus Christ. 16th

46:52

of January, US 1st and 3rd armies

46:54

finally meet two kind of air punches

46:56

at one another. At Hoofalies and then

46:58

finally on the 28th of January the

47:00

last bit of lost ground has taken.

47:03

And so that is the battle of

47:05

the bulge. Finally over. Finally over. Like...

47:07

So much the Second World War, you

47:09

know, the decision has happened much earlier,

47:11

but because of the way the Germans

47:13

are committed to fighting to the bitter

47:15

end, it's more than a month later

47:17

that the battle itself ends, but it's

47:19

the decision has made on the first

47:22

couple of days, isn't it really? The

47:24

first day. Well, Jim, I mean, we've

47:26

got the end of the Battle of

47:28

Bulge, but the... problem here is really

47:30

there's still tons more to talk about

47:32

and yeah what we probably want to

47:34

do is a bit of a wash-up

47:36

talk about yeah talk about what what

47:38

conclusions can be drawn everything I think

47:40

drawn quite a few as we've gone

47:42

but there's still there's still plenty to

47:45

talk about and I think there's still

47:47

plenty to talk about and I think

47:49

I talk a bit more about the

47:51

combined arms of the Americans of what

47:53

they're doing and I think there's definitely

47:55

a chunk to be said on American

47:57

artillery to this There'll be some questions

47:59

raised. So maybe as you read to

48:01

the series as it goes out and

48:03

you've got to the end here now

48:06

so well done well done you You

48:08

now know your rail split us from

48:10

your golden lines from your golden talons

48:12

to your whatever I mean. Yeah, hello

48:14

Wales. Anyway, so we will do a

48:16

more pop episode. Thanks very much for

48:18

listening. Obviously you can subscribe and listen

48:20

to all of this stuff in in

48:22

one giant ad-free lump if you go

48:24

to our Apple Channel and become officer

48:27

class. You could subscribe to our patron,

48:29

join the independent company over on patron

48:31

and you can come to We Have

48:33

Ways Fest Fest Code at UK. selling

48:35

nicely, speakers lined up, ideas forming, but

48:37

I think this has been absolutely brilliant

48:40

to do Jim. You've done an amazing

48:42

job putting this together and it's really

48:44

interesting coming at actually at a battle

48:46

that neither of us were particularly familiar

48:48

with, right? Because it maybe makes you...

48:51

Yeah, it's been amazing. Think differently about

48:53

or comedy a little differently to some

48:55

of the ways it's been talked about

48:57

before. But we'll get round to that.

48:59

Thanks everyone for listening to Episode 8 of

49:01

Battle of the Bulge for we have ways of

49:04

making you talk. Me, I'm Marie, James Holland. Cheerio!