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The Battle of The Bulge Began 70 Years Ago Today
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2014 Dec 18, 12:28am 967 views 4 comments
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Bellingham Bill
2014 Dec 18, 1:09am
While 80,000 casualties was a lot -- probably what the US Navy suffered in sea battles over 3+ years in the Pacific -- but in the context of the war in Europe it was a drop in the bucket.
EVERY month from July 1941 through April '45 was a "battle of the bulge" for the Germans, if they were lucky.
http://www.feldgrau.com/stats.html
This is not to denigrate the sacrifices of the US Army in Europe -- it was a real meat grinder for a whole year, from Sicily to the Elbe, and those sacrifices meant that we had a free West Berlin, West Germany, and Austria in the postwar -- the history of the 20th century could have been a lot uglier if the Russians had been allowed to steamroller Germany completely. For the Germans, too, though arguably they deserved it, given the crap they collectively committed 1939-44 in the east.
MisdemeanorRebel
2019 May 14, 4:37pm
Rin
2019 May 14, 8:53pm
What a lot of people miss is that this roughly one-month battle was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. Official Department of Defense statistics claim that over 81,000 Americans were killed,wounded, missing or captured.
Actually, that honor goes to the Battle of the Argonne Forest in WWI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meuse-Argonne_Offensive
Where the American casualties of the final five weeks of the war was some ~122K. And it's an even more forgotten battle, if you don't count movies like the 'Lost Battalion' whereas at least WWII is remembered.
My dear friends Dr. Robert Zubrin just pointed out that today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Bulge. My father fought in that battle under the leadership of General Patton.
Sadly this battle only gets a passing foot note in American history. Battles during our war for independence, the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War One and other World War II battles get much more attention.
What a lot of people miss is that this roughly one-month battle was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. Official Department of Defense statistics claim that over 81,000 Americans were killed,wounded, missing or captured. In my personal opinion the authorities are embarrassed to admit how bloody and devastating this battle was to US forces. I suspect that the real killed, wounded,captured, and missing figures exceeds 100,000. Please take a moment of silence to honor all of the brave American, British and French soldiers who fought during the Battle of the Bulge.