My Dad was in 4TH Armored Division, Combat Command A, 35th Tank Battalion and they entered Bastogne from the Southwest. Dad said they saw either dummies, or he thought more likely, US dead soldiers frozen in place, in foxholes, positioned with rifles, on the perimeter, like in the movie Beau Gest.... In the 2000's, a patient of mine was a 101st AB vet during the Bulge. Dad asked me to ask him if he remembered a destroyed Dairy Barn on the SW Perimeter with guys cooking a cow. When I asked my Patient, Russell, about it, he got the oddest look on his face, like from the Twilite Zone. He said HE was the guy cooking the cow, and that he had not thought of that episode in 60 years. He asked me how in the hell I knew about that. I told him my Dad was in one of the tanks that drove by them. Small and miraculous World indeed.
Watching band of brothers one mor time (10th maybe?) Do you know why they were so ill prepared? I mean US allways had everything for the troops. How come they went to that forest without ammo, food o warm clothes?? Winter was not something new at that moment. Never understood what happened!
@@fortnex9972 The Germans attacked a portion of the line that wasn’t expected to be a hot zone. The 101st was quickly sent to the front to reinforce Bastogne before they had the time to equip for the conditions and situation they would find themselves in.
Although fictional one has to give that “We’re paratroopers. Were supposed to be surrounded” line allegedly spoken by Dick Winters in Band of Brothers is terrific as well
Back in the early 1970s, I came to know a member of the 101st who was at Bastogne. He told me succinctly, “Don’t believe any of that (BS) you hear about us not needing to be relieved. We were jumping all over Patton's tanks, hugging and kissing those guys. We knew this was finally over.”
Thing is if you actually look at the history it does look like they didn’t need rescue the invasion had ground to a halt the tanks which were the whole point in the invasion ran out of fuel and were being used as defenses with the Germans not sure what to do as the whole point was to get the tanks through.
It was also cited, General McAuliffe regretted not crediting CCB 10th Armored for its critical role in helping defend Bastogne. For the 101st to say they didn't need to be rescued, well I think troops in the other units with them would have disagreed. It does a disservice to them.
Maybe they didn't NEED to be rescued, but that doesn't mean they sure as shit weren't happy to be relieved. I'm sure it was miserable even if they were better supplied and outnumbered the germans. I think terming it a "rescue" is where people took umbrage. They weren't being rescued, they were broken out of a stalemate.
Everyone knew that my next door neighbor growing up had been a prisoner of war. No one, including his immediate family knew the details. At his funeral, his grandson read a letter explaining how he had been captured and what happened after. My neighbor was a replacement in the 101st. five days before the Battle of the Bulge commenced. He was stationed as a look out beyond his Battalion's lines by about 200 yards. He woke up the next morning to see soldiers moving past him toward his command. He tried to regain his unit, only to discover that overnight they had withdrawn and not notified him. He was captured that day, but not injured or mistreated. Eventually he was interviewed by a Colonel that spoke perfect English. The Colonel had attended Ohio State and was familiar with the U of M/ Ohio State rivalry. My neighbor was from Michigan. As the Colonel was walking away, he assured my neighbor he'd be alright because he knew how to survive in the cold. My neighbor and other prisoners were tasked with burying the dead and pretty much were starved while in captivity. He and the other American prisoners woke up one morning with all the Germans gone. They walked back to the US lines and were reunited with their command. My Neighbor was eventually evacuated back to the US for medical treatment and recovery. He was discharged at the end of the war in Europe in summer of 1945 having served 7 weeks on the front, six of those as a POW. You'd be hard pressed to have met a nicer man, or one with a bawdier sense of humor. Another member of the greatest generation.
Your neighbor is a dead liar. The 101st were sent to Bastogne as reinforcements. They were never overrun during the initial German attack. No replacement in the 101st was captured during the opening phase because they werent there. The 29th Infantry Division took the full force and was basically destroyed by Kampf Group Piepers assault through the Ardennes.
@@realWARPIG And you have enough confidence to call this dead man a liar because you think there are discrepancies with his story as relayed twice, 80 years after the event, through 2 intermediaries in a RUclips comment? I hope that you can find it in yourself to retract the brazen accusatory tone of your comment in order to be more respectful of the dead.
@@realWARPIG The OP didn't say the 101st were overrun, he said a neighbour, who served in the 101st, was captured five days before the battle of the bulge.
When the battle of the Bulge started, all the 101st was at their base headquarters in France to replenish their ranks from the losses caused by the Netherlands campaign and to make the paratroopers get some rest (they had been in combat since June and almost non stop), they were at Mormelon something (I think that is near Reims... I know that they were in North of France) I heard that the trip from their base to Bastogne was at least 5 hour, and they went to combat almost with no wither clothing ( the Belgian port Antwerp was mined until the middle of November and the Alies they were still relying in the Normandy port of Cherbourg and the Mulberry artificial ports so the time to supply all the Allied troops with winter clothing was slow due to the overstretching lines of supplies.
Grandpa was there. Overrun and taken prisoner 16 days after the beginning of the battle. He and four other men were made to bury dead bodies under German guard. Turns out, there were lots of small unit actions behind the lines after the initial German push. A few G.I’s crept up on their position, and smoked the German guards, liberating grandpa and the others. They took up German arms and ammunition and made their way back to friendly lines. After rejoining the line, he fought until the end of the war and went home after a short stint during the occupation phase. I still take that same K98 hunting every deer season. He thought it would make a good deer rifle back home in rural Alabama. Broke it down to individual parts and sent each one home, then he came back, reassembled it, and took extremely good care of it. One of my prized possessions aside from the weird custom trench knife he took from the same dead German. Better men than we, thank god for them.
Renée Lemaire, the angel of Bastogne. In one memior I read, she received a parachute from someone in the 101st division as a gift, and she was so thrilled about this, because silk was extremely scarce and she wanted to make a wedding dress. Dr. Prior found her body in the rubble of the bombed hospital and took her remains to her parents wrapped in a parachute. It is unclear if this was her parachute. Very sad story.
Everyone from the 101st Airborne Division always claimed,"We were relieved,not rescued. We are known as the Battered Bastards of the bastion of Bastogne!" A play on the nickname of the Bastards of Baatan from the Philippine garrisons.
In the 5th episode of Band of Brothers, the lieutenant said to then Captain Winters when they arrived at Bastogne: you're gonna be surrounded which Winters answered: we're paratroopers, we are used to be surrounded... That alone show the mental strength that a paratrooper has comparing to a normal infantry soldier, an infantry soldier feels more safe and motivated when he has the enemy in front and his sides, but enters in panic when he gets surrounded, the paratrooper on the other hand, they are used to be surrounded because they are trained to jump behind enemy lines and they know that when they land 360° around him is where the enemy is... That is why they never consider to be rescued, only relieved.
In addition to relief supplies, a surgical team led by Major Lamar Soutter (later to become the first dean of University of Massachusetts Medical School) was delivered by glider on Dec. 26. In their first day, they did 56 surgeries.
Although there were some attempts in WW II to handle what soldiers needed to be helped first, "triage" wasn't really defined until Korea. Yes, MASH. Those who were going to die anyhow were given morphine and left. Those who would need huge efforts to save their lives were sometimes given morphine and left, but if the higher priority groups could be treated quickly enough they might get help. ... and so on. Those needing the least amount of treatment were seen first then put to work, even if just holding the hands of the dying. The numbers of soldiers saved shot way up. If a soldier was terribly wounded it might take multiple doctors and nurses and supplies and many hours to save him. One life. This often happened in wars previous to and including WW I. Attending to the worst wounded soldiers first. In that time many other would die because although not as badly wounded they still had serious wounds. Left untreated because everyone was busy with one man, they died. The goal is to save as many as possible. Hospitals in peace time still use triage, although it's rare anyone is just left to die. Hospitals can usually prioritize without that terrible decision.
@@veramae4098 Proper triage is horrible. The term derives from the 3 states a people in need of assistance can find themselves in - Low priority - they will survive without immediate attention, High priority - high likelyhood of survival if seen immediately with a high probably of death if not seen immediately, and zero priority - unlikely to survive even with timely medical attention. Recognising the fact that a patient could have horrible injuries, but be moved down in priority due to their stability is unthinkable in today's world.
My father was a 2nd Lt. in Bastogne. He was in the field not in town in comfortable conditions. He only spoke about Bastogne twice, once when we were in Europe in 1968 and once more briefly at his 90th birthday celebration. He was not bragging about having been there but was extremely respectful of all the men he commanded and suffered with. They followed orders and held the line. I am extremely proud of his conduct and the actions taken by the 101st Airborne.
Often forgotten is that the 101st grabbed artillery battalions that tried to withdraw through Bastogne, meaning the 101st had well over a division's worth of big guns. The biggest issue was supply of rounds.
Dear Mr. Loomis, Are you aware of the story of when an outfit called in for fire support it was at 23:58. This is in reference to your munitions issue. The Artillery was rationed to only so many rounds a day. The Fire Control Officer asked, "Can you hold out for two minutes?" 0001 came around and they got everything they needed to repel the attack.
General McAuliffe vital achievement was to drive his division as on wheels of hell to arrive at Bastogne before Bayerlein's Panzer Lehr. If the Germanazis got there 1st, the 101st would be forced to retreat since they had no tanks. McAuliffe's gamble was to trust his division's ability to fight with a light equipment. And he won.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy ..had the Panzer Grenadiers gone on foot, instead of remaining with their tanks while waiting for fuel, the 101st would have had to fight there way into Bastogne. They were only 1 hours march away but were never given the order.
I do think that Patton's army coming to the relief of the Bastogne is something that should be celebrated regardless, however. The conditions were definitely harsh and dangerous, and being relieved from the siege no doubt provided a huge respite and helped out the wounded a lot. And Patton's tanks getting to Bastogne that quickly was an impressive feat in itself. Really, all parts involved did a superb job. Big shoutout to the air force, as well, who delivered an enormous bounty of much-needed supplies right on target as soon as the weather permitted it, with the escort fighters decisively batting away German fighters and the cargo planes braving the flak without hesitation. The ultimate irony, I think, was that the entire German plan hinged on somehow exploiting and exacerbating tensions and differences between the Americans and British by cutting through the two armies and taking Antwerp. But the opposite happened, with American commanders placing some of their units under temporary British command and British forces racing right into the battle pretty seamlessly to completely shut down any chances of further German penetration into Allied lines.
We can criticize this Commander, or that commander, or this decision, or that decision, but ultimately, the "Allies" got it done together. Brave men paid heavily for our freedom.
My wife’s Grandfather, Charlie Galvin received a significant head wound from a mortar attack the evening before Patton arrived. He would not have survived if he could not be evacuated out. Family is glad Patton raced in. Charlie received a Silver Star for taking out a Tiger tank with bazooka near Warden earlier.
@@razor6888 There were no major British units anywhere near Bastogne. Secondly, there were no Tiger tanks fighting against the 101st during the Bulge. Neither Lehr or 2nd Panzer had Tigers, only Panthers or MKIV's.
@@MrProsatTiger Fear was a genuine phenomenon that occurred and so the story likely happened but just replace Tiger with Panther because to every allied soldier, every tank that had a similar profile to a tiger was a tiger.
@@razor6888 US Army 8 corps was also in the area and available before Patton arrived. My grandfather was with 8 Corps and his unit was dug in along the Meuse river the day before Patton arrived. In fact Patton arrived on Red Route 1 the road my grandfathers unit the 1308th Engineers GS Regiment Company E built.
There was no need to characterise it as a rescue. It played out in exactly the way all airborne operations are supposed to play out. The paratroopers took up an important position behind enemy lines and held it until friendly forces could reach them. The only difference between this and any other airborne operation is that the position they held was not behind enemy lines until shortly after they had reached it. Captain (or was it Major by this point?) Winters put it best when he said "We're Paratroopers. We're supposed to be surrounded". I think this really drives home that an airborne division really was an outstanding choice for which unit to send to defend Bastogne. The nature of the airborne operations that the soldiers were trained for means that being surrounded was never going to be as hard on moral as it would have been for a normal infantry division.
What was crucial in the initial saving of the day, was General McAuliffe's driving his division at full speed on dangerous winter roads and beating the nazis by a short head.
Love this second channel, the content is superb. Always felt the change in the weather was the straw that broke the German's back. Supplies being air dropped around Bastogne to restock the troops, and Allied air power taking to the sky with hunting orders after being pent up on the ground and listening to what was going on. Not taking away from what Patton's armor and troops did, in getting to Bastogne.
My Wife's Father was in the 101st from England, to Normandy D-Day invasion against Rommel, to the Battle of the Bulge, he was given some medals for those battles, including a purple heart, he never talked about his trials during the war. He started with the 82nd Airborne in North Africa fighting Rommel, and then invasion of Sicily and invasion of Italy. Then we was transferred to the new 101st Airborne. He witnessed a lot of war during those years.
My Dad was 4th Armored. He drove a 2.5 ton truck for the 22nd Armored Field Artillery. On Christmas Eve was told to stop on a road outside Bastogne and get what sleep they coukd in the bitterly cold conditions. He spotted a small barn just off the road and told he s buddy, "I think I know where we can get a good night's sleep.". They took their blankets and climbed up into the oft of the barn, which was filled with hay. They wrapped themselves in their blankets and burrowed into the hay, which proved to be excellent insulation. He spent Christmas Eve in a stable, asleep in the hay. Whenever he heard, " Away in a Manger" he recalled that night.
Now this is some excellent historical analysis. Comparing different reports and perspectives and analyzing the information. This is why this channel and his other channel, The Operations Room, is one of the best history channels on RUclips. Well done, sir!
My Dad was at Bastogne during the Bulge. He was with the 28th Infantry Division. I don't know how that interplays with the 101st but he was there. He told of shooting a bazooka at a Tiger tank from a basement area. The bazooka shell had no effect on the Tiger. They got the hell out of the basement before the Tiger turned to blow it away. Regardless of what the Colonel said about them needing rescue, he said he sure was glad to see Patton's tanks and army coming to Bastogne.
The 28th Infantry Division had a rough time in the Bulge. They spent the month of November 1944 in a grinding, gruelling battle around the town of Schmidt in the Hurtgen Forest. In December they were in the "quiet" part of the line, resting and getting replacements absorbed into their ranks. They were hit on 16 December by the full force of the German 5th Panzer Army, a powerful armored strike force that roared right through the middle of the 28th Division's area. The middle regiment of the 28th (the 110th?) was obliterated. They were simply engulfed by more armor than they could hope to deal with. The 112th Regiment was pushed aside into the ranks of the neighboring US division, the 106th Infantry. The other regiment (the 109th?) was pushed back. By the second day of the battle, the 28th Division headquarters only controlled this last. They fell back on Wiltz in Luxembourg, and finally were forced to pass through Bastogne in Belgium. The Germans that surrounded the 101st and others were the 5th Panzer Army. The bazooka was ineffective against heavy German armor. The US entered the war with a lot of peacetime notions of warfare and equipment tailored to those notions. All of their anti-tank weapons were too light to take out the very heavy tanks and assault guns the Germans were producing in 1944. The Germans captured a few bazookas in 1942. They admired its ease of operation and reusability. But when they made their copy, the _Panzerschreck_, they made it an 88mm launcher, much heavier than the 60mm bazooka. It sounds a bit like your father may have been in the 112th Infantry Regiment of the 28th. They were pushed aside by the sheer force of the German attack. Turned sideways to the Germans, they made a very handy flank guard for the 106th Infantry Division, under whose command they fell under. The 106th Division had it even worse than the 28th. They were a green division of 18 year old draftees from whom the best soldiers had been taken as replacements after D-Day. They were rather poorly led. They had the Loessheim Gap on their left flank, a natural passage for an attacker. The gap also formed a corps AND an army boundary. The 99th Infantry Division (also green draftees) was on the other side of the gap, part iof the V Corps and the 9th US Army , while the 28th and 106th were part of VIII Corps and the 9th US Army. This divided command. A small force of armored cavalry (the 7th) patrolled the gap. The 106th was in their positions less than 3 full days when the attack began. With the 5th Panzer Army tearing through the 28th, the 6th SS Panzer Army came screaming through the Loessheim Gap while 2 Volksturm divisions hit the infantry regiments who were still getting used to their exposed positions on the Schnee Eiffel, a high plateau in the mountains. They retreated, suffering many casualties. Two of the 106th Division's regiments were forced to surrender, the largest surrender of US troops in the European Theater. The surviving regiment, the 424th, was closest to the 28th's 112th Regiment. These regiments fought while retreating. Your father's experience seems like it might have been from this time, as many units of these divisions "went to the forest" and formed partisan detachments to fight back however they could.
As a medic I’ve got to say that the breaking of the siege was critical for the wounded, but an airborne unit being surround them relieved by armor is their actual purpose and doctrine. Wouldn’t go so far as to call it a rescue.
Not when the unit was being used as line infantry as the 101st was. If it was an offensive, then airborne seizing a place like Bastogne would have required relief since they wouldn't have had the armor, artillery or supplies they did in the actual defense.
There is a nice quote in Band of brothers when they first arrive at Bastogne they get a warning that they will probably be surrounded and they just say: "We are paratroopers, we are supposed to be surrounded. "
The 101st was amazing but out of small ammo and guns to little food and warm clothes. My dad arrived with Patton and said the 101st were in great spirits like a champion.
My grandfather Harold S. Dally was a PFC in the 327th GIR (I Company) in Bastogne. He shared many of his experiences from his time with the 101st, and he always viewed General Patton with the utmost respect and admiration. According to him, they were running low on everything, so Patton's Third was a welcome sight.
My great grandfather was in Patton’s 3rd Army. Idk much about him as he passed before I was born but he was in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was a quiet but serious man the type to say very few words but you listened when he spoke. He never spoke about the war but said “I love that man (Patton). If he ordered me to walk to the end of the earth I would have. I’d follow that man anywhere. Like your grandfather mine also had the upmost respect for General Patton.
A bit from the release of your video, moreover, the Battle of the Bulge and Bastogne, you're video was intriguing. As we all watch this and many others, the experiences/reality can't be recreated. It was a moment that only those in a brutal environment on the front, not words from another point, could truly comment on. Many of us had our moments and create relevance - it's never the same. Thanks for this video. It has been 80 years since this fight for freedom, let's hope it's not lost. I a veteran, father in Korea, uncles in WWII, one receiving medal of honor just months after this battle..died and buried in Luxembourg.
Never forget the sacrifice of the men who fought desperately to delay the Germans before the 101st could even reach Bastogne. In the series "Band Of Brothers" they are portrayed like they just ran away. While this is certainly true for some. In reality these men were exhausted and had been fighting for days against the opening stages of the German onslaught.
The series never implied they were running scared. The battered troops falling back as the 101st moved forward, and the trooper telling them to run because the fighting was so hellish, implies they gave them their all, but the onslaught was far more fierce than what they were used to/expecting.
The 28th Infantry Division (The Bloody Bucketeers) who went to the Ardennes for Christmas R&R after the murderous Hurtgen Forest. And the 7th Armored Division who was sacrificed at St-Vith.
As a 101st Air Borne division veteran, this is still discussed. They never felt they were rescued, the media was the only one making the claim. They were relieved by Patton, not rescued as the media claimed
It must be remembered, the major unit in Bastogne was the 101, but there were a lot of other troops there. They all fought well, BUT it also must be remembered that the Battle of the Bulge was not won at Bastogne....the Bastogne attack was a supporting attack...The Battle of the Bulge was won at Elsenborn Ridge as that was the focus of the attack.
Just like WWII in Europe was essentially won by Stalin sacrificing millions of his people at Stalingrad and Kursk. That took the guts out of the German machine.
I have read and/or heard both 10th Armored CC and 101 Airborne officers and men assert that neither could have held Bastogne without the other (and the TD unit from 9th Armored). They all agree that they did not need rescue but were very grateful and happy to be relieved.
My wife's High School instructor said his proudest accomplishment was getting his whole platoon through the Battle of the Bulge. The significance of Bastone was that the Germans could not keep their spearhead going without It. The 101st stopped a route of the US Army, preventing the Germans from reaching their objectives. By time Patton's forces reached Bastone, the Germans were defeated. Still, many US soldiers died or were captured. General McAuliffe was sent to hold Bastone and he did his job. "Airborne ALL THE WAY"
My high school algebra teacher was on History Channel as having been a member of 'Taffy 3' on the USS Johnston. We had no idea at that time, saw him decades later.
@@johnburns4017 having to leave a containment force reduced the spearhead and slowed supply. The offense likely would have gone further without 101st in Bastone.
@@saltyroe3179 Highly unlikely as XXX Corps were blocking the way.. Also they would have blown Meuse bridges if they needed, locking them on the east side of the Meuse.
Having served in the airborne, the meaning of this statement was, they weren’t needing “rescue”, however they definitely didn’t want to be encircled, and were quite glad that they no longer were.
Yeah, they might be able to beat the encircling German in 1 month... But if you ask the average paratrooper whether they want to beat their enemy in 1 month or being relieved now, 99% will still prefer the "now". The saying is really mostly spoken by the leader who doesn't want to lose face, moreover to the controversial Patton of all.
It's ironic that the media at the time gave all the glory to Patton for Bastogne, whereas now the media tends to give all the glory to the 101st for not just Bastogne, but the entire Battle of the Bulge (apart from this series ofc 😊)
Years ago I worked with a member of the 101st and he said Thank God that Patton arrived as there wasn’t a member of his unit that had more than 2 bullets left.
My great uncle and friend was a member of the 705th. It was my privilege to know and help him through his later years. He would cry when talking about him sitting next to a warm transmission while witnessing soldiers suffer and die from the cold outside. Dewey Ray was his name. I believe he was in company C.
The difference between the 101st Airborne and other infantry is that they don't get "cut-off". Their whole job is to capture key objectives behind enemy lines, and hold them until relieved. That's the whole reason they were sent into Bastogne. They just happened to get there before it was behind the lines. A force gets "rescued" when something goes wrong. The 101st was just doing their normal job, and doing it extremely well.
My father would probably been in the battle of the bulge but he almost lost his left arm at anzto getting his third purple heart. He said he fought the doctors off with his right arm so they wouldn't cut it off. He survived the war and so did hid arm even though it didn't work at 100% but he was very strong with his right arm. After he was wounded twice he thought he could go home but instead they made him a medic. A very dangerous job To the day he died he set off metal detectors because he had so much shrapnel in him. He drove airport security crazy. lol
My step dad always bitched about that Damn German Steel.. MY prayers for our dads, my pop was with the 47th. I hope they all are pie eyed and young as they can be, laughing their assets off.
A lot of people focus on the brave actions of the 101st, but not a lot of people know about the battles leading up to the battle at bastogne. A lot of sacrifice and fighting led up to the bastogne. I highly recommend the book The Longest Winter which tells the tale of the forces ahead of the 101st. God bless all those that fought and sacrificed their lives.
Patton actually proposed not driving on Bastogne and attack the where the Germans attack originated from, cutting the bulge off from it's source. This would have resulted in all German supply lines being cut and the capture of all the German forces involved in the attack. Ike felt that recusing Bastogne was more important that cutting the Germans off. The Germans lost all of their tanks, but the vast majority of their men made it out foot to fight again another day.
This entire question is ridiculous. Nobody would ever say, “nah we’re good.” But almost everybody would say, upon being reinforced or relieved, “we could have handled them ourselves!” It’s basically sibling rivalry and tongue in cheek teasing.
I don't agree with your statement. Bastogne was not the only place under attack. Requesting aid that would then deprive another unit of help they may have more desperately needed had to play into this decision. McAulliffe could know what his position and troops could be capable of for a few days.
just looking at few numbers and the 101'st was outnumbered by men from other " fighting units" and these were heavy units tank and artillery. It is always show as if the 101'st was there alone. They fought bravely and skillfully but hardly alone.
Its just the mass media doing it. Bcos iirc official accounts from the 101st does mention the other units being present and they even give them praise and recognition for the defense of the town kinda its like the accounts are saying "hey cmon this guys were here too and should have the same fame as us"
Majority of the 101st were glider infantry,and the day after Christmas glider pilots volunteered to fly into Bastogne and delivered ammo and medical supplies.
Each of the 3 airborne regiments 501, 502 and 506 had 3 battalions each. The 327 glider infantry had 4 battalions. At d day they had 3. But had 1 battalion of the 401st glider infantry attached to the 327. Which was later reflagged to the 4th battalion 327 after returning to england. The 325th in the 82nd had the other battalion 401 attached and it was reflagged after d day to 4th. 325th. I think the rest of the 401st was used in operation dragoon in south france.
The defenders of Bastogne did not need rescuing, however they did need relief, food, supplies, ammunition, and replacements by the time near Christmas. God bless them all. Heroes all.
My great grandfather on my step mother's side was in the 101st. He said at the end, they were warmer, better fed, better supplied, better armed and were more numerous than the enemy surrounding them. He didn't need rescuing. He needed socks and gloves. The man lived to be 98. Died in 2017.
Neither Patton's 3rd Army nor the 101st Airborne knew if and when the Germans would maybe be resupplied with ammunition and/or reinforced with additional troops so Patton's 3rd Army's arrival was still incredibly important and appreciated. Hell, Patton should've been pointed to go north from the get anyway.
The video doesn’t mention parachute glider infantry that provided important medical personnel but kept Bastogne restocked with everything General MacAuliffe credited them with making it possible to resist.
Yes - the 101st glider regiment, the 327th held much of the line against the Germans. It was the 327th that took the brunt if the German artillery barrage. Also, when the Germans delivered their surrender demand, it was to troopers of the 327th that met them, not the 506. My dear uncle was one of them. He lived through both Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. God bless America and ALL who fought.
While "saving" or "rescuing" may not be an accurate way to depict what happened, "relieving" certainly is. Taking the pressure off of Bastogne by counter attacking from the South likely saved a good amount of lives. Patton's actions and logistical feat of redeploying his units to be in position to counter-attack certainly hastened the eventual collapse of the "bulge".
The 101st didnt have to wait for the fog to lift magically for resupply, they had 19 pathfinders among them with several radio transmitters ( 1 pathfinder died on insertion ), they kept sending signals 24/7 from different parts of Bastogne and called in tons of resupply. If you want to know more about that then find the story about Jake "Mcnasty" Mcniece.
My Grandpa on my Father's side never talked much about the war... from what I understand he was a radioman... he did encounter Patton once, and got dressed down by him along with his unit for being " out of uniform" because they had been fighting for a week... Patton then walked out onto a bridge, whipped it out and took a leak into the Rhine... he had a picture of that...
My uncle, Tom Braidwood, was the first to arrive to Bastogne that morning with the 803 Tank Destroyers and immediately engaged 4 Tiger Kings, knocking out 3 of the 4 causing Jochen Piper to pull back for a day and gave the 3rd Army time to pour into the area and prepare for Pipers attack.
The way I've always heard this is that Patton's Third Army with its armor 'relieved' the 101st at Bastogne. My dad knew one of them, so I read all the books. They didn't need rescuing so much as the front needed consolidating and the paratroopers needed a break. I worked with an old carpenter who was an infantryman in Patton's Third Army. When I learned this I asked, "What was that like?" He quipped, "Yeah, right, the Great General. Why'd he have to try to win the whole f*n war with just us? The G*d*mn British were up north sucking up all the supplies and doing nothing." Sometimes I wonder if the controversies of a lot of RUclips videos aren't just straw men, propped up to be knocked down. And invented so they can be propped up....
It’s just a classic example of workmen bias or whatever it’s called, it’s easy for him to say he’s in the shit cuz he’s seeing it with his own eyes, but he doesn’t see the other guy’s problems
@@looinrimsI would say the British definitely sucked up supplies and wasted time. Prime example is market garden. Ike made too many concessions to the British and it cost time, lives, and Soviet control of half of Germany.
@@mattfransen1551 Perhaps if the Yanks hadn’t messed up at Nijmegen, then Market Garden would have been as successful as Operation Varsity… Perhaps if the Yanks had taken Cherbourg in the couple of days they were supposed to, then the Yanks would have had more supplies… Perhaps if they hadn’t let their Mulberry harbour get destroyed, they wouldn’t have had to rely on British supplies…. Perhaps if the Yanks hadn’t fecked up their airborne assault on the eve of DDay, then Omaha wouldn’t have been such a feck-up. Perhaps if the US Navy had been as effective in its fire support at Omaha, then they would have got their soldiers landed more effectively and Cherbourg would have fallen more quickly and the Yanks wouldn’t have sucked up British supplies… Perhaps if Yanks faced up to the fact that their armed forces are all ‘big hats ‘n’ banjos’, they wouldn’t keep starting wars, getting their arses kicked and buggering off… Can’t blame the Brits for Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia… “A.T.K., N.F.I.” - as we used to say about our ‘Murcan colleagues, Germany, 1980s. Toodlepip. *All the kit, no f*ck*ng idea.
Perhaps if Patton hadn’t been such a dick and done what he was supposed to and driven east of Bastogne, then the ‘goddamn Brits’ would have sealed the pocket. Instead, Patton had to grab his nuts and do the Elvia-Pelvis routine. Mind you, he’d done the same in Sicily. No surprises there. The Brits blocked the route out of the Ardennes, poppet. Patton was regarded as a d*ckh**d until The movie came out, known only for shooting unarmed POWs, relieving his own insecurities by slapping his own GIs - who’d have been shot if they whacked him back - and being sacked for being cr*p. Can’t beat Hollywood, eh? Pip pip!
I really doubt any of the men fighting in that pocket didn't want Patton to show up, including the general and his staff. It's pretty easy to say, after you have been rescued (relieved, whatever), that you didn't need Patton's men who died trying to break the German lines. That's just bravado by men, who a short time before, were scared of being killed in a deadly battle. What a slap in the face of men who changed direction to fight, day and night, to break thru the German lines.
That’s the spirit of the 101st. I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY for two years when I was in the Army, from 2001 to 2003. As soon as you get there you become infused with the mystique and the legendary lore that surround the Division, and you cannot help but feel a special kind of pride in being a part of it. And as soon as people find out that you are a 101st trooper, they start treating you as if you’re ten feet tall and invincible. It’s been 21 years since my military career ended, and most people still react that way towards me when they find out I was a member of the 101st. That will always be a source of special pride for me ❤
My great uncle was with the artillery at the battle of the bulge but I did not discover this until after he passed away and it was in his memorial information. I don’t know if he was inside the perimeter or outside the perimeter.
It's crazy how much 2 different perspectives on the same event can be! It also shows why history can be sometimes so complicated. One soldier can say "We will never lose this town. We have warm houses and they don't.", while a few miles down the road, another man of the same group can fighting for his life in a frozen foxhole!
My father-in-law served under Patton in Germany. My brother's first tour in Vietnam had him under Gen. Abrams in MACV HQ. While I was going to school with Gen. Abrams kids in Thailand. Tied in so many ways.
Same here. I was in the 101 in Vietnam after Abrams took over. We were still the kind of bastards who thought we could do it all by ourselves but damned glad that Abrams was in our corner instead of Westmoreland.
The short answer is, as Winters apparently said, "we're airborne, we're supposed to be surrounded." Their order was to move to Bastogne, and hold the position until reinforcements could break through and support the advancement.
Whither or not the Magnificent !01 wanted them or not George Pattons pivot before command even understood what was going on is a feat that will live in legend. My father was in the green 99th division which were thrown in and got mauled, the remainder joining Patton's Third. Dad was awarded 2 Bronze Stars, on with V cluster. He always talked about seeing Patton rolling on top of an M4. No rear Line General.
I think saying a unit was rescued implies that the unit was unable to fight effectively and carry out their mission. The mission of the troops at Bastogne was to hold until relieved and they definitely achieved their mission. My father was in the 78th division and he had told me that his unit wasn't in the Battle of the Bulge. Since the divisions were only about 15 miles apart, that told me that he was in the battle. I found a note in an American history of the battle and it said "In their first significant action the 78th division stopped the German advance and then forced the Germans back far enough that they were unable to harass Patton on his way to relieve Bastogne. I read it to my father and his response was "So that was what was going on with those trucks going by all night." War is a team effort. Patton provided support for Bastogne, but a lot of other units provided support for Patton, such as punching the hole in the German lines that Patton used. I understand why they were mad at Patton, and people were also mad at Montgomery when he implied that he had saved the Americans at the Battle of the Bulge. (By the way, I recently found out that Mel Brooks was serving in an engineering unit fairly close to where my father was serving at the time.)
Whoever said "Paratroopers without artillery and heavy weapons are just glorified light infantry" may be right, but the 101st were resourceful and vigilant enough to reinforce themselves with field guns, ammo and men from retreating artillery units and at least gave themselves a fighting chance before more supplies and support arrived.
As much as people wring their hands over the fact that Bastogne's troops arrived short of ammo and winter supplies, it could be argued this was a key part of why the defense succeeded. Hitler expected that mobilizing reinforcements and responding to the breakthrough would take a few days. Eisenhower recognized a desperation push when he saw one and focused on getting as much men and materiel as he could into the town before it was cut off.
My uncle was in the 101st at Bastogne. Maybe the official unit pride said they didn't need it, but my uncle's only commentary was it was nicer to have them than not. My uncle brought Bastogne home with him, his feet never felt warm, even in summer, he lived in Texas.
My father served in the 423rd Infantry regiment of the 106th Infantry Division. He was moved up on the line on December 15th and was immediate attacked. They fought for 2 days until they ran out of ammo and food. They were surrounded; the Regimental Commander agreed to surrender. My dad spent 30 days in St, Fifth in the basement of the cathedral as a pow. They were put on cattle cars and transported to Germany and spent 3 months in a concentration camp for officers. He escaped in May and weighed a mere 89 pounds when he found his way to the US lines.
At 2:13 you ask, “Why did they believe they did t need to be relieved” Ambrose’s quote is”Needed to be rescued” There is a big difference between those two statements and the attitudes behind them. And no the Airborne didn’t need to be rescued they needed to be relived by breaking the blockade .
Valid point. It is a major crossroads and there is a big difference between holding it, surrounded and having it directly supplied on your side of the front line.
I friend of mine has been inside Cobra King when it was being prepared for display at the US Army museum. He said there were still shell casings from the tank's machine guns on the floor of the tank.
The Smithsonian on,y displays a very small percentage of its assets, and many items from WW2 are still boxed up. We used to go to their storage warehouse where you’d see all kinds of planes, armor being restored, and they would unbox items that has been packed up on the ground as they were. I got to see a Zero being unboxed, and it had ordnance, personal effects etc from pilot still in it.
My grandfather was on Patton's 3rd battalion, he said he saw Patton piss in the rein river. He said the men didn't thank them, and were angered at Patton, because they thought they didn't need saving.
My dad was in the Battle of the bulge. He told me they had almost no food supplies/stuff and used a .50 cal to shoot a deer and eat it. It just seems so strange to me though, because I have a picture of him in a shallow fox hole and there is a record player on the ground in front of him and another solider who I have no clue is.
True. Once the weather broke so the planes could support the ground troops, it was pretty much all over for that advance. It didn't end very quickly, but tactically, the allies had the upper hand.
We have the benefit of hindsight. There was no way of predicting the weather, so Patton’s arrival was timely as far as everyone (but the Germans) were concerned. The real lesson here isn’t the post battle analysis - that’s all well and good for operational and strategic thinking. However, the fact that it played out the war it did is a testament to the men who actually fought the battle and war. Their grit and tenacity, coupled with a few fortunate breaks their way was what won the battle.
My Grandfather was not far from Bastogne in the 99th artillery at Elsenborn Ridge helping defend the town of St Vith never losing ground forcing Pieper to change course
Well, I know my dad who was 101st/501PIR said this. As did a good buddy or his whom I knew well. You have to understand one thing, just before boarding the aircraft for the DDAY jump, Col. Jumpy Johnson yelled atop a jeep, "Who's the best?" "WE ARE!" they yelled and 100% believed it. Then and at Bastogne. He never bragged, but in civilian life, he indeed was the best.
"We were warm inside the houses, they were outside in the cold"... Biggest cause of wounds was frostbite... Yeah it doesn't sound like that guy was in the correct battle.
Uncle Mack Wightman was one of those 101 Screaming Eagles and he and his men fought like hell in and around the Ardennes and Bastogne. He was behind enemy lines for 12 days, with little to no rations and ammo suffering frostbite. He was tough, but happy to be relieved by the 3rd Army. He suffered foot pain, from the frost bite, for the rest of his days until he was KIA charging a machine gun nest on Hill 1232 near the Chosin Reservoir in Korea and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. War is hell.
I had a family member at Bastogne. On D-Day, he fell behind German lines in a glider. They had released too soon and came down in the trees. He was the old guy of 33 and got to ride shotgun. He and the pilot survived the landing - everybody in the back died. They grabbed their gear and went on. There were still Germans to kill.
My late father served under Patton in the 42nd cavalry squadron of the 2nd cavalry group.he was part of patton's 3rd army.i remember him telling me that he was at bastogne but exactly what part in the battle his unit played i do not now.if my memory serves me well his Co was Colonel Lee.if anyone can help me with this question I'd really appreciate it.thank you.
What the troops did in Bastogne and what the 3rd Army did were both amazing feats. The 3rd Army had to change it's axis of advance by 90 degrees almost crossing their own supply lines and did it faster than anybody could have predicted. Think about the logistics of supplying a whole tank Army and essentially having to change the whole plan overnight so the tanks and troops could relieve Bastogne. The Germans certainly didn't think it could be done that fast. We had good troops, staffs, and leaders in WW2 on every front. The question is, could we do as well now?
I read the Patton had had a number or different contingency plans drawn up and that the Bastogne attack was one of those which is why his forces were able to react so quickly.
@@sirridesalot6652 He had a damned good staff. One of his staff officers was the guy who wrote the standard reference on extinct mammals and how they were related. He could describe every bone from every fossil mammal ever found and why it looked like that. He was also the guy you went to if you wanted to know something about any race horse that ever lived. That was all from memory. It helped to have geniuses working for you.
My dad was in the 602d Tank Destroyer Battalion attached to Patton's 3d Army and made the overnight march from France to positions just southwest of Bastogne on 20-21 Dec 44. Lost a few TD enroute due to icy conditions.
Airborne units are designed to be surrounded. Bastone was not on the main line of the German attack, the short route to the crossings of the Meuse, merely providing useful counterattack lines from that flank.
My older brother was in the 101st on the DMZ in Vietnam. The only military unit tougher that the 101st Airborne Division division would be a platoon of United States Marine infantry.
As a young man born in the 90s I don't have the perception of any cringe piece of propaganda about Paton but the story of the brave defense of Bastogne by the 101st and the Easy company. Band of Brothers really make justice to the veterans that sacrifice so much in that frozen piece of hell.
My Father was in Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. They held off the German advance for 24 hours prior to the 101st Airborne arrival. Together, they held until the rest of the 10th Armored arrived.
Hi, Tim! My grandfather (William "Bill" Wilson) was in the 21st tank battalion in Combat Command B of the 10th Armored and may have known your father. He recalled his time that winter with wincing pride. Bastogne was a particularly important battle to him. I thank your father for his contributions and his sacrifices.
@Bill H Hello Bill. My father was in artillery. He traveled with a lieutenant and was in forward positions directing artillery. Dad drove a jeep and radioed to rear positions. They once drove over a land mine that did not detonate, but a half track behind them in the column detonated it. Shrapnel sprayed the open jeep, and the lieutenant was killed. The steel seat back saved my father.
I did some preliminary work on design of a game about the siege. Once the Germans foolishly sent their two panzer divisions on (minus one panzer grenadier regiment) the Allied forces far outnumbered the Germans (especially in artillery and armored vehicles). Only a complete failure of air-dropped supply could have given the Germans a chance.
My Dad was in 4TH Armored Division, Combat Command A, 35th Tank Battalion and they entered Bastogne from the Southwest. Dad said they saw either dummies, or he thought more likely, US dead soldiers frozen in place, in foxholes, positioned with rifles, on the perimeter, like in the movie Beau Gest.... In the 2000's, a patient of mine was a 101st AB vet during the Bulge. Dad asked me to ask him if he remembered a destroyed Dairy Barn on the SW Perimeter with guys cooking a cow. When I asked my Patient, Russell, about it, he got the oddest look on his face, like from the Twilite Zone. He said HE was the guy cooking the cow, and that he had not thought of that episode in 60 years. He asked me how in the hell I knew about that. I told him my Dad was in one of the tanks that drove by them. Small and miraculous World indeed.
Amazing
Thanks for sharing man. Great story.
Watching band of brothers one mor time (10th maybe?)
Do you know why they were so ill prepared? I mean US allways had everything for the troops. How come they went to that forest without ammo, food o warm clothes?? Winter was not something new at that moment. Never understood what happened!
@@fortnex9972 The Germans attacked a portion of the line that wasn’t expected to be a hot zone.
The 101st was quickly sent to the front to reinforce Bastogne before they had the time to equip for the conditions and situation they would find themselves in.
@@mackenzieblair8135 Yes , that is shown the TV show. But...not even enough ammo???
"Haven't you heard? They've got us surrounded, the poor bastards!" What a legendary line. Imagine having stones like that. THAT is a man. Hell yeah.
On the same league as: "Damn it Boys, they are getting away” after the battle of Samar.
May we live to be worthy of such legacy.
@@ricardokowalski1579 "Just a little longer boys, we're suckering 'em into 40mm range!"
Although fictional one has to give that “We’re paratroopers. Were supposed to be surrounded” line allegedly spoken by Dick Winters in Band of Brothers is terrific as well
“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time.” ~ Chesty Puller
"All I am surrounded by is fear and dead men."
-Some Darth Vader comic
Back in the early 1970s, I came to know a member of the 101st who was at Bastogne. He told me succinctly, “Don’t believe any of that (BS) you hear about us not needing to be relieved. We were jumping all over Patton's tanks, hugging and kissing those guys. We knew this was finally over.”
Thing is if you actually look at the history it does look like they didn’t need rescue the invasion had ground to a halt the tanks which were the whole point in the invasion ran out of fuel and were being used as defenses with the Germans not sure what to do as the whole point was to get the tanks through.
It was also cited, General McAuliffe regretted not crediting CCB 10th Armored for its critical role in helping defend Bastogne. For the 101st to say they didn't need to be rescued, well I think troops in the other units with them would have disagreed. It does a disservice to them.
Maybe they didn't NEED to be rescued, but that doesn't mean they sure as shit weren't happy to be relieved. I'm sure it was miserable even if they were better supplied and outnumbered the germans. I think terming it a "rescue" is where people took umbrage. They weren't being rescued, they were broken out of a stalemate.
@@knightblade0188okay
@@NotMyActualName_ Yea "rescued" seems to imply something had gone wrong or they had failed somehow.
Everyone knew that my next door neighbor growing up had been a prisoner of war. No one, including his immediate family knew the details. At his funeral, his grandson read a letter explaining how he had been captured and what happened after. My neighbor was a replacement in the 101st. five days before the Battle of the Bulge commenced. He was stationed as a look out beyond his Battalion's lines by about 200 yards. He woke up the next morning to see soldiers moving past him toward his command. He tried to regain his unit, only to discover that overnight they had withdrawn and not notified him. He was captured that day, but not injured or mistreated. Eventually he was interviewed by a Colonel that spoke perfect English. The Colonel had attended Ohio State and was familiar with the U of M/ Ohio State rivalry. My neighbor was from Michigan. As the Colonel was walking away, he assured my neighbor he'd be alright because he knew how to survive in the cold. My neighbor and other prisoners were tasked with burying the dead and pretty much were starved while in captivity. He and the other American prisoners woke up one morning with all the Germans gone. They walked back to the US lines and were reunited with their command. My Neighbor was eventually evacuated back to the US for medical treatment and recovery. He was discharged at the end of the war in Europe in summer of 1945 having served 7 weeks on the front, six of those as a POW.
You'd be hard pressed to have met a nicer man, or one with a bawdier sense of humor.
Another member of the greatest generation.
Your neighbor is a dead liar. The 101st were sent to Bastogne as reinforcements. They were never overrun during the initial German attack. No replacement in the 101st was captured during the opening phase because they werent there. The 29th Infantry Division took the full force and was basically destroyed by Kampf Group Piepers assault through the Ardennes.
@@realWARPIG And you have enough confidence to call this dead man a liar because you think there are discrepancies with his story as relayed twice, 80 years after the event, through 2 intermediaries in a RUclips comment? I hope that you can find it in yourself to retract the brazen accusatory tone of your comment in order to be more respectful of the dead.
@@realWARPIG The OP didn't say the 101st were overrun, he said a neighbour, who served in the 101st, was captured five days before the battle of the bulge.
When the battle of the Bulge started, all the 101st was at their base headquarters in France to replenish their ranks from the losses caused by the Netherlands campaign and to make the paratroopers get some rest (they had been in combat since June and almost non stop), they were at Mormelon something (I think that is near Reims... I know that they were in North of France) I heard that the trip from their base to Bastogne was at least 5 hour, and they went to combat almost with no wither clothing ( the Belgian port Antwerp was mined until the middle of November and the Alies they were still relying in the Normandy port of Cherbourg and the Mulberry artificial ports so the time to supply all the Allied troops with winter clothing was slow due to the overstretching lines of supplies.
@@realWARPIG
With all those firearm videos you have you might want to also work on your anger management. An armed society is a polite society.
Grandpa was there. Overrun and taken prisoner 16 days after the beginning of the battle. He and four other men were made to bury dead bodies under German guard. Turns out, there were lots of small unit actions behind the lines after the initial German push. A few G.I’s crept up on their position, and smoked the German guards, liberating grandpa and the others. They took up German arms and ammunition and made their way back to friendly lines. After rejoining the line, he fought until the end of the war and went home after a short stint during the occupation phase. I still take that same K98 hunting every deer season. He thought it would make a good deer rifle back home in rural Alabama. Broke it down to individual parts and sent each one home, then he came back, reassembled it, and took extremely good care of it. One of my prized possessions aside from the weird custom trench knife he took from the same dead German. Better men than we, thank god for them.
Amazing story
Born in raised in Alabama hunting too, awesome knowing the that cool story. I’ll be thinking of it next season
Rural Alabama gang
You must be proud of your father hero in American victory at the Battle of the bulge
Renée Lemaire, the angel of Bastogne. In one memior I read, she received a parachute from someone in the 101st division as a gift, and she was so thrilled about this, because silk was extremely scarce and she wanted to make a wedding dress. Dr. Prior found her body in the rubble of the bombed hospital and took her remains to her parents wrapped in a parachute. It is unclear if this was her parachute. Very sad story.
She rescued 6 soldiers from the bombed health-station, but perished herself trying to rescue a 7th.
@@ZarkowsWorld Band of Brothers shows her; she was truly an angel
War takes far too many of the good and leave the bad alone
Tell me she got cannonized as a saint
@@johnhallett5846 doesn't this contradict the whole greatest generation bit
@@GalladeTheWarrior I think he’s talking about the people who start wars and profit from them.
Everyone from the 101st Airborne Division always claimed,"We were relieved,not rescued. We are known as the Battered Bastards of the bastion of Bastogne!" A play on the nickname of the Bastards of Baatan from the Philippine garrisons.
This guy tends to get some stuff wrong at points.
In the 5th episode of Band of Brothers, the lieutenant said to then Captain Winters when they arrived at Bastogne: you're gonna be surrounded which Winters answered: we're paratroopers, we are used to be surrounded...
That alone show the mental strength that a paratrooper has comparing to a normal infantry soldier, an infantry soldier feels more safe and motivated when he has the enemy in front and his sides, but enters in panic when he gets surrounded, the paratrooper on the other hand, they are used to be surrounded because they are trained to jump behind enemy lines and they know that when they land 360° around him is where the enemy is... That is why they never consider to be rescued, only relieved.
There's a considerable difference between being relieved and being rescued!
@@Yamato-tp2kf I think it's "...we're supposed to be surrounded."
I served as an 11-B in the 101st. I started out in the 327th Bastogne Brigade. "Battered Bastards of Bastogne"
In addition to relief supplies, a surgical team led by Major Lamar Soutter (later to become the first dean of University of Massachusetts Medical School) was delivered by glider on Dec. 26. In their first day, they did 56 surgeries.
56 surgeries in those conditions... Damn... Respect to him! o7
Amazing, and harrowing.
Although there were some attempts in WW II to handle what soldiers needed to be helped first, "triage" wasn't really defined until Korea. Yes, MASH.
Those who were going to die anyhow were given morphine and left.
Those who would need huge efforts to save their lives were sometimes given morphine and left, but if the higher priority groups could be treated quickly enough they might get help.
... and so on.
Those needing the least amount of treatment were seen first then put to work, even if just holding the hands of the dying.
The numbers of soldiers saved shot way up.
If a soldier was terribly wounded it might take multiple doctors and nurses and supplies and many hours to save him. One life. This often happened in wars previous to and including WW I. Attending to the worst wounded soldiers first.
In that time many other would die because although not as badly wounded they still had serious wounds. Left untreated because everyone was busy with one man, they died.
The goal is to save as many as possible.
Hospitals in peace time still use triage, although it's rare anyone is just left to die. Hospitals can usually prioritize without that terrible decision.
@@veramae4098 Proper triage is horrible. The term derives from the 3 states a people in need of assistance can find themselves in - Low priority - they will survive without immediate attention, High priority - high likelyhood of survival if seen immediately with a high probably of death if not seen immediately, and zero priority - unlikely to survive even with timely medical attention. Recognising the fact that a patient could have horrible injuries, but be moved down in priority due to their stability is unthinkable in today's world.
Their medical library is named after him. Excellent library.
My father was a 2nd Lt. in Bastogne. He was in the field not in town in comfortable conditions. He only spoke about Bastogne twice, once when we were in Europe in 1968 and once more briefly at his 90th birthday celebration. He was not bragging about having been there but was extremely respectful of all the men he commanded and suffered with. They followed orders and held the line. I am extremely proud of his conduct and the actions taken by the 101st Airborne.
I hope he is doing well or resting in peace.
Am😢to that.
Often forgotten is that the 101st grabbed artillery battalions that tried to withdraw through Bastogne, meaning the 101st had well over a division's worth of big guns. The biggest issue was supply of rounds.
That was super smart.
@petlahk , especially the 155mm Long Tom guns. Highly accurate.
Dear Mr. Loomis, Are you aware of the story of when an outfit called in for fire support it was at 23:58. This is in reference to your munitions issue. The Artillery was rationed to only so many rounds a day. The Fire Control Officer asked, "Can you hold out for two minutes?" 0001 came around and they got everything they needed to repel the attack.
General McAuliffe vital achievement was to drive his division as on wheels of hell
to arrive at Bastogne before Bayerlein's Panzer Lehr.
If the Germanazis got there 1st, the 101st would be forced to retreat since they had no tanks.
McAuliffe's gamble was to trust his division's ability to fight with a light equipment.
And he won.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy ..had the Panzer Grenadiers gone on foot, instead of remaining with their tanks while waiting for fuel, the 101st would have had to fight there way into Bastogne. They were only 1 hours march away but were never given the order.
I do think that Patton's army coming to the relief of the Bastogne is something that should be celebrated regardless, however. The conditions were definitely harsh and dangerous, and being relieved from the siege no doubt provided a huge respite and helped out the wounded a lot. And Patton's tanks getting to Bastogne that quickly was an impressive feat in itself.
Really, all parts involved did a superb job. Big shoutout to the air force, as well, who delivered an enormous bounty of much-needed supplies right on target as soon as the weather permitted it, with the escort fighters decisively batting away German fighters and the cargo planes braving the flak without hesitation.
The ultimate irony, I think, was that the entire German plan hinged on somehow exploiting and exacerbating tensions and differences between the Americans and British by cutting through the two armies and taking Antwerp. But the opposite happened, with American commanders placing some of their units under temporary British command and British forces racing right into the battle pretty seamlessly to completely shut down any chances of further German penetration into Allied lines.
That wouldn't have happened if Patton didn't "appropriate" fuel
We can criticize this Commander, or that commander, or this decision, or that decision, but ultimately, the "Allies" got it done together.
Brave men paid heavily for our freedom.
@@OGMaverickGaming didnt he appropriate it from units in a better position to relieve Bastone?
Patton was our greatest fighting general . One of the greatest leaders in the history of the world
@@gunner- he really wasnt. He is one of the most overrated men going. If he or Montgomery were in the German army they'd have been sacked
You know exactly which way enemy is when you're surrounded.
Right where you want them.
"Wait, which way are we supposed to shoot?"
"All of 'em."
"Nice."
It's in the direction of "Yes".
As Chesty Puller once said in Korea, "We're surrounded. That simplifies our problem".
They were paratroopers. They are supposed to be surrounded!
My wife’s Grandfather, Charlie Galvin received a significant head wound from a mortar attack the evening before Patton arrived. He would not have survived if he could not be evacuated out. Family is glad Patton raced in. Charlie received a Silver Star for taking out a Tiger tank with bazooka near Warden earlier.
@@razor6888 There were no major British units anywhere near Bastogne. Secondly, there were no Tiger tanks fighting against the 101st during the Bulge. Neither Lehr or 2nd Panzer had Tigers, only Panthers or MKIV's.
@@MrProsatTiger Fear was a genuine phenomenon that occurred and so the story likely happened but just replace Tiger with Panther because to every allied soldier, every tank that had a similar profile to a tiger was a tiger.
@@razor6888 You use a lot of words to say nothing. So, you got a blue blazer? Cool, a lot of people do. No need to tell the entire internet.
@@razor6888 US Army 8 corps was also in the area and available before Patton arrived. My grandfather was with 8 Corps and his unit was dug in along the Meuse river the day before Patton arrived. In fact Patton arrived on Red Route 1 the road my grandfathers unit the 1308th Engineers GS Regiment Company E built.
Great great uncle is general sink of the 506 airborne
"We're paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded." - Richard Winters
There was no need to characterise it as a rescue. It played out in exactly the way all airborne operations are supposed to play out. The paratroopers took up an important position behind enemy lines and held it until friendly forces could reach them. The only difference between this and any other airborne operation is that the position they held was not behind enemy lines until shortly after they had reached it.
Captain (or was it Major by this point?) Winters put it best when he said "We're Paratroopers. We're supposed to be surrounded". I think this really drives home that an airborne division really was an outstanding choice for which unit to send to defend Bastogne. The nature of the airborne operations that the soldiers were trained for means that being surrounded was never going to be as hard on moral as it would have been for a normal infantry division.
Oh he said that? Damn I thought it was all game thing in Comapny of Heroes. Good to know
Dick Winters was still a Captain at this point. He didn't get promoted to Major until the Alsace/Lorraine campaign ended.
What was crucial in the initial saving of the day, was
General McAuliffe's driving his division at full speed on
dangerous winter roads and beating the nazis by a short head.
The always first brigade...
@Mike Raffphone 327?
Love this second channel, the content is superb. Always felt the change in the weather was the straw that broke the German's back. Supplies being air dropped around Bastogne to restock the troops, and Allied air power taking to the sky with hunting orders after being pent up on the ground and listening to what was going on. Not taking away from what Patton's armor and troops did, in getting to Bastogne.
My Wife's Father was in the 101st from England, to Normandy D-Day invasion against Rommel, to the Battle of the Bulge, he was given some medals for those battles, including a purple heart, he never talked about his trials during the war. He started with the 82nd Airborne in North Africa fighting Rommel, and then invasion of Sicily and invasion of Italy. Then we was transferred to the new 101st Airborne. He witnessed a lot of war during those years.
My Dad was 4th Armored. He drove a 2.5 ton truck for the 22nd Armored Field Artillery. On Christmas Eve was told to stop on a road outside Bastogne and get what sleep they coukd in the bitterly cold conditions. He spotted a small barn just off the road and told he s buddy, "I think I know where we can get a good night's sleep.". They took their blankets and climbed up into the oft of the barn, which was filled with hay. They wrapped themselves in their blankets and burrowed into the hay, which proved to be excellent insulation. He spent Christmas Eve in a stable, asleep in the hay. Whenever he heard, " Away in a Manger" he recalled that night.
Now this is some excellent historical analysis. Comparing different reports and perspectives and analyzing the information. This is why this channel and his other channel, The Operations Room, is one of the best history channels on RUclips. Well done, sir!
“Men, we are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity ever presented an army. We can attack in any direction.”
-Gen. McAuliffe
I had no idea that Creighton Abrams led the armor relief column into Bastogne. Thanks for providing that nugget of history!!
My Dad was at Bastogne during the Bulge. He was with the 28th Infantry Division. I don't know how that interplays with the 101st but he was there. He told of shooting a bazooka at a Tiger tank from a basement area. The bazooka shell had no effect on the Tiger. They got the hell out of the basement before the Tiger turned to blow it away. Regardless of what the Colonel said about them needing rescue, he said he sure was glad to see Patton's tanks and army coming to Bastogne.
The 28th Infantry Division had a rough time in the Bulge. They spent the month of November 1944 in a grinding, gruelling battle around the town of Schmidt in the Hurtgen Forest. In December they were in the "quiet" part of the line, resting and getting replacements absorbed into their ranks. They were hit on 16 December by the full force of the German 5th Panzer Army, a powerful armored strike force that roared right through the middle of the 28th Division's area. The middle regiment of the 28th (the 110th?) was obliterated. They were simply engulfed by more armor than they could hope to deal with. The 112th Regiment was pushed aside into the ranks of the neighboring US division, the 106th Infantry. The other regiment (the 109th?) was pushed back. By the second day of the battle, the 28th Division headquarters only controlled this last. They fell back on Wiltz in Luxembourg, and finally were forced to pass through Bastogne in Belgium. The Germans that surrounded the 101st and others were the 5th Panzer Army.
The bazooka was ineffective against heavy German armor. The US entered the war with a lot of peacetime notions of warfare and equipment tailored to those notions. All of their anti-tank weapons were too light to take out the very heavy tanks and assault guns the Germans were producing in 1944. The Germans captured a few bazookas in 1942. They admired its ease of operation and reusability. But when they made their copy, the _Panzerschreck_, they made it an 88mm launcher, much heavier than the 60mm bazooka. It sounds a bit like your father may have been in the 112th Infantry Regiment of the 28th. They were pushed aside by the sheer force of the German attack. Turned sideways to the Germans, they made a very handy flank guard for the 106th Infantry Division, under whose command they fell under.
The 106th Division had it even worse than the 28th. They were a green division of 18 year old draftees from whom the best soldiers had been taken as replacements after D-Day. They were rather poorly led. They had the Loessheim Gap on their left flank, a natural passage for an attacker. The gap also formed a corps AND an army boundary. The 99th Infantry Division (also green draftees) was on the other side of the gap, part iof the V Corps and the 9th US Army , while the 28th and 106th were part of VIII Corps and the 9th US Army. This divided command. A small force of armored cavalry (the 7th) patrolled the gap. The 106th was in their positions less than 3 full days when the attack began. With the 5th Panzer Army tearing through the 28th, the 6th SS Panzer Army came screaming through the Loessheim Gap while 2 Volksturm divisions hit the infantry regiments who were still getting used to their exposed positions on the Schnee Eiffel, a high plateau in the mountains. They retreated, suffering many casualties. Two of the 106th Division's regiments were forced to surrender, the largest surrender of US troops in the European Theater. The surviving regiment, the 424th, was closest to the 28th's 112th Regiment. These regiments fought while retreating. Your father's experience seems like it might have been from this time, as many units of these divisions "went to the forest" and formed partisan detachments to fight back however they could.
As a medic I’ve got to say that the breaking of the siege was critical for the wounded, but an airborne unit being surround them relieved by armor is their actual purpose and doctrine. Wouldn’t go so far as to call it a rescue.
Not when the unit was being used as line infantry as the 101st was. If it was an offensive, then airborne seizing a place like Bastogne would have required relief since they wouldn't have had the armor, artillery or supplies they did in the actual defense.
There is a nice quote in Band of brothers when they first arrive at Bastogne they get a warning that they will probably be surrounded and they just say:
"We are paratroopers, we are supposed to be surrounded. "
The 101st was amazing but out of small ammo and guns to little food and warm clothes. My dad arrived with Patton and said the 101st were in great spirits like a champion.
This second channel is such a genius idea.. keep it up!
My grandfather Harold S. Dally was a PFC in the 327th GIR (I Company) in Bastogne. He shared many of his experiences from his time with the 101st, and he always viewed General Patton with the utmost respect and admiration. According to him, they were running low on everything, so Patton's Third was a welcome sight.
My great grandfather was in Patton’s 3rd Army. Idk much about him as he passed before I was born but he was in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was a quiet but serious man the type to say very few words but you listened when he spoke. He never spoke about the war but said “I love that man (Patton). If he ordered me to walk to the end of the earth I would have. I’d follow that man anywhere. Like your grandfather mine also had the upmost respect for General Patton.
A bit from the release of your video, moreover, the Battle of the Bulge and Bastogne, you're video was intriguing. As we all watch this and many others, the experiences/reality can't be recreated. It was a moment that only those in a brutal environment on the front, not words from another point, could truly comment on. Many of us had our moments and create relevance - it's never the same. Thanks for this video. It has been 80 years since this fight for freedom, let's hope it's not lost. I a veteran, father in Korea, uncles in WWII, one receiving medal of honor just months after this battle..died and buried in Luxembourg.
Never forget the sacrifice of the men who fought desperately to delay the Germans before the 101st could even reach Bastogne. In the series "Band Of Brothers" they are portrayed like they just ran away. While this is certainly true for some. In reality these men were exhausted and had been fighting for days against the opening stages of the German onslaught.
The series never implied they were running scared.
The battered troops falling back as the 101st moved forward, and the trooper telling them to run because the fighting was so hellish, implies they gave them their all, but the onslaught was far more fierce than what they were used to/expecting.
They had been badly mauled way before the 101 came up.
The 28th Infantry Division (The Bloody Bucketeers)
who went to the Ardennes for Christmas R&R after the murderous Hurtgen Forest.
And the 7th Armored Division who was sacrificed at St-Vith.
As a 101st Air Borne division veteran, this is still discussed. They never felt they were rescued, the media was the only one making the claim. They were relieved by Patton, not rescued as the media claimed
It must be remembered, the major unit in Bastogne was the 101, but there were a lot of other troops there. They all fought well, BUT it also must be remembered that the Battle of the Bulge was not won at Bastogne....the Bastogne attack was a supporting attack...The Battle of the Bulge was won at Elsenborn Ridge as that was the focus of the attack.
Just like WWII in Europe was essentially won by Stalin sacrificing millions of his people at Stalingrad and Kursk. That took the guts out of the German machine.
I have read and/or heard both 10th Armored CC and 101 Airborne officers and men assert that neither could have held Bastogne without the other (and the TD unit from 9th Armored). They all agree that they did not need rescue but were very grateful and happy to be relieved.
This is one of the best channels on RUclips thank you for setting up the second channel also
Before I watch I’m going with they are paratroopers and are meant to be surrounded!
frfr
NUTS!
It’s a great Band of Brothers line but I think it’s a product of the screenwriter
Edit: It’s still a great line!
My wife's High School instructor said his proudest accomplishment was getting his whole platoon through the Battle of the Bulge. The significance of Bastone was that the Germans could not keep their spearhead going without It. The 101st stopped a route of the US Army, preventing the Germans from reaching their objectives. By time Patton's forces reached Bastone, the Germans were defeated. Still, many US soldiers died or were captured. General McAuliffe was sent to hold Bastone and he did his job. "Airborne ALL THE WAY"
He had good reason for being proud.
My high school algebra teacher was on History Channel as having been a member of 'Taffy 3' on the USS Johnston. We had no idea at that time, saw him decades later.
Bastogne made no difference as the Germans left a containment force around it then went west being stopped by the British XXX Corps at Dinant.
@@johnburns4017 having to leave a containment force reduced the spearhead and slowed supply. The offense likely would have gone further without 101st in Bastone.
@@saltyroe3179
Highly unlikely as XXX Corps were blocking the way.. Also they would have blown Meuse bridges if they needed, locking them on the east side of the Meuse.
Having served in the airborne, the meaning of this statement was, they weren’t needing “rescue”, however they definitely didn’t want to be encircled, and were quite glad that they no longer were.
So less of a rescue, but more of a relief, then... that sounds more in line of how the Airborn divisions usually work.
Yeah, they might be able to beat the encircling German in 1 month... But if you ask the average paratrooper whether they want to beat their enemy in 1 month or being relieved now, 99% will still prefer the "now". The saying is really mostly spoken by the leader who doesn't want to lose face, moreover to the controversial Patton of all.
It's ironic that the media at the time gave all the glory to Patton for Bastogne, whereas now the media tends to give all the glory to the 101st for not just Bastogne, but the entire Battle of the Bulge (apart from this series ofc 😊)
Band of Brothers has had a big part in that
The Calvary coming to the rescue is a more dramatic story than the defenders out numbering their attackers.
Patton was a master of self promotion.
@@cdjhyoung All allied Generals were(See Mark Clark's idiocy in Rome). Some where also good at Generaling.
@@JG-ib7xk Stephen Ambrose, the pin-up specialist.
As a former member of the 101st, I can tell you we were all taught this and were expected to do the same as the Bastards of Bastogne did.
Sir, your format is absolutely superior to any other military history video format since the inception of the endeavor.
Years ago I worked with a member of the 101st and he said Thank God that Patton arrived as there wasn’t a member of his unit that had more than 2 bullets left.
My great uncle and friend was a member of the 705th. It was my privilege to know and help him through his later years. He would cry when talking about him sitting next to a warm transmission while witnessing soldiers suffer and die from the cold outside. Dewey Ray was his name. I believe he was in company C.
The difference between the 101st Airborne and other infantry is that they don't get "cut-off". Their whole job is to capture key objectives behind enemy lines, and hold them until relieved. That's the whole reason they were sent into Bastogne. They just happened to get there before it was behind the lines. A force gets "rescued" when something goes wrong. The 101st was just doing their normal job, and doing it extremely well.
My father would probably been in the battle of the bulge but he almost lost his left arm at anzto getting his third purple heart. He said he fought the doctors off with his right arm so they wouldn't cut it off. He survived the war and so did hid arm even though it didn't work at 100% but he was very strong with his right arm. After he was wounded twice he thought he could go home but instead they made him a medic. A very dangerous job To the day he died he set off metal detectors because he had so much shrapnel in him. He drove airport security crazy. lol
My step dad always bitched about that Damn German Steel.. MY prayers for our dads, my pop was with the 47th. I hope they all are pie eyed and young as they can be, laughing their assets off.
GREAT uplifiting story!
That "NUTS!" was such a Spartan response. Mad respects to the greatest generation ever.
A lot of people focus on the brave actions of the 101st, but not a lot of people know about the battles leading up to the battle at bastogne. A lot of sacrifice and fighting led up to the bastogne. I highly recommend the book The Longest Winter which tells the tale of the forces ahead of the 101st. God bless all those that fought and sacrificed their lives.
This is a brilliant video, so inciteful and well researched with things you'd never guess or be aware of
I'd hope it was more insightful than inciteful. We don't need any riots on our hands, not in the current climate
@@JG-ib7xk It'd be brilliant no matter the way you spelled or wrote it
Patton actually proposed not driving on Bastogne and attack the where the Germans attack originated from, cutting the bulge off from it's source. This would have resulted in all German supply lines being cut and the capture of all the German forces involved in the attack. Ike felt that recusing Bastogne was more important that cutting the Germans off. The Germans lost all of their tanks, but the vast majority of their men made it out foot to fight again another day.
Took Bradley a long time to clear them out
This entire question is ridiculous. Nobody would ever say, “nah we’re good.” But almost everybody would say, upon being reinforced or relieved, “we could have handled them ourselves!” It’s basically sibling rivalry and tongue in cheek teasing.
I don't agree with your statement. Bastogne was not the only place under attack. Requesting aid that would then deprive another unit of help they may have more desperately needed had to play into this decision. McAulliffe could know what his position and troops could be capable of for a few days.
Absolutely correct.
It was wild to actually hear him pronounce Bastonge correctly at 5:39 when every other mention of the town he said "Bastonge-yeah!"
It was driving me crazy
Makes a man proud to have served in the 101st.
At least if you were in the 101, the old guys will talk to you as an equal instead of a wannabe.
@@neilreynolds3858 That is correct.
just looking at few numbers and the 101'st was outnumbered by men from other " fighting units" and these were heavy units tank and artillery. It is always show as if the 101'st was there alone. They fought bravely and skillfully but hardly alone.
Its just the mass media doing it. Bcos iirc official accounts from the 101st does mention the other units being present and they even give them praise and recognition for the defense of the town kinda its like the accounts are saying "hey cmon this guys were here too and should have the same fame as us"
@@christianjohnsalvador1121 thanks for the information.
Majority of the 101st were glider infantry,and the day after Christmas glider pilots volunteered to fly into Bastogne and delivered ammo and medical supplies.
Each of the 3 airborne regiments 501, 502 and 506 had 3 battalions each. The 327 glider infantry had 4 battalions. At d day they had 3. But had 1 battalion of the 401st glider infantry attached to the 327. Which was later reflagged to the 4th battalion 327 after returning to england. The 325th in the 82nd had the other battalion 401 attached and it was reflagged after d day to 4th. 325th. I think the rest of the 401st was used in operation dragoon in south france.
Well done video. Excellent narration and fascinating presentation. I was only nine years old when this battle took place.
The defenders of Bastogne did not need rescuing, however they did need relief, food, supplies, ammunition, and replacements by the time near Christmas. God bless them all. Heroes all.
My great grandfather on my step mother's side was in the 101st. He said at the end, they were warmer, better fed, better supplied, better armed and were more numerous than the enemy surrounding them. He didn't need rescuing. He needed socks and gloves.
The man lived to be 98. Died in 2017.
Neither Patton's 3rd Army nor the 101st Airborne knew if and when the Germans would maybe be resupplied with ammunition and/or reinforced with additional troops so Patton's 3rd Army's arrival was still incredibly important and appreciated. Hell, Patton should've been pointed to go north from the get anyway.
I’ll pronounce Bastogne the way Dick Winters did.
The video doesn’t mention parachute glider infantry that provided important medical personnel but kept Bastogne restocked with everything General MacAuliffe credited them with making it possible to resist.
Yes - the 101st glider regiment, the 327th held much of the line against the Germans. It was the 327th that took the brunt if the German artillery barrage. Also, when the Germans delivered their surrender demand, it was to troopers of the 327th that met them, not the 506. My dear uncle was one of them. He lived through both Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. God bless America and ALL who fought.
Ambrose brought up that exact quote of Kinnards in his book. Literally every trooper in the company said "I wonder what battle HE was fighting"
While "saving" or "rescuing" may not be an accurate way to depict what happened, "relieving" certainly is. Taking the pressure off of Bastogne by counter attacking from the South likely saved a good amount of lives. Patton's actions and logistical feat of redeploying his units to be in position to counter-attack certainly hastened the eventual collapse of the "bulge".
good work on these videos 👍 always interesting to watch and listen to history and historical events
The 101st didnt have to wait for the fog to lift magically for resupply, they had 19 pathfinders among them with several radio transmitters ( 1 pathfinder died on insertion ), they kept sending signals 24/7 from different parts of Bastogne and called in tons of resupply. If you want to know more about that then find the story about Jake "Mcnasty" Mcniece.
My Grandpa on my Father's side never talked much about the war... from what I understand he was a radioman... he did encounter Patton once, and got dressed down by him along with his unit for being " out of uniform" because they had been fighting for a week... Patton then walked out onto a bridge, whipped it out and took a leak into the Rhine... he had a picture of that...
Definitely Old Blood and Guts style.
My uncle, Tom Braidwood, was the first to arrive to Bastogne that morning with the 803 Tank Destroyers and immediately engaged 4 Tiger Kings, knocking out 3 of the 4 causing Jochen Piper to pull back for a day and gave the 3rd Army time to pour into the area and prepare for Pipers attack.
The way I've always heard this is that Patton's Third Army with its armor 'relieved' the 101st at Bastogne. My dad knew one of them, so I read all the books. They didn't need rescuing so much as the front needed consolidating and the paratroopers needed a break.
I worked with an old carpenter who was an infantryman in Patton's Third Army. When I learned this I asked, "What was that like?" He quipped, "Yeah, right, the Great General. Why'd he have to try to win the whole f*n war with just us? The G*d*mn British were up north sucking up all the supplies and doing nothing." Sometimes I wonder if the controversies of a lot of RUclips videos aren't just straw men, propped up to be knocked down. And invented so they can be propped up....
It’s just a classic example of workmen bias or whatever it’s called, it’s easy for him to say he’s in the shit cuz he’s seeing it with his own eyes, but he doesn’t see the other guy’s problems
@@looinrimsI would say the British definitely sucked up supplies and wasted time. Prime example is market garden. Ike made too many concessions to the British and it cost time, lives, and Soviet control of half of Germany.
@@mattfransen1551
Perhaps if the Yanks hadn’t messed up at Nijmegen, then Market Garden would have been as successful as Operation Varsity…
Perhaps if the Yanks had taken Cherbourg in the couple of days they were supposed to, then the Yanks would have had more supplies…
Perhaps if they hadn’t let their Mulberry harbour get destroyed, they wouldn’t have had to rely on British supplies….
Perhaps if the Yanks hadn’t fecked up their airborne assault on the eve of DDay, then Omaha wouldn’t have been such a feck-up.
Perhaps if the US Navy had been as effective in its fire support at Omaha, then they would have got their soldiers landed more effectively and Cherbourg would have fallen more quickly and the Yanks wouldn’t have sucked up British supplies…
Perhaps if Yanks faced up to the fact that their armed forces are all ‘big hats ‘n’ banjos’, they wouldn’t keep starting wars, getting their arses kicked and buggering off…
Can’t blame the Brits for Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia…
“A.T.K., N.F.I.” - as we used to say about our ‘Murcan colleagues, Germany, 1980s.
Toodlepip.
*All the kit, no f*ck*ng idea.
Perhaps if Patton hadn’t been such a dick and done what he was supposed to and driven east of Bastogne, then the ‘goddamn Brits’ would have sealed the pocket.
Instead, Patton had to grab his nuts and do the Elvia-Pelvis routine. Mind you, he’d done the same in Sicily.
No surprises there.
The Brits blocked the route out of the Ardennes, poppet.
Patton was regarded as a d*ckh**d until The movie came out, known only for shooting unarmed POWs, relieving his own insecurities by slapping his own GIs - who’d have been shot if they whacked him back - and being sacked for being cr*p.
Can’t beat Hollywood, eh?
Pip pip!
When you're a Screamin' Eagle, there's a thin line between confident & cocky, even today.
I really doubt any of the men fighting in that pocket didn't want Patton to show up, including the general and his staff. It's pretty easy to say, after you have been rescued (relieved, whatever), that you didn't need Patton's men who died trying to break the German lines. That's just bravado by men, who a short time before, were scared of being killed in a deadly battle. What a slap in the face of men who changed direction to fight, day and night, to break thru the German lines.
I think they all saw it as they weren't being saved but just doing their part in a combined arms effort. They did their part and Patton did his.
That’s the spirit of the 101st. I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY for two years when I was in the Army, from 2001 to 2003. As soon as you get there you become infused with the mystique and the legendary lore that surround the Division, and you cannot help but feel a special kind of pride in being a part of it. And as soon as people find out that you are a 101st trooper, they start treating you as if you’re ten feet tall and invincible. It’s been 21 years since my military career ended, and most people still react that way towards me when they find out I was a member of the 101st. That will always be a source of special pride for me ❤
My great uncle was with the artillery at the battle of the bulge but I did not discover this until after he passed away and it was in his memorial information.
I don’t know if he was inside the perimeter or outside the perimeter.
It's crazy how much 2 different perspectives on the same event can be! It also shows why history can be sometimes so complicated. One soldier can say "We will never lose this town. We have warm houses and they don't.", while a few miles down the road, another man of the same group can fighting for his life in a frozen foxhole!
My father-in-law served under Patton in Germany. My brother's first tour in Vietnam had him under Gen. Abrams in MACV HQ. While I was going to school with Gen. Abrams kids in Thailand. Tied in so many ways.
Same here. I was in the 101 in Vietnam after Abrams took over. We were still the kind of bastards who thought we could do it all by ourselves but damned glad that Abrams was in our corner instead of Westmoreland.
The short answer is, as Winters apparently said, "we're airborne, we're supposed to be surrounded." Their order was to move to Bastogne, and hold the position until reinforcements could break through and support the advancement.
Whither or not the Magnificent !01 wanted them or not George Pattons pivot before command even understood what was going on is a feat that will live in legend. My father was in the green 99th division which were thrown in and got mauled, the remainder joining Patton's Third. Dad was awarded 2 Bronze Stars, on with V cluster. He always talked about seeing Patton rolling on top of an M4. No rear Line General.
I think saying a unit was rescued implies that the unit was unable to fight effectively and carry out their mission. The mission of the troops at Bastogne was to hold until relieved and they definitely achieved their mission. My father was in the 78th division and he had told me that his unit wasn't in the Battle of the Bulge. Since the divisions were only about 15 miles apart, that told me that he was in the battle. I found a note in an American history of the battle and it said "In their first significant action the 78th division stopped the German advance and then forced the Germans back far enough that they were unable to harass Patton on his way to relieve Bastogne. I read it to my father and his response was "So that was what was going on with those trucks going by all night." War is a team effort. Patton provided support for Bastogne, but a lot of other units provided support for Patton, such as punching the hole in the German lines that Patton used. I understand why they were mad at Patton, and people were also mad at Montgomery when he implied that he had saved the Americans at the Battle of the Bulge. (By the way, I recently found out that Mel Brooks was serving in an engineering unit fairly close to where my father was serving at the time.)
Whoever said "Paratroopers without artillery and heavy weapons are just glorified light infantry" may be right, but the 101st were resourceful and vigilant enough to reinforce themselves with field guns, ammo and men from retreating artillery units and at least gave themselves a fighting chance before more supplies and support arrived.
As much as people wring their hands over the fact that Bastogne's troops arrived short of ammo and winter supplies, it could be argued this was a key part of why the defense succeeded.
Hitler expected that mobilizing reinforcements and responding to the breakthrough would take a few days. Eisenhower recognized a desperation push when he saw one and focused on getting as much men and materiel as he could into the town before it was cut off.
My uncle was in the 101st at Bastogne. Maybe the official unit pride said they didn't need it, but my uncle's only commentary was it was nicer to have them than not. My uncle brought Bastogne home with him, his feet never felt warm, even in summer, he lived in Texas.
My father served in the 423rd Infantry regiment of the 106th Infantry Division. He was moved up on the line on December 15th and was immediate attacked. They fought for 2 days until they ran out of ammo and food. They were surrounded; the Regimental Commander agreed to surrender. My dad spent 30 days in St, Fifth in the basement of the cathedral as a pow. They were put on cattle cars and transported to Germany and spent 3 months in a concentration camp for officers. He escaped in May and weighed a mere 89 pounds when he found his way to the US lines.
At 2:13 you ask, “Why did they believe they did t need to be relieved”
Ambrose’s quote is”Needed to be rescued”
There is a big difference between those two statements and the attitudes behind them.
And no the Airborne didn’t need to be rescued they needed to be relived by breaking the blockade .
I do wonder how much of this “Rescue” business is Pattons publicity folks and his groupies pushing the rescue line even today
Valid point. It is a major crossroads and there is a big difference between holding it, surrounded and having it directly supplied on your side of the front line.
My husband and I watch these every time they come out. We just watch them on roku and can't hit the like button. More please!
I friend of mine has been inside Cobra King when it was being prepared for display at the US Army museum. He said there were still shell casings from the tank's machine guns on the floor of the tank.
The Smithsonian on,y displays a very small percentage of its assets, and many items from WW2 are still boxed up. We used to go to their storage warehouse where you’d see all kinds of planes, armor being restored, and they would unbox items that has been packed up on the ground as they were. I got to see a Zero being unboxed, and it had ordnance, personal effects etc from pilot still in it.
My grandfather was on Patton's 3rd battalion, he said he saw Patton piss in the rein river. He said the men didn't thank them, and were angered at Patton, because they thought they didn't need saving.
My dad was in the Battle of the bulge. He told me they had almost no food supplies/stuff and used a .50 cal to shoot a deer and eat it. It just seems so strange to me though, because I have a picture of him in a shallow fox hole and there is a record player on the ground in front of him and another solider who I have no clue is.
Their commander knew his people well enough to be confident, they were spirited warriors and better supplied than their adversaries
Even without Patton, Bastogne would eventually have been relieved in another couple/few days as the allies countered across the rest of the front.
sounds like a anti-Patton comment
True. Once the weather broke so the planes could support the ground troops, it was pretty much all over for that advance. It didn't end very quickly, but tactically, the allies had the upper hand.
@@RaymondCore
politically correct nowadays to demean Patton
We have the benefit of hindsight. There was no way of predicting the weather, so Patton’s arrival was timely as far as everyone (but the Germans) were concerned.
The real lesson here isn’t the post battle analysis - that’s all well and good for operational and strategic thinking. However, the fact that it played out the war it did is a testament to the men who actually fought the battle and war. Their grit and tenacity, coupled with a few fortunate breaks their way was what won the battle.
Wonderful content as always, thank you.
My Grandfather was not far from Bastogne in the 99th artillery at Elsenborn Ridge helping defend the town of St Vith never losing ground forcing Pieper to change course
Actually a more important battle than Bastogne since that was the main German effort.
Well, I know my dad who was 101st/501PIR said this. As did a good buddy or his whom I knew well. You have to understand one thing, just before boarding the aircraft for the DDAY jump, Col. Jumpy Johnson yelled atop a jeep, "Who's the best?" "WE ARE!" they yelled and 100% believed it. Then and at Bastogne. He never bragged, but in civilian life, he indeed was the best.
"We were warm inside the houses, they were outside in the cold"... Biggest cause of wounds was frostbite... Yeah it doesn't sound like that guy was in the correct battle.
Typical officer. Rank has privileges.
Uncle Mack Wightman was one of those 101 Screaming Eagles and he and his men fought like hell in and around the Ardennes and Bastogne. He was behind enemy lines for 12 days, with little to no rations and ammo suffering frostbite. He was tough, but happy to be relieved by the 3rd Army. He suffered foot pain, from the frost bite, for the rest of his days until he was KIA charging a machine gun nest on Hill 1232 near the Chosin Reservoir in Korea and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. War is hell.
Why did the 101st say they didn't need rescuing?? Because they're the goddamned 101st, that's why!
Exactly!
I had a family member at Bastogne. On D-Day, he fell behind German lines in a glider. They had released too soon and came down in the trees. He was the old guy of 33 and got to ride shotgun. He and the pilot survived the landing - everybody in the back died. They grabbed their gear and went on. There were still Germans to kill.
My late father served under Patton in the 42nd cavalry squadron of the 2nd cavalry group.he was part of patton's 3rd army.i remember him telling me that he was at bastogne but exactly what part in the battle his unit played i do not now.if my memory serves me well his Co was Colonel Lee.if anyone can help me with this question I'd really appreciate it.thank you.
What the troops did in Bastogne and what the 3rd Army did were both amazing feats. The 3rd Army had to change it's axis of advance by 90 degrees almost crossing their own supply lines and did it faster than anybody could have predicted. Think about the logistics of supplying a whole tank Army and essentially having to change the whole plan overnight so the tanks and troops could relieve Bastogne. The Germans certainly didn't think it could be done that fast. We had good troops, staffs, and leaders in WW2 on every front. The question is, could we do as well now?
I read the Patton had had a number or different contingency plans drawn up and that the Bastogne attack was one of those which is why his forces were able to react so quickly.
@@sirridesalot6652 He had a damned good staff. One of his staff officers was the guy who wrote the standard reference on extinct mammals and how they were related. He could describe every bone from every fossil mammal ever found and why it looked like that. He was also the guy you went to if you wanted to know something about any race horse that ever lived. That was all from memory. It helped to have geniuses working for you.
My dad was in the 602d Tank Destroyer Battalion attached to Patton's 3d Army and made the overnight march from France to positions just southwest of Bastogne on 20-21 Dec 44. Lost a few TD enroute due to icy conditions.
Airborne units are designed to be surrounded. Bastone was not on the main line of the German attack, the short route to the crossings of the Meuse, merely providing useful counterattack lines from that flank.
Love the channels. At some point would like to hear about the tank battles between the Wehrmacht and the Soviet forces in the east as well.
Total Respect for these brave men. RIP all… thanks from 🇨🇦
You Canadians were a bunch of badasses in both world wars.
My older brother was in the 101st on the DMZ in Vietnam. The only military unit tougher that the 101st Airborne Division division would be a platoon of United States Marine infantry.
The commander of the 101st airborne division in Vietnam was a lieutenant from the easy company in World War II. I don't remember his name.
The hell they were.
@@ciger7794 isn't "lieutenant" a name? That's what my guys called me: "lieutenant" or "Sir!".
@@davidbenner2289 his name is salve matheson.
My uncle Don was one of two out in his company to survive. His training as a sniper was key.
As a young man born in the 90s I don't have the perception of any cringe piece of propaganda about Paton but the story of the brave defense of Bastogne by the 101st and the Easy company. Band of Brothers really make justice to the veterans that sacrifice so much in that frozen piece of hell.
Very well presented. Heroes every one. Always remembered
My Father was in Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. They held off the German advance for 24 hours prior to the 101st Airborne arrival. Together, they held until the rest of the 10th Armored arrived.
Hi, Tim! My grandfather (William "Bill" Wilson) was in the 21st tank battalion in Combat Command B of the 10th Armored and may have known your father. He recalled his time that winter with wincing pride. Bastogne was a particularly important battle to him. I thank your father for his contributions and his sacrifices.
@Bill H Hello Bill. My father was in artillery. He traveled with a lieutenant and was in forward positions directing artillery. Dad drove a jeep and radioed to rear positions. They once drove over a land mine that did not detonate, but a half track behind them in the column detonated it. Shrapnel sprayed the open jeep, and the lieutenant was killed. The steel seat back saved my father.
I did some preliminary work on design of a game about the siege. Once the Germans foolishly sent their two panzer divisions on (minus one panzer grenadier regiment) the Allied forces far outnumbered the Germans (especially in artillery and armored vehicles). Only a complete failure of air-dropped supply could have given the Germans a chance.