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1:55

passed over a

1:57

described land. Go

2:02

where not needed, do not

2:04

know what hell looks like.

2:08

And that is to

2:10

see this thing

2:12

go to the end.

2:15

Meanwhile in the Ardennes, the Americans

2:17

have recaptured the initiative, moving

2:19

step by step back over the lost

2:22

ground. Soon

2:27

I noticed the tank shells were coming right

2:29

over my head, along with tracing machine gun

2:31

bullets. It was a foggy night, so at

2:33

first I couldn't see the German tanks, but

2:35

as dawn started, I could see a number

2:37

of German tanks maneuvering around about 200 yards

2:39

in front of my position. I soon ran

2:41

out of mortar shells, so I asked by

2:43

radio for some more from battalion headquarters in

2:46

a manor house about 400 yards to my

2:48

left. To my welcome surprise, two men from

2:50

battalion came running, with large numbers of new

2:52

shells in a cot. The German tanks seemed

2:54

to know we had a mortar position, but

2:56

they couldn't see it in the foggy conditions.

2:58

Another phone call said one of my mortar

3:00

shells had landed in a German tank and

3:02

blown it up. After a few more minutes,

3:04

I could see that a German tank was

3:06

going along our front line and fired directly

3:09

into the foxholes. I kept firing because I

3:11

was very concerned the German infantry troops would

3:13

soon be able to advance to 200 yards

3:15

towards my position if I didn't stop them.

3:17

I got word on my phone that German

3:19

tanks were in battalion headquarters. And

3:21

that was a cause. Arthur S.

3:23

Couch. Second battalion 26 infantry regiment

3:25

who was born in Louisiana, but then moved

3:27

to New Jersey. Well, you know what?

3:29

That's one of the things I admire about

3:31

America is it is a place where

3:33

you can where you can do that. I'm

3:35

quite into that. I'm quite into that

3:37

deep stuff because Daisy and I have been

3:39

watching True Detective. All right. Well, welcome

3:41

to We Have Ways to Make You Talk

3:43

with me, I'm Murray and James Holland

3:46

to episode six of the Battle of the

3:48

Bulge. Just like to let the listener

3:50

know that like the Battle of the Bulge

3:52

itself, this podcast series has sprawled and

3:54

bloomed and blossomed and burst its bounds. We

3:56

thought we'd be done within six, but

3:58

here we are at the defence. On six,

4:00

we're only on the of December. Exactly. three

4:03

days in. I know, but the most

4:05

complicated bit is at the beginning. Yes, and

4:07

the sort of where all the contingency

4:09

lies and where the moments all hang is

4:11

in first. In fact,

4:13

what's going on? Yeah, we will

4:15

attempt to explain. Of course, the surprise

4:17

German attack, which has caught a

4:19

lot of people off guard on the

4:21

Allied side, and with very good

4:23

reason as earlier discussed, has prompted some

4:25

quite serious high command decisions. Yes.

4:28

It's also prompted Eisenhower to who

4:30

is the Supreme Allied commander, of course.

4:32

You know, he's been accused of not sort

4:34

of gripping the whole show quite enough

4:36

in being a very good diplomat, but not

4:38

really kind of, you know, letting all

4:40

his subordinates just sort of slightly do their

4:43

own thing. And what you see here

4:45

is him definitely sort of taking command, slightly

4:47

at Bradley's expense, I

4:49

would say. But anyway, he holds

4:51

a meeting at Verdun, seen of

4:53

Epic French -German First World War

4:55

battle. On the 19th of December,

4:57

this is the 12th Army Group's

4:59

rear HQ. So forward HQ is

5:02

in Luxembourg. But the

5:04

rear HQ is in Verdunna, and obviously that's

5:06

just easier for everyone to get to. So

5:08

Ike is there, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder,

5:10

who is the Deputy Supreme Commander, Omar

5:12

Bradley, the commander the 12th Army

5:15

Group, Jacob Devers, commander of the

5:17

sick army group. Don't forget them coming

5:19

in from the south, Operation Dragoon on 15th

5:21

of August, 1944, etc. and Patton as

5:23

well. and also Hodgets, who is the first

5:25

army commander. And Eich says, the present

5:27

situation is to be regarded as one of

5:29

opportunity for us and not of disaster.

5:31

Yes, which is very interesting, isn't it? Because,

5:34

as you say, he's been accused of

5:36

not being particularly grippy. But even from the

5:38

16th, when he first looks at it,

5:40

he thinks, this is it. This is a

5:42

big, proper offensive, doesn't he? Yeah. So

5:44

Patton suggests letting the Germans get all the

5:46

way to Paris and pinching them out

5:48

and surrounding them. So he swans into

5:50

this meeting with enormous sort of braggadatio.

5:54

And Eisenhower is quite irked by this.

5:56

Yeah. And says, look, giving some

5:58

ground is one thing, but the Germans

6:00

under no circumstances cannot be allowed to cross

6:02

the Merse because what he understands that

6:04

pattern doesn't. I imagine it's just showboating on

6:06

patterns. Yeah, of course it is. But

6:08

what he realises is that psychologically you just

6:10

simply cannot suffer a reverse on that

6:13

scale. However, attractive on one level that might

6:15

be. And just imagine what that means

6:17

if sort of half of northern France is

6:19

overrun by the Germans having been liberated.

6:21

Imagine what's going to happen to all those

6:23

civilians when they go into villages and

6:25

stuff with Das Reich and so on. This

6:27

is absolutely inconceivable. So he says, no,

6:29

you know, you can give a bit of

6:31

ground in Belgium and stuff. But no,

6:33

you absolutely cannot do anything more than that.

6:35

And they cannot be allowed to cross

6:37

the mighty with a muse. So it's agreed

6:39

that Sixth Army Group is going to

6:41

push up into our sass, which is why

6:43

Divis is there. Because how they're going

6:45

to kind of redeploy all their forces is

6:48

important. Basically, what this is going to

6:50

be is it's going to be a shift

6:52

northwards. So part of Patton's Third Army

6:54

is going to shift northwards and try and

6:56

help them come in on the southern

6:58

part of what is evidently becoming the bulge.

7:00

And that means sixth army group also

7:02

taking up some of the slack. But that's

7:04

okay, of course, because what's completely clear

7:06

by the 19th of December is that the

7:08

bulk of German strength is now here.

7:10

So you can afford to slacken off in

7:12

other areas, knowing that you're not going

7:14

to suffer much of a reverse there. And

7:16

so that's why they're able to do

7:18

that. So Pat suggests he can start right

7:20

away, which also irritates Eisenhower, because you

7:23

just can't start right away. You can't start

7:25

on the 19th because You're

7:27

expecting an entire core of three divisions to

7:29

pivot 90 degrees, you know, because they're

7:31

facing eastwards and they've now got a face

7:33

north. And, you know, as we explained

7:35

in the last episode, that's just not that

7:37

easy. What he doesn't want is patterns

7:39

forces heading off half cock and go straight

7:41

into Brandenburgers German 7th Army. So they

7:43

agree that he'll spend the next few days

7:45

maneuvering and then the actual start the

7:47

jump off. We'll start on the 22nd of

7:49

December. Yeah. The thing is, is also

7:52

that, I mean, the situation within the bulge

7:54

itself is unclear. I mean, a lot

7:56

of this is like best guessing, isn't it?

7:58

As to what the situation actually is

8:00

three days in, or two days in, really,

8:02

if it's the meeting on the morning

8:04

of the 19th. I think he's absolutely right

8:06

to take stock because the Germans might

8:08

blow themselves out in the meantime. Yeah. Yeah,

8:10

you know, given what they know about

8:12

the state of them. I mean, I think

8:14

it's it's about it's about being it's

8:16

about making sure you balance so always being

8:19

on balance and making sure you don't

8:21

get kicked through the back door. I mean,

8:23

so yes. Anyway, at this point,

8:25

Eisenhower has just been given his

8:27

fifth star. So he's he's, you know,

8:29

that would be Phil Marshall in

8:31

British terms. There isn't a rank of

8:33

Phil Marshall in the US Army.

8:35

So I says, Every time i get

8:37

a new star i get attacked

8:39

and pattern goes every time you get

8:41

attacked i pull you out i

8:43

mean you can just imagine how annoying

8:46

pattern must have been at this

8:48

particular meeting yes that would get great

8:50

that he's so gung -ho it's brilliant

8:52

that he's so up for it

8:54

however can you just want your neck

8:56

in mate. But also

8:58

there are there are further moves ahead

9:00

because the 21st Army Group the British

9:02

20 British Canadian 21st Army Group is

9:04

to the north of the bulge battle

9:07

and Monty Montgomery now Field Marshal Montgomery

9:09

by the 19th December is really pretty

9:11

disturbed by what's going on just to

9:13

the south, and also by the complete

9:15

lack of news and lack of comms

9:17

coming from First Army, which is immediately

9:20

on his southern flank. Well, no, there's

9:22

Night Farmy, isn't there? Then it's up

9:24

First Army. Yes, but still. So

9:26

he sends off some of it, you

9:28

know, what he does is... is, as

9:30

you know, he sends off his liaison

9:32

officers, his young captains, and he sends

9:34

two of them off to US First

9:36

Army HQ. And one of these is

9:39

Carol Mava, who we've talked about a

9:41

number of times in the past, who

9:43

was formerly in one of the guards

9:45

regiments, and then SAS, and then joins

9:47

Monty's headquarters before Alamain. His brother's also

9:49

been one of Monty's guys. And it's

9:51

a family connections thing that gets you

9:53

that job. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, they've

9:55

reached first army headquarters only to find

9:57

it abandoned and sort of like marry

9:59

Celeste with sort of half finished meals

10:02

and all the rest of it on

10:04

hearing this Monty immediately orders the SAS

10:06

and the Phantom reccy teams to head

10:08

to the West Bank of the Merse

10:10

and also puts. 30 core immediately on

10:12

standby, because what he wants to do

10:14

is make sure that the Western Bank

10:16

of the Merse is protected. Yeah. So

10:18

Carol Maverin and his fellow liaison officer

10:20

then head off to First Army Rear

10:23

HQ at Show Fontaine, where they do

10:25

find General Courtney Hodges, but Hodges seems

10:27

completely out of it. He seems completely

10:29

shaken by what's happened. He's not speaking

10:31

coherently. Doesn't seem to be in touch

10:33

with 12 Army group either. And when

10:35

they drive back and report to Monty.

10:37

Monty tells them to immediately go back

10:39

to Hodges and tell him to block

10:41

Liege at all costs. And Liege is

10:44

the biggest town. It's right on a

10:46

bend, a kind of a northeastern bend

10:48

of the Meurs. And it's the sort

10:50

of closest large town on the Merse

10:52

towards Antwerp, which is the ultimate German

10:54

aim. Yeah. Monty's tooling around in

10:56

a Rolls -Royce, isn't he? Yes. Turning

10:59

up in a Rolls -Royce and, you know,

11:01

making his presence felt, which is interesting

11:03

because he feels that there's no command presence,

11:06

that there's a vacuum. And he's right,

11:08

actually. Well, Monty reckons that the problem is

11:10

that Bradley has decided not to pull

11:12

back from Luxembourg City where he's forward. advanced

11:14

headquarters is. And he's kind of now

11:16

isolated because he's to the southern part of

11:18

the Bulge and there's now the Germans

11:20

sort of in between. For Bradley

11:22

and his staff to be able to

11:24

get to First Army, you have to

11:26

circumcode, you have to go all the

11:29

way around what is now the Bulge.

11:31

And that's not very practicable. And it's

11:33

not great for communications, because although they

11:35

have radios and telephones and all the

11:37

rest of it, you know, that kind

11:39

of personal confrontation, that personal mano a

11:41

mano kind of approach is really important

11:43

still. So Monty thinks that that Bradley

11:45

is now not able to effectively command

11:47

First Army. And so suggests to Major

11:49

General Whiteley, who's the Senior Operations Officer

11:51

at Schaeff, Senior British Operations Officer at

11:53

Schaeff, which is Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary

11:55

Force, to tell Ike that he, Monty,

11:57

should be put in command of all

12:00

Allied forces. is north of the German

12:02

salient. Whiteley is not a fan of

12:04

Monty in any shape or form, it

12:06

has to be said, but does recognise

12:08

the kind of logic in this. Whiteley

12:10

then suggests this to Beatles Smith, who

12:12

is Eisenhower's chief of staff, who does

12:14

agree with Whiteley too after some consideration, and

12:17

then Beatle Smith rings Ike who also

12:19

agrees, partly because he recognizes Bradley is

12:21

strangely off form at the moment. For

12:23

example, he hadn't taken any steps to

12:25

reinforce the Mersefront, as Monty was suggesting,

12:27

and just as Ike had earlier told

12:29

him to do. But also from a

12:31

practical point of view, so Ike decides

12:33

that the dividing line should be from

12:36

Giver on the River Merse to Prum,

12:38

which is actually now behind German lines,

12:40

which is basically the Losheim gap. Yeah,

12:42

to all intents and purposes. Bradley, when

12:44

he's told this on the evening of

12:46

the 19th of December, initially agrees, but

12:48

then overnight changes his mind and gets

12:50

into one of his Bradley Strops. I

12:52

mean, he can be quite moody old

12:55

Bradley. Yeah, he can, yeah. You know,

12:57

he does have his moments for chucking

12:59

his toys out of the pram. Well,

13:01

he's one of the people you wouldn't

13:03

want to get bollocked by. He's one

13:05

of those people and I think he

13:07

knows he's been wrong footed here because

13:09

after all, on the 16th, it's him

13:11

that says this isn't a proper offensive.

13:14

It can't be because there's nothing strategic

13:16

in it. He's wrong, isn't he? So

13:18

he's got this problem where he's been

13:20

proven wrong. His boss has

13:22

overruled him. You've got other characters

13:24

like Patton. showing up saying what

13:26

they think. I mean, he's exposed,

13:28

isn't he? I mean, because there's

13:30

two American reactions to the bulge

13:32

offensive, aren't they? One is decisive

13:34

action. The other is sort of

13:36

trousers down headless chicken. aspect. Ike's

13:39

the former and Bradley's got more

13:41

of the latter in him, I

13:43

think. Yes. At this point. Yes.

13:45

But what is absolutely clear is

13:47

firm, well -gripped command control is

13:49

required at this moment. Yeah. And

13:51

Monty is very much the man

13:53

to do this. Anyway,

13:55

around midnight on the 19th of 20th, Carol

13:57

Maverick is again sent back to First Army

13:59

headquarters to see Hodges and put him in

14:02

the picture. He's taken instead to see major

14:04

Major General Bill Keane, who is Hodges' chief

14:06

of staff, who is much more on top

14:08

of matters than Hodges is at this moment.

14:10

For whatever reason, Hodges is clearly a bit

14:12

done in, and he's done in by the

14:14

kind of, by the horrors of the Hurricane

14:16

Forest, which we... discussed in an earlier miniseries

14:19

where he just sort of slightly loses the

14:21

plot. I mean, you know, Hodges is a

14:23

very good sort of trainer of many had

14:25

a good reputation. He's a good kind of

14:27

daughter of eyes and crosses of tees, sort

14:29

of safe pair of hands or whatever. But

14:31

the sort of general impression of him is

14:33

that he's not very imaginative. And when things

14:36

go wrong, he's not particularly agile in his

14:38

ability to kind of grip the situation. Keen

14:40

is of a slightly different, different kind of

14:42

fish anyway. So with Keen, Mather goes off

14:44

to wake up Hodges. Hodges sits up in

14:46

bed with a blanket around his shoulders. And

14:48

Mather, who is a sort of young 20

14:51

-something captain, is really shocked by just how

14:53

out of touch Hodges seen and seems to

14:55

pass a buck to Keen on every single... And

14:58

Mavis says, on the important questions of

15:00

the Merse crossings, General Hodges had nothing

15:02

to say. He implied that it was

15:04

of no great consequence that had been

15:06

or would be looked after. But, you

15:08

know, this is clearly the number one

15:10

concern of both Eisenhower and Montgomery for

15:12

very, very good reasons. So the slightly

15:14

kind of sort of comcy comms are

15:17

lackadaisical sort of response to this by

15:19

both Bradley and Hodges is not great.

15:21

And what Eisenhower and Monty

15:23

are doing is filling that command void left

15:25

by that lackadaisical kind of slight break.

15:27

Well, and it's interesting, isn't it? Because it

15:29

shows that, you know, yes, I mean,

15:31

yes, Bradley's right. There is no point to

15:33

any of this. So you could argue,

15:35

well, it's going to peter out anyway. We'll

15:37

resist it. It's going to peter out.

15:40

But I can want to know that actually

15:42

what you really, really need is someone

15:44

to say, It's okay. I'm in charge. The

15:46

leadership is confident of what it is

15:48

going to ask of you to do. It's

15:50

confident in itself and all that, and

15:52

not that it's dithering and can't make its

15:54

mind up. And I think what we've

15:56

seen in the last five episodes is when

15:58

you go right down to American platoons

16:00

like Lyle J. Bach, is if someone's in

16:03

charge and someone's showing the way and

16:05

someone's got a firm idea Ripping the situation

16:07

that. Ripping the situation. phrase is much

16:09

beloved by British High Command. Yeah, exactly. If

16:11

someone knows what they're trying to do,

16:13

they'll get stuff done and they'll hold this

16:15

up. Whereas if it's this sort of

16:17

mother saying he implies a no -gate consequence

16:19

or had been or would be looked after,

16:21

it's kind of fine. Maybe it has

16:23

been or maybe it would be looked after,

16:26

but you've got to make the moves

16:28

to show that it has. So much of

16:30

this level of command is about showing

16:32

what you're trying to do, showing your people

16:34

around you that you're in control. And

16:36

I think one of the things that's really

16:38

interesting is this LO system that Montgomery

16:40

operates is incredibly effective if only to create

16:42

that impression of lots of people busying

16:44

around and being on top turning up and

16:46

you know because they they have a

16:49

letter from Montgomery giving them the right to

16:51

go absolutely anywhere in his command and

16:53

ask anyone any question they want to and

16:55

that and that means as well as

16:57

the existing nervous system of the army they're

16:59

like a sort of second set of

17:01

eyes and ears and I think it's It's

17:03

really interesting that as he rolls this

17:05

out with Hodges people, they don't mind that

17:07

they're like, actually, it's great. Someone's in

17:09

charge. Someone's showing up. Someone's

17:12

showing interest in us. Well,

17:15

I think that's right. But I think also,

17:17

you know, what Monty and Eisenhower both instinctively

17:19

understand is that the Merse is a red

17:21

line. You know, it's a line that cannot

17:23

be crossed and it's a massive obstacle. I

17:25

mean, the River Merse is huge. Liege

17:27

is flipping wide. Denont

17:30

is flipping wide. I mean, you know, it's

17:32

got to be 100 meters across or something.

17:34

I mean, it really is a big old

17:36

stretch. And, you know, you need that plan

17:38

B. Anyway. Maverick gets back by dawn on

17:40

the 20th. Briefs Monty, who then sends out

17:42

a further five LOs, including two American ones,

17:45

to find out what's going on. Heads

17:47

off, they head off in new kind of

17:49

pinky suits, which have been issued to tank

17:51

crews because it's freezing cold. Same morning, Ike

17:53

rings Monty and tells him he's now in

17:55

charge of the whole northern half. Monty

17:58

then later rings Beedle Smith and suggests they

18:00

sack Hodges. He says, you know, I'm not

18:02

going to sack him. It's not my place,

18:04

but I really think this guy's absolutely hopeless.

18:06

Beedle Smith asks him for 24 hours. hours.

18:08

And the following day, Monty says, actually, I

18:10

quite like Hodges being there because he's such

18:12

a damp blanket means acting bossy without someone

18:14

in telling me, you know, kind of being

18:16

a being an opposition to me. So he

18:19

so Hodges stays, he gets a stay of

18:21

execution. You

18:23

know, Bradley's in a difficult situation because

18:25

he hasn't pulled back from Luxembourg, which perhaps

18:27

he could have done, but he felt

18:29

that that would send the wrong signal, which

18:31

he probably would have done. You know,

18:33

Luxembourg isn't a target in Herbst, Nebel, you

18:36

know, the German offensive, but obviously he

18:38

doesn't know that. No. So this is the

18:40

right decision, I think, for the scenario

18:42

that's come about. Bring him on

18:44

into it you know you are going

18:46

to get decisive decision making yeah yeah

18:48

yeah yeah yeah he's having the time

18:50

of his life because things are going

18:52

to rescue the americans exactly i mean

18:54

pure monty catnip but actually it's a

18:56

situation in which he does really well

18:58

you know he's suited to this situation

19:01

is the thing yeah that's a t -shirt

19:03

isn't it with a big map of

19:05

the bold monty's head above it just

19:07

going pure monty catnip. I'll

19:11

wear that next time I'm in

19:13

the US anyway mean what of course

19:16

the battle is still raging one

19:18

of the things that we didn't really

19:20

talk about is what happens after

19:22

we talked about the twin battle twin

19:24

villages and how the 12 SS

19:26

attack was blunted but instead of

19:28

pursuing the line of attack up to

19:31

the Elson born Ridge instead 12

19:33

SS sent slightly southwards to. boot

19:35

gun back and particularly domain boot

19:37

gun back, which is a farm, which

19:39

you can't see anymore because it's

19:41

now covered by reservoir. And

19:43

on the evening of the 18th of

19:45

December, so 24 hours before all this

19:48

command stuff has been going on at

19:50

Verdun, et cetera, Gruppenfuhrer Hermann Price, who

19:52

is the commander of the 1st SS

19:54

Panzer Corps, orders the 12 SS to

19:56

shift their direction southwards. But this shift

19:58

is slow because they've had to pull

20:00

back through the forests through which through

20:02

Wednesday came and now have to go

20:05

all the way back south again and

20:07

up the Los Heimgraben just as when

20:09

we would When we were over there,

20:11

Al, you and I had to drive

20:13

that really long way around to get

20:15

around the Kringkultenwald. That's right. Big forest.

20:17

It took forever. So this is exactly

20:19

what 12S has to do. The problem

20:21

of going up the Los Angraban is

20:24

that everyone else is being at the

20:26

Los Angraban and it's a dirt road

20:28

rather than a tarmac road than a

20:30

salted road. So obviously, it's pretty badly

20:32

churned. Yeah. And obviously, if you're changing

20:34

to doing a big detour, that's eating

20:36

into your fuel. So again, endless issues

20:38

there. I mean, in the meantime, the

20:41

26th Infantry, a part of First Division,

20:43

Big Red One, they've been hurried south

20:45

and they now hold the approaches to

20:47

Butgenbach. They've been smashed up in Arken

20:49

and the Hurkons, but you know, it's

20:51

all hands to palm. These must. Yeah,

20:53

they deployed east of Butgenbach with the

20:55

second battalion on the hill, overlooking the

20:57

manor farm of Demana Butgenbach. which is

21:00

what the Americans called down boot and

21:02

back. Just

21:05

good old stand and know where you are midwest.

21:08

And there's a great big fight to come

21:11

here, isn't there? Yeah. And this is

21:13

supposed to be covering Piper's left flank, isn't

21:15

it? All this? Well, it's supposed to

21:17

be a thrust all of its own. So

21:19

yes, it is. But Piper's obviously got

21:21

a little bit further ahead than 12 SS.

21:23

But you know, really, and honestly, this

21:25

is part of the main thrust and let's

21:28

not. forget that Sixth Panzer Army is

21:30

the main effort in this battle. You know,

21:32

they've been blunted at the Elsenborg Ridge.

21:34

So what they're doing is they're sort of,

21:36

okay, well, what's the next southern most

21:38

route? Yeah, this is where they

21:40

are, but they're not getting very far because

21:42

they've been blocked by the 26th inventory of

21:44

the big red one. So on

21:47

the 9th bulk of 12 SS Rich

21:49

Bullingen, which is again one of those

21:51

villages that we've already mentioned because Piper's

21:53

been through there, and they've reached their

21:55

overnight on the 18th of December in

21:57

three separate camp group. And at 2

21:59

.30am, the first 12 SS attack is

22:01

launched by camp group at coolman of

22:03

12 Jagdpanzers. So this is Panzer IV

22:06

chassis with a fixed gun. From Panzer

22:08

Jäger Battalion 560, two companies of

22:10

Panzer Grenadiers, which are the infantry of

22:12

the 26 SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, they're

22:14

launched 700 yards only in front of

22:16

the Americans because it's night and it's

22:18

dark and there's thick fog. And you

22:20

know, anyone who says the Germans don't

22:23

attack at night was just gonna

22:25

say... they do. But of course, attacking at

22:27

night comes with all sorts of problems, which

22:29

is no one can see anything. Or as

22:31

you can, from you get these sort of

22:33

flashes of light coming up, which obviously is

22:35

quite blinding. And you can also do the

22:37

whole kind of, you know, search like trick

22:40

for artificial daylight and all the rest of

22:42

it. But even so, it's a murky old

22:44

business. So yeah, the second battalion of the

22:46

26th Infantry fire illuminating rounds and mortars and

22:48

calling the artillery and artillery and small arms

22:50

to give us stop the 12 SS attack.

22:52

absolutely dead. They get absolutely nowhere. And of

22:54

course, in addition to this, several of the

22:56

Jagdpanzers get bogged down too. Three Jagdpanzers break

22:59

through and do reach the manner of Damm

23:01

-Butenbeck, but then get whammed by Longtoms. So

23:03

two of the three are knocked out and

23:05

the attack just peed us out, leaving a

23:07

hundred dead and three Jagdpanzers burning. And the

23:09

impression this gives to me is one of

23:11

after chaos. Well, chaos and also it's all

23:13

very well being a camp for a piece

23:16

together, but Jagdpanzer's are, you know, the 75

23:18

millimeter anti -tank Panzer IV, Jagdpanzer. The job of

23:20

that is not an assault tank, is it?

23:22

It's for dealing with armor. It's an ambush

23:24

tank for dealing with armor. So they're in

23:26

the wrong role. So it's going to go

23:28

wrong. And as you say, I mean, I

23:30

mean, you took the words right at my

23:32

mouth. Oh, the Germans don't attack at night.

23:35

Actually, they do several times in this story.

23:38

Well, they have to be doing it

23:41

quite eight hours a day. Exactly. Exactly.

23:43

Exactly. Yes. I mean, if you're late

23:45

to your start line, the chances are

23:47

you'll be fighting into the night anyway.

23:49

Well, exactly. Anyway, German artillery, they pull

23:51

back. The German artillery then kind of

23:53

pounds the American positions, but not as

23:55

hard as the Americans pound the Germans

23:57

until about 10 .15 in the following morning,

23:59

by which point it's the 20th of

24:01

December. TAC is then led by half

24:03

tracks of Panzer Grenadiers and armored cars,

24:05

but these are knocked out in quick

24:07

order. And the Grenadier attack is hammered

24:10

again by American artillery. Yeah, the pattern

24:12

is already emerging very, very clearly that

24:14

blocking positions by the US infantry with

24:16

forward observation officers calling in the artillery

24:18

makes it incredibly hard for the Germans

24:20

to break through in the attack because

24:22

when you're attacking, you're exposing yourself. The

24:24

second attack is launched from Bullingham, but

24:26

again, two Jagdpanzers knocked out and the

24:28

attack falters again. By this time, the

24:30

Hitler Youth Division are already struggling with

24:32

ammo shortages. You know, the

24:34

problem, of course, is getting them to

24:37

the front through these incredibly churned

24:39

up roads. And you know, the Los

24:41

Angraban by this stage is so

24:43

rutted that actually the sides of the

24:45

road are now kind of on

24:47

a level with the kind of engine

24:49

base of the panzers. Yeah, you

24:51

know, so it's dropped about four foot

24:53

to sort of, you know, Cogmar

24:55

and Mud. Anyway, midnight on the 20th

24:57

of 21st of December, the Hitler

24:59

Youth Commander, Hugo Kras, he reinforces the

25:01

front positions with Kampfgruppe Kuhlmann, and

25:03

with the remaining available panzers and Jagdpanzers.

25:05

And once again, they're immediately pounded

25:07

by us artillery so the main frost

25:09

is from bullying and second assault

25:11

from morsheck five yagpanzas break through the

25:14

infantry and trench line shooting up

25:16

positions and grinding the trenches and they

25:18

then do make it through to

25:20

the mana farm of don book and

25:22

back but the grenadiers are behind

25:24

and without infantry the yagpanzas which don't

25:26

have a swiveling turret they are.

25:28

a tank destroyer, they are a self

25:30

-propelled gun rather than a tank, are

25:32

attacked by by besieger teams and

25:34

absolutely hammered. Two are knocked out, two

25:36

more pulled back, seven of us

25:38

get stuck in the mud. You know,

25:40

it's all over. So fighting is

25:42

all over by 530. US infantry have

25:44

holed out shortages now in bazooka

25:46

rockets and anti -tank mines. Everyone's short

25:48

of supplies, you know, because if the

25:50

Americans are short of supplies, then

25:53

the Germans are doubly so. Yeah, casualties

25:55

are both sizes, extremely high. This

25:57

is proper bitter, no quarter given. furious

25:59

night fighting incredibly confusing

26:01

total losses for the Germans

26:04

12 Jagdpampfers that night.

26:06

Jagdpanzer's rather. Jagdpanzer's not Jagdpampfers.

26:08

Jagdpampfers. Pampfers chassis with

26:10

an 88mm gun. Jagdpanzer,

26:12

Panzer IV chassis. Further attacks

26:14

again, 6am that morning. You

26:17

know, let's have another go if

26:19

it first doesn't succeed. Try and try

26:21

again. 8 surviving Jagdpanzers are sent

26:23

from Morshek and 10 Panzer IVs and

26:25

a couple of Panzer Panthers from

26:27

Bullingham. The Jagdpanzers do crunch US infantry

26:29

line and they just roll over

26:32

one 57mm anti -tank gun. But again,

26:34

US artillery and small arms keeps the

26:36

Panzer Grenadiers away. This leaves the

26:38

armour isolated, very much at the mercy

26:40

of bazooka teams in the fog. Just

26:43

imagine what it must have been

26:45

like being a German crew in this.

26:47

You can see Diddley Squat. You

26:49

haven't a clue what's going on. You've

26:51

been marauded by Bazooka teams. You

26:54

know this is going horribly wrong. Everyone's

26:56

brewing up left, right and centre. But if

26:58

you're crass, you know you've got to

27:00

keep going, haven't you? You've got to keep

27:02

pushing. So not only are those men

27:04

in that desperate situation, but they're under this

27:06

relentless pressure to carry on and to

27:08

try again. So in the morning of the

27:10

21st at three o 'clock in the morning,

27:12

another attack goes in with the Mast

27:14

Remaining Armor, Grenadiers, four artillery battalions. Then one

27:16

tank gets lost in the fog, the

27:18

point I made earlier about missing your start

27:20

line. So they try again at 6 .25.

27:23

And I mean, The lead panthers and

27:25

the Jagdpanther are knocked out by 57mm

27:27

anti -tank gunfire. They do knock out the

27:29

remaining anti -tank guns that are defending

27:31

the Morshek Road. They reach the manor,

27:33

eight Panzer IVs reach the manor with

27:35

some infantry support but they're all killed

27:37

by battalion HQ staff and two Shermans

27:39

and two Panzer IVs have destroyed at

27:41

a point blank duel so that they

27:43

might be able to get into the

27:45

village but there's nothing they can do

27:47

once they get there which is a

27:49

which is a sort of repeat of

27:52

the Krinkauk -Rokkarat twin village battle isn't it?

27:54

It's all very well getting there but

27:56

once there your problems are multiplied. Well,

27:58

yeah, because they've okay. So finally they

28:00

get done booking back. But you know,

28:02

so what? Yeah, you know, it's your

28:04

line. I mean, I mean, you then

28:06

got to progress from done booking back.

28:08

They're taking it if you're then not

28:10

going to be able to exploit it.

28:12

So, you know, This final assault does

28:14

rip a hole in the 26th Infantry

28:16

Defense, but US artillery then comes home

28:18

to roost. Yeah. And absolutely hammers the

28:20

Germans. They can't exploit at all. And,

28:22

you know, yes, again, another Panzer attack

28:24

with these ever diminishing numbers of, you

28:26

know, Panzers and armor that the 12

28:29

SS has got on the south side

28:31

of Don Buchenbach. That is stopped dead

28:33

around 10 a .m. on the 21st.

28:35

Yeah, fighting continues. But then the M10s

28:37

knock out several Panzers in quick session.

28:39

And then the big boy. turn up.

28:41

For M36 Jacksons with their 90mm anti -tank

28:43

gun from the 613th Tank Destroyer Battalion,

28:45

they hunt down the remaining Panzer IVs.

28:47

Only one Panzer IV gets away. You

28:49

know, the final failed attack. It finally

28:51

makes Cross realise it. You

28:53

know, Roll Barn C till the age

28:55

is dead tonight. This is this

28:58

is the end of the entire northern

29:00

thrust. You know, and by this

29:02

time on the 21st of December, of

29:04

course, you know, Piper's already come

29:06

to a halt as well. You know,

29:08

he's kind of, you know, desperately

29:10

trying to push on from from like

29:13

Lee's and getting absolutely nowhere. At

29:15

Don Bookambeck, the 12 SS loses the

29:17

Hitler -Hitler -Yugan division loses 1200 men.

29:19

of which 782 are killed in action.

29:21

And from an already depleted division,

29:23

that's a big lot. But where the

29:25

big losses are in the actual

29:27

vehicles, so 32 out of 41 Panthers,

29:30

12 out of 33 Panzer IVs,

29:32

14 JagdPanthers and 18 out of 26

29:34

JagdPanzers. So 60 % of all their

29:36

armor is lost. Yeah, but Jim,

29:38

German armor is a lot better than

29:40

American armor. Remember that. Yeah,

29:44

and meanwhile to the north, you know, having

29:46

pulled back from the Twin Villages and Wirtzfeld on

29:48

the night of the 18th of December, the

29:50

northern half of the Elstendorn Ridge is being attacked

29:52

by the Germans. 12SS has now

29:54

been replaced by the 3rd Panzer

29:56

Grenadier Division and 277 Volts Grenadier Division.

29:58

3rd Panzer Grenadier, people who've listened

30:00

to the Italy series might remember them

30:03

from Salerno and the Battle for

30:05

Rome and Casino, etc. etc.

30:07

They've just been moved up out of

30:09

Italy. Defence here is mainly by the

30:11

US Second Infantry Division, who had come

30:13

down to the rescue of the 99th,

30:15

find themselves under sustained German artillery fire

30:17

and struggling to main communications with wirebroken

30:19

and so on as almost as soon

30:21

as it's laid or repaired. but they

30:23

do hold on. And they're giving it

30:25

back harder than the Germans are giving

30:27

in terms of artillery fire. And

30:30

further back, just along the ridges, Camp Elsinbourne,

30:32

and you may remember we kind of drove

30:34

past that. And it's a proper camp with

30:36

sort of brick buildings and so on. And

30:38

addressing stations have been set up there.

30:41

And this is where kind of exhausted

30:43

GIs are sort of going back. But

30:45

by this point, the rumors of SS

30:47

massacres are starting to really, really take

30:49

root. And on the ridge,

30:51

you have not only the Second Infantry

30:53

Division, but also the remnants. of the

30:55

99 if you've kind of fallen back

30:58

through the Kronkeltenwald and they're digging in.

31:00

You know, it's absolutely miserable. It's cold.

31:02

Everyone's damp and wet and they've got

31:04

headaches and, you know, they're feeling miserable

31:06

and eating K -Rations and all the rest

31:08

of it. No matter how bad it

31:10

is for the American defenders, it's worse

31:12

for the Germans. And third Panzer Grenadier

31:14

in the 27 Fox Grenadier Division are

31:17

attacking and just getting absolutely nowhere. Yeah.

31:19

And the commanding officer of the 277th

31:21

False Grenadier Division goes, the concentrated enemy

31:23

fire from the Elson -born area was

31:25

so strong that all roads leading to

31:27

the front and all assembly areas were

31:29

covered. All our attacks brought to a

31:31

standstill. It's eight artillery battalions, isn't it,

31:34

that are off -road at this point. So

31:36

it's eight times 24. Yeah. know, you're

31:38

getting on for the best part of

31:40

200 guns. Yeah, and they're firing 10

31:42

,000 rounds a day to break this

31:44

up. So, you know, if this is

31:46

a gamble by Hitler, we've, I think

31:48

we've agreed long ago that... The deck

31:50

is impossibly stacked against him. Put it

31:53

that way. Yeah, you'd have to say

31:55

so. And, you know, one of

31:57

the other problems is that the long

31:59

range American artillery is, you know, it's getting

32:01

10 miles to the German rear. You

32:03

know, they just can't bring stuff forward. I mean,

32:05

they just can't move. Yeah. And

32:07

I hope what is completely

32:09

clear here in episode six

32:11

of our series is that

32:13

the northern thrust, the

32:15

most important thrust, the main thrust has

32:17

completely failed. Yeah. you know, it has

32:19

just got nowhere. You know, what we're

32:21

talking about here on the Alsonborn Ridge

32:23

is, you know, five or six miles

32:25

from the start. Yes, that was

32:28

what's striking about it is when we went

32:30

there, as you said at the beginning of

32:32

this half, we had to drive round to

32:34

get to it. And it's a long drive

32:36

round, but you end up not really very

32:38

far away at all from the start line,

32:40

once you've gone all the way round the

32:42

side roads and all that. And this is

32:44

a small area where they come undone. Small

32:47

areas are easier to deliver concentrated artillery fire

32:49

to as well. It's German intentions have offered

32:51

American targets is basically the truth of it.

32:53

You would say, wouldn't you, that Herz -Nebel's lost

32:55

here. Yeah, I think it is because it

32:57

doesn't matter how far they're going in with

32:59

5th Panzer Army. There isn't enough. You

33:02

know, so it's sort of irrelevant really. I mean,

33:04

you know, we'll get on to the Siege of

33:06

Bastogne in the next episode. It's an epic battle,

33:08

but it's also sort of doesn't really add it.

33:10

It does add up to a hella beans, but

33:12

you know, on another level, it doesn't because the

33:14

main thrust, the northern thrust has already been broken

33:16

up. But it's where the journalists are, which is

33:18

what matters. OK, we're going to take a short

33:20

break and we'll be back with the defense east

33:23

of Saint Vit. See you in a moment. Welcome

33:35

back to We Have Ways of Making You

33:37

Talk, episode six of our Battle of the

33:39

Bulge series, the sprawling epic, an American epic,

33:41

I think it's fair to say. Although we

33:43

did have Dasha Monty in the first half

33:45

for those of you. And Carol Mather. Carol

33:47

Mather, missing our favourite Field Marshal. I mean,

33:49

one of the interesting things about that is

33:51

until Ike gets his fifth star and is

33:53

a general of the army, as the Americans

33:55

call it, because they don't have Field Marshals,

33:57

he's actually outranked by Montgomery, isn't he? Technically.

34:00

Technically. part of the weirdness

34:02

of the shape command structure. Anyway, east of

34:04

Saint Vit. So let's just orientate people

34:06

very quickly. So you've got this northern corridor,

34:08

right up in the north is the

34:10

Elsenborn Ridge. Then you've got, you know, just

34:13

south of that, you've got Dom Butgenback.

34:15

Just south of that, you've got the kind

34:17

of the thrust by Kampfgruppe Piper. All

34:19

that northern thrust is using the Losheim Grab

34:21

and part of the Losheim Gap. South

34:23

of the Losheim Gap is Schoenberg,

34:25

where the hundred and six were getting

34:27

surrounded. And just west of that is

34:30

the key town of San Vitt, which

34:32

sits on this kind of slight rise,

34:34

then drops down and then is surrounded

34:36

by hills. So it's like a sort

34:38

of like a dome of a kind

34:40

of curved shield or something. And I

34:42

suppose from Don Bookum back to San

34:44

Vitt is, what are you talking about?

34:46

10 or 12 miles or something like

34:48

that. It's not far. It's not far.

34:51

It's not far. This is the next

34:53

major bit to the south. Just north

34:55

of it is the border between the

34:57

6th Panzer Army and the 5th Panzer

34:59

Army. But this does fall into the

35:01

realms of the 5th Panzer Army. So,

35:03

it's Von Mantafel. Von Mantafel, who's not

35:05

had a barrage to start off with.

35:07

No. All out on foot and

35:10

there's a wily old Panzer commander and a

35:12

smarter soldier, a smarter soldier than Sceptic. But

35:14

frankly, not getting much further. Well, I was

35:16

just going to say, but so what? And

35:19

this story is also is

35:21

also one of many, many

35:23

meanwhiles. Good luck, everybody going

35:26

in. Meanwhile, maybe we can

35:28

post up some maps, but it's a really

35:30

good idea. You know, maybe if you're walking

35:32

the dog, it's bit tricky. But when you're

35:34

listening to this, but having a quiet moment

35:36

to yourself with Google Earth, I would highly

35:38

recommend. Well, if you think of. The area

35:40

is your hand, right? Of the bulge is

35:42

your hand. The northern rid, and you've

35:44

got your hand clasped with your thumb

35:46

tight to your hand. The thumb is the

35:48

Elsinbourne Ridge. Yeah, exactly. Your thumb is

35:50

the Elsinbourne Ridge. So that battle we just

35:52

been talking about is the thumb. Your

35:54

index finger is kind of piper. Yeah. Yeah,

35:56

and then there's no middle finger. Not

35:58

really. That's gone. That's gone. And there's not

36:00

really a little finger. But basically, St.

36:02

Vitie's sort of in the middle of the

36:04

palm of your hand, isn't it? Yes. So,

36:07

St. Vitie's actually further, if you're

36:09

drawing a line, it's kind of further

36:11

west than Elsenbourne Ridge. Yeah.

36:13

So, it's sort of where the knuckle is

36:16

on your middle finger. Yeah. I mean, I'm

36:18

just trying to help you guys look at

36:20

their hand. So people can look at their

36:22

hand and visualize just roughly without needing a

36:24

map. Anyway, so that's what we're talking about

36:26

now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is,

36:28

is obviously this indicates how disorganized they are

36:30

really, because SunVet's really important, but it is

36:33

by the boundary between the two armies. So

36:35

although it's really important, they've they've offered themselves

36:37

a disorganized way of approaching it, haven't they?

36:40

With further compounded by the fact that

36:42

the Americans have decided to fight them,

36:44

which is not what they were expecting.

36:46

And Dietrichs already, von Mantafel thinks that

36:48

are attacking on too narrow a front

36:50

and that some of six Panzer Army

36:52

are taking some of his routes, which

36:54

is churning the roads up and creating

36:56

chaos. But there's also chaos on the

36:58

main road from Sandvik to Schoenberg. Schoenberg

37:00

is where Kurt Vonnegut was surrendering, if

37:02

you remember. Yes, so that's where the

37:04

two regiments, the 422nd and 423rd of

37:06

the 106th Infantry Division, that's where they're

37:08

surrendering, just kind of around that neck

37:10

of the woods. And the road from

37:12

Schoenberg to Sandvik is a windy old

37:14

thing, but from a distance it's basically

37:16

running kind of east to west. And

37:18

it's about six miles from Sherbrooke. But

37:20

most importantly, it's within range of American

37:22

long range artillery. So,

37:24

you know, but it's just got too much

37:27

weight of traffic again on a kind of

37:29

food. And it has to be remembered that

37:31

although there was a dollop of snow in

37:33

the second week of December, that is gone.

37:35

It is not snowing at this point on

37:37

the 19th of 20th of December. It is

37:39

it is cold, but it is wet and

37:41

soggy. Yeah. And the roads aren't frozen. So

37:43

it's not like that thing of hard roads,

37:46

a hard mud that means a tank can

37:48

make its way. Is that the other thing?

37:50

No. Exactly. And this does may remember that

37:52

the decision was made at the relief from

37:54

the 7th Farmer Division and the 9th Farmer

37:56

Division. It was coming and it was coming,

37:58

inevitably, it arrives in trips and drabs. It

38:00

doesn't come as one huge, great big division.

38:03

And the decision was made not to try

38:05

and break through and relieve the 106. It

38:07

was to defend some bit as long as

38:09

possible. So what you've got, defending the main

38:11

road from Schöneberg to some bit, just to

38:13

the east of some bit, only literally a

38:15

mile out of town on that, because basically

38:17

what happens is the road comes out of

38:20

some bit, it drops down into the valley,

38:22

then climbs up again onto a kind of

38:24

wooded ridge line and the road runs through

38:26

these woods. That's where they're kind of doing

38:28

their major defence. And Brigadier General Bob Hasbrook,

38:30

who is the commander of the 7th Farmer

38:32

Division, is covering this northern part of this

38:34

thrust by 5th Panzer Army, with Knight Farmer

38:36

Division covering the southern part. So Knight Farmer

38:39

Division are covering a kind of fallback of

38:41

the 424th Infantry Regiment, which was the third

38:43

regiment of the 106th Infantry Division. Got

38:45

it, everyone? Well,

38:47

the other two are in the

38:49

bag. That's the thing to remember. Yeah,

38:51

that's everything. So we've only got

38:54

to deal with one regimen now. What's

38:56

left of 106th? So having decided

38:58

not to go and rescue 106th... It's

39:00

all about setting up your defense

39:02

lines and yet more blocking positions. So

39:04

there's sporadic fighting on the 19th.

39:06

And the decision is made by Myrtle,

39:08

who is the overall commander of

39:10

this, with Mantofl, that the Fuhrer Begleit

39:12

Brigade, which is an armoured reserve

39:14

brigade, so larger than a regiment, so

39:16

larger than a combat command, but

39:18

similar sort of principle, all arms of

39:20

armoured infantry, panzers, tank destroyers, you

39:22

know, or SP guns. And yet another

39:24

unintegrated elite inverted commas, its own

39:26

mobilized set of people, all that, isn't

39:28

it? That's the thing. Exactly. But

39:31

anyway, this is so the Furibid Glide

39:33

Brigade has now been attached from

39:35

Army Group Reserve to the Fifth Army

39:37

and is told to kind of

39:39

circle around to the north of Samvit.

39:41

So that is heading up. But

39:43

also at the same time is the

39:45

9th SS, Panzer Division, which is

39:47

part of 6th Panzer Army, which is

39:49

part of the second SS Panzer

39:51

Corps, is also moving northwest. So there

39:53

is a kind of potential clash

39:55

of armies here where they're both trying

39:57

to use the same roads if

39:59

they're not careful. So 9th SS is

40:01

moving on a kind of, you

40:03

know, is heading north of Samvit towards

40:05

sort of Wrecked and Potto. And

40:08

this is where Combat Command B of

40:10

the 7th Armoured Division is defending,

40:12

protecting the northern part of Samvit and

40:14

the eastern part of Samvit with

40:16

9th Armoured Division to the south. Yeah.

40:18

So it's like a sort of

40:20

like a lozenge shape, I would say.

40:22

Yes. That's how to think of

40:24

it. There's a great clash here with

40:26

a greyhound. Yes, it doesn't.

40:28

It's actually not a tiger. a Panzer

40:30

IV. I've been reliably informed. Of

40:32

course it. Of course. Well, you know, think about it.

40:34

A greyhound taking out a tiger that, you know, that

40:36

sort of stretching things, isn't it? Well, so, I mean,

40:39

if I were in that greyhound, I'd say it's a

40:41

tiger. Yeah. I mean, same old. It's

40:43

the old from a distance. Like

40:47

a tiger and let's go big yeah in

40:49

the moment and all that that is but

40:51

that's an interesting encounter isn't it because the

40:53

greyhound is a rum piece of kit so

40:55

six wheeled armored car that's good on clear

40:57

roads but only has a 37 millimeter gun

40:59

so I mean. He's got to get very

41:02

close to knock out another tank and from

41:04

behind, the Greyhound is one of the vehicles

41:06

that at the Poitot ambush, there are lots

41:08

of them on fire because they're not very

41:10

well armoured and they're not very well provisioned

41:12

for combat, actually. But there you go, you

41:14

know, he proves up what he says is

41:16

a tiger. You've got to give it full

41:18

cred to the crew. Yeah, they're very, very

41:20

cool. Rabbi Rob, who Rob Thomas, who we

41:22

had on the podcast a year and a

41:24

half ago, he's got one. Is he? Yeah.

41:26

World War II armor. They're very sexy, aren't

41:28

they? Six wheels. Really, really good. Yeah, yeah.

41:30

I just absolutely loved it. Anyway, but it's

41:32

quite quiet around here on the 19th to

41:34

20th. The Germans are trying to organize themselves.

41:37

So the Begleit Brigade to the north, Volksgrenadiers

41:39

are spreading out, artillery being brought forward. I

41:41

mean, it's interesting though, most of this is

41:43

horse drawn. So there's another issue for the

41:45

Germans. I suppose you're not going to run

41:47

out of petrol. No, you might run out

41:49

of hay. You might run out of hay.

41:51

Still need to be fed. Yeah, exactly. And

41:54

on the American side, you've got two armored

41:56

field battalions of artillery already in place. But on

41:58

the 19th, two long -tongue batteries arrive, so some

42:00

proper heavy metal to deal with the Germans.

42:02

So that's eight of them, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

42:04

And that's range as well. There's the other

42:07

thing about the... Yes, it's a heavier projectile, but

42:09

it's range is the actual thing. So your

42:11

ability to... Your ability to interdict further back in

42:13

German lines is like multiplied enormously. By

42:15

the 19th, the 19th, there's a

42:17

perimeter around St. Vit of the 112th

42:20

Infantry of the 28th Division to

42:22

the south, plus some 424th people, and

42:24

Combat Command B of the 9th. plus

42:27

seventh armored units and stragglers. And there's

42:29

a really, this quote you've found in

42:31

the official history, it's absolutely fascinating. Isn't

42:33

it? It's so interesting. Yeah. Do you

42:35

want to say? Go on, do it

42:37

justice. The homogeneity of

42:39

the battalion in American practice, a

42:41

basic tactical unit, largely ceased to

42:43

exist, nor did time and the

42:45

enemy ever permit any substantial regrouping

42:48

to restore this unity. It is

42:50

surprising that under the circumstances, control

42:52

and communication functioned as well as

42:54

they did. So there you go.

42:56

Everyone goes on and on and

42:58

on about the brilliance and tactical

43:00

flexibility of the German camp group.

43:02

Yeah. This task forces teams that

43:04

they put together are combined armed

43:07

forces that the Americas are putting

43:09

together. Yeah. And they do so

43:11

with an incredible speed and alacrity

43:13

and agility and. The commanders just

43:15

seem to grip it even though

43:17

a lot of the units that

43:19

are under this new command aren't

43:21

familiar with that, and it just

43:24

works. Well, he says it is

43:26

surprising that under the circumstances control,

43:28

is it surprising really when you

43:30

consider what the American army is

43:32

at this stage of the war?

43:34

We've talked about this a lot

43:36

on the podcast over the years.

43:38

The American army springs from an

43:41

edict on the 1st of September,

43:43

1939 from Roosevelt with Marshall and

43:45

is birthed in anticipation of an

43:47

emergency. That's a global emergency

43:49

that America's not yet involved in,

43:51

but is essentially then, as

43:53

they're doing that, the architect of the

43:55

American Army are reorganizing it, rebooting it,

43:57

building it in the image that they

43:59

then want to command it in. So

44:01

I don't think it is a surprise.

44:04

No, I don't either. The

44:06

US Army is the best in the

44:08

world, bar none by this stage of the

44:10

war. It's just a fact. The British

44:12

Army and Canadians, I would argue, are really

44:14

not far behind. I don't think you

44:16

can put the Red Army in the same

44:18

category because they're too hastily cobbled together

44:20

and just flung into the front line. They've

44:22

got their grand tactics, the deep battle

44:24

and all the rest of it. But at

44:26

a micro level, I don't think Red

44:29

Army troops could organise themselves in quite the

44:31

same... with the same alacrity that Americans

44:33

and British. But the Americans are just the

44:35

best, and this is their proving ground

44:37

really, anyway. Well, hang on, because he says

44:39

the homogeneity of the battalion. Yeah, fine,

44:41

but it's the homogeneity of the American army

44:43

that's important here. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, completely.

44:45

Completely. And you know, those long months and

44:47

years of training are kicking in. That's

44:49

the truth, doing those maneuvers and all the

44:51

rest of it. Late on the 19th,

44:53

there's not an awful lot of fighting on

44:55

the 19th, there's not an awful lot

44:57

of fighting on the 20th either. As

44:59

the Germans are trying to organize themselves,

45:01

they recognize that there's these blocking positions, they're

45:03

under attack all the time, they're really

45:05

struggling to get things forward, they just can't

45:08

move with the speed that they want

45:10

to. And they also know that if they're

45:12

going to take it, which is Clearly

45:14

quite heavily defended now, they're going to have

45:16

to have a concentrated concerted attack. And

45:18

that just takes time to organize in these

45:20

conditions at this time of year on

45:22

these very, very poor road networks. So there's

45:25

just no other way around it. But

45:27

late on the 19th of the 20th, the

45:29

Führer Brigade does make its first attack

45:31

to the north of Samvit and only with

45:33

infantry and the self -propelled guns that they've

45:35

got, because the rest of the brigade

45:37

hasn't arrived. But they do catch it owed

45:39

Oberamel's and Niedermels. And these are their

45:41

jump off positions for a further attack south

45:44

on Samvit. which is what's planned. Also,

45:46

by the 20th of December, part of this

45:48

new command that's come in with Monty

45:50

taking over the northern shoulder is seeing the

45:52

17th Airborne Corps under Matthew Ridgway also

45:54

come in. And 7th Armored Division now moves

45:56

from Middleton's 8th Corps into the 17th

45:58

Airborne Corps. So a change of command

46:00

at this point, which is not significant on

46:03

the 20th, but will become significant as we will

46:05

see. So on the 21st

46:07

of December, At a time

46:09

when Sam Vitt is supposed to

46:11

have been taken on day one, and

46:13

here you are on what, day six?

46:15

Yeah. X plus six. They're finally kind

46:17

of ready to launch their attack. So

46:19

the sector east of Sam Vitt, either

46:21

side of the main road to

46:23

Sherbrooke, is held by Task Force Fuller.

46:26

which is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William

46:28

H. G. Fuller. He's got 38th Armoured

46:30

Infantry Battalion, four troops of Armoured Infantry.

46:32

He's got troop B of the 87th

46:34

Reconnaissance Squadron. He's got 400 men combined

46:36

from the 81st and 168th Engineer Combat

46:38

Battalions, who are now absolutely in an

46:41

infantry role. He's got one tank

46:43

company and one platoon of 90mm M36

46:45

Jacksons, which is frankly what anyone wants.

46:47

in circumstances like this when you're fighting

46:49

a defensive battle. And we've been

46:51

up there, haven't we? And you can

46:53

still see, clear as day, the scrapes

46:55

and remains of foxholes, whole rows of

46:57

them. just to the kind of south

46:59

of the main road in the woods

47:01

there. I mean, it's just a fascinating

47:03

place to visit. The German frontal attacks

47:05

are to be mounted by the 18th

47:07

Volksgrenadier Division and the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division,

47:09

which of course were the two original

47:11

attacking divisions on the morning of the

47:13

16th of December, when the battle begins.

47:15

Now, fullers men do hold out, but

47:17

are later on overrun in darkness, and

47:19

some figures overrun that night, but Just

47:22

to stress again, it is now six

47:24

days. It's X plus six. Yeah. Before they

47:26

take it. They don't take it till

47:28

the 21st. So it's actually going to be

47:30

X plus seven by the time they're

47:32

ready to move from Samvit. Yeah. And Samvit

47:34

is going to become, you know, congestion

47:36

central, of course. Also on that day, the

47:38

21st, Oberst Otto Reimer, who is the

47:40

commander of the Führerbegei Brigade, once he's got

47:42

to Nieder Emels, he's ordered to drive

47:44

south straight into, you know, he's been told

47:46

to go straight into some VIP, but

47:48

he just thinks that's going to be an

47:50

absolute mashup. It's a terrible idea because

47:52

I'm going to get there. Street's going to

47:54

be clogged. This is not the way

47:56

to do it. The traffic is going

47:58

to be absolutely intense. So he thinks,

48:01

actually, what I'm going to do is

48:03

I'm just going to push on round and

48:05

let the troops coming from Schoenberg takes

48:07

him there and I'll just maneuver around to

48:09

the north of it and try and

48:11

get in behind the town. And actually, this

48:13

is a very sensible decision. Yeah. But

48:15

it's also a sign of the fact that

48:17

he's a personal Hitler favourite. He's one

48:19

of the people who's been involved in foiling

48:22

the Staufenberg plot, so he can do

48:24

no wrong. And so he just basically ignores

48:26

his orders from above, just does what

48:28

he wants. And so he instead decides to

48:30

focus on an attack on Root, which

48:32

is his village, just to the kind of,

48:34

to the west of Sam Vitt, kind

48:36

of nestling on the slopes of a hill

48:38

overlooking the town. and it's just south

48:40

of the main road between Zambit and Vilsam.

48:43

He also recognizes that just off this

48:45

road, the road passes through quite thick forest

48:47

again, which makes it quite easy to

48:49

penetrate. Most of his armor hasn't arrived at

48:51

this point. So he's sending through kind

48:53

of panzer grenadiers. And on the 21st of

48:55

December, he sends a large combat patrol

48:57

to wrecky possible routes to Ville's arm through

48:59

the woods and might be able to

49:01

give him some cover, you know, in the

49:04

fire breaks for his panzers, because he

49:06

doesn't want to go down the road because

49:08

he knows that the main road is

49:10

going to be protected by seven farmer division.

49:12

So they head round, they head south,

49:14

west of wrote and the village of Hindenhausen,

49:16

which is kind of southwest of Samvit.

49:18

And there they get fired on by the

49:20

275th Field Artillery Battalion, which of course

49:23

have been supporting all the efforts to the

49:25

east of Samvit, and by 50 caliber

49:27

quads. And of course, as we've already discussed,

49:29

those 50 caliber quads, these are for

49:31

50 caliber machine guns mounted on halftracks are

49:33

absolutely lethal in a ground attack role.

49:35

So the patrol comes back says, yeah, actually

49:37

wrote is fairly well, you know, fairly

49:39

weakly defended, I think we can do it.

49:41

So at around 2am on the night

49:44

of on the early morning of the 22nd

49:46

of December. So some vitties, you know,

49:48

German troops are moving into some bit at

49:50

this same moment. The Fuhrer Brigade attacks

49:52

the village of Rote, which is mainly defended

49:54

by cooks and drivers and echelon troops,

49:56

but they put up a really, really good

49:58

battle. Yeah, that battle rages for nine

50:00

hours. Yeah, they're holding up sucks in 25

50:02

panzers, which have now arrived. The Fuhrer

50:05

Brigade Brigade, you know, these tanks are struggling

50:07

due to the mud. And Shermans of

50:09

the combat command B of the 7th Armored

50:11

Division also joined in the fight and

50:13

it just turns into another of these incredibly

50:15

debilitating, attritional and time -sapping battles that frankly

50:17

the Führer Brigade can't really afford to

50:19

fight. So at this point on

50:21

the 22nd General Ridgway, who is now

50:23

commanding overall command because of 17th... airborne

50:25

corps. He's commanding the 7th Armored Division,

50:27

orders these sort of these fortified goose

50:29

eggs, which is the kind of if

50:31

you imagine what a goose egg looks

50:33

like, you have this sort of circular

50:36

little defensive position. It's not a joined

50:38

up line. But this is very much

50:40

in keeping with airborne operations. Yeah.

50:42

And the whole point about armored defenses,

50:44

it needs to be flexible, you need

50:46

to be able to kind of come

50:48

and go as you like. And so,

50:50

Clark and Hasbrook are absolutely horrified by

50:52

this. Clark is a commander of combat

50:54

command B, Hasbrook is the commander of

50:56

7th Armored. And Fortunately, there's a British

50:58

liaison officer, Hasbrook's command post, who reports

51:00

his timpani promptly overrules Ridgeway, tells Hasbrook,

51:02

you've accomplished your mission, a mission well

51:04

done. It is time to withdraw. And

51:06

so they do. They do.

51:09

And that's interesting that they see the wisdom

51:11

in that order. I think it's fascinating.

51:13

Yes. And actually Ridgway takes it on the

51:15

chin, actually. Yeah. He actually gets on

51:17

OK with Monty. And the key

51:19

thing is, is that what you need is

51:21

if you're going to withdraw, you need

51:23

your next defensive line to be kind of

51:25

up and running. And this is this

51:27

holding on to Sam Vitt and the area

51:30

around Sam Vitt has gone on the

51:32

21st. The battles continued to the west of

51:34

Samvit, holding up the advance of 5th

51:36

Panzer Army to the west of Samvit on

51:38

the 22nd of December. And in that

51:40

time, the 82nd Airborne is able to move

51:42

up to the next defensive position, which

51:44

is the River Zalm, which runs again on

51:46

a sort of roughly kind of north -south.

51:48

It sort of obviously it wiggles. And

51:50

that then allows 7th Armored Division and the

51:52

remnants of the defensive Samvit to kind

51:54

of pull back through that kind of escape

51:56

corridor. Really, St.

51:59

Vit is absolutely central to the battle

52:01

of the barge. I mean, we've

52:03

said how it's defeated in the northern

52:05

thrust that Herb Snable fails there.

52:07

But at St. Vit, its

52:09

fate is sort of sealed really, isn't

52:11

it? They've got no options. I

52:14

mean, the other thing about St. Vit is it's

52:16

a direct railhead to Germany. So you need to

52:18

hold it for that reason as much as anything

52:20

else. Yeah, but what it's done is it's bought

52:22

time and time is what the Germans can't afford.

52:24

And also, you know, the weather gods are obviously

52:26

shining on the allies because the night of the

52:28

22nd, 23rd, which is when they're completely pulling out

52:30

of this position, you know, they're still fighting on

52:32

the 22nd, you know, that fighting around Rote, the

52:34

village of Rote goes on all the way through

52:36

to up until the kind of early afternoon, you

52:38

know, nine hours of fighting. And

52:40

then it freezes, the skies clear, the

52:42

big Russian freeze, you know, which

52:44

is blown in from the east, the

52:46

beast from the east, you know,

52:49

arrives, and that freezes the ground, which

52:51

enables the absolutely churned up ground

52:53

in this sort of hilly landscape to

52:55

the west of San Vito. It

52:57

enables the Americans to pull back together.

52:59

It also allows the Germans to pull

53:02

up as well. But at this moment,

53:04

it is more advantageous to the allies,

53:06

the Americans, pulling out quickly to the

53:08

west and behind the River Zalm than

53:10

it does to the Germans who are

53:12

still sort of catching up and clogged

53:14

on the Schoenberg road. So San Vito

53:16

really is an absolute epic and is

53:18

one of the kind of key engagements

53:20

to the whole battle. And it just

53:22

derails from Untitled's attack. So that is

53:25

basically the northern corridor to all intents

53:27

and purposes done. And where are we

53:29

going in the next episode, Jim? The

53:31

next episode we're going to best all.

53:33

Yes, we will be heading south once

53:35

more to have a proper look at

53:37

what happens at Bestine, where a column

53:39

of vehicles that's, I think, 150 kilometres

53:41

long of the 101st Airborne has been

53:43

sent. And we will find out what

53:46

happens to them. Is it the same

53:48

as in Band of Brothers? Watch

53:50

this space. Thanks

53:52

very much for listening everybody. You can listen

53:54

to all these in more on Big Lump

53:56

if you join our Officer Class Apple podcast

53:59

channel or subscribe to We Have Ways Patreon

54:01

or better still. Come and see us in

54:03

the autumn at We Have Ways Fest at

54:05

Black Pit Brewery from the 12th to the

54:07

14th of September. This year where we putting

54:09

together the list of speakers, it's a bulging

54:11

sack of Warwaffle. Let's put it that way.

54:13

We hope to see you there. Thanks very

54:15

much for listening. Next episode, Pastoon.

54:18

Cheerio. Bye -bye.