Hello, i live 30 miles from Bastogne, i know a lot about this battle and i can tell you that germans never went inside Bastogne. There were never street fighting in Bastogne, all the fighting took place outside the city. I see you went in the small 101 museum, that's great, it's way better than the big one. Nice video, cheers from Belgium :-)
My father was in Liege, Belgium when the battle started. He was with the 72nd Ordnance Group. His brother Mike was front line infantry near St Vith. After the Germans overran his unit’s position on the 16th of December, my Uncle Mike and other survivors were redeployed into St Vith. In the ensuing fight he was awarded two Bronze Stars. I only learned about it years later after reading a magazine account of the war experiences of Westmoreland County Pa men. When asked what he did in the war, my Uncle Mike would simply say…” I brought home a Luger.”
Excellent video. I, too, would like to see a similar video on the northern shoulder of the Bulge. My dad, was in the 99th Infantry Division. They were moved into the northern part of the Ardennes in November of 1944. G-2 (Intelligence) had told the 99th that there was one horse drawn artillery piece across the Siegfried line from them. On the 16th of December, the 99th Division and surrounding US forces, endured the longest German artillery barrage, on the Western Front, during WWII. One GI was heard to say, “They’re sure working working that horse to death!” Dad’s regiment, the 394th, held out for two days in the crossroads town of Losheimergraben. During the night of the third day, they began a “strategic withdrawal” back to the west and the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt. It was there, Dad told me, that the soldiers of the 99th Division found out that the Russian invention of the Molotov Cocktail, (gasoline in a bottle with a rag lighted on fire), worked well on German armor, when deployed from above. The 99th eventually was moved to the Elsenborn Ridge. On the high ground there, American artillery destroyed the German advance. The road net west of the towns of Spa and Liege, gave the Germans the shortest route to Antwerp. The actions of the 99th Division, along with other US forces, prevented the Germans from using the roads in that area. While the 101st Airborne, gets the majority of press, and rightly so, the 82nd Airborne was extremely important to holding the northern shoulder. Because of the size and weight of many of the German armored vehicles, only certain roads and bridges could be used in their advance. The actions of many US Engineer units, prevented the Germans from using those roads and bridges. The line most often heard from German commanders was, “The damned engineers!” What the Germans didn’t have was time and gasoline. An excellent museum in the northern shoulder of the Bulge, is at La Gleize, Belgium. Here, Kampfgruppe Peiper, ran out of time and gas. There is a King Tiger tank on display outside the December 44 Museum in La Gleize. The tank wasn’t destroyed by American action but was abandoned after the Germans ran out of fuel. The Battle of the Bulge was won by the Americans because of small unit actions and courage and resourcefulness of the American soldiers.
And Montgomery took over command of US 1st Army on December 20th and immediately made important and sound decisions, such as to pull back from St Vith to superior defensive positions, rather than get surrounded like at Bastogne.
@ With as much animosity American troops had toward General Montgomery, he did make some critical decisions early in the attack. You are correct in your statement. Monty should have kept his mouth shut after the Bulge had stabilized. He had made the statement that he had won the Battle of the Bulge. It took Winston Churchill, in a speech in the House of Commons, to give full credit to the American troops. My dad’s division, the 99th, was one of the US divisions that was under Courtney Hodges and Omar Bradley before the Bulge, under command of Bernard Montgomery during the Bulge and in their movement to Bavaria late in the war, they were in the 3rd Army under George Patton. Dad always said they could have been under command of Napoleon but the average GI in the line didn’t know or care who the general was. 1st Sargents had more direct involvement than the commanding general for the line soldiers.
I knew several veterans of that terrible battle. All gone now Gone are there suffering. They admitted they were there. Would speak of it but never talked about it only amongst themselves. Wonderful gentleman would do anything to help you Never talked only how bitter cold it was. We’re blessed to have been friends with them. Ruff guys but gentle to all of us kids.
Great work, i visited the Bastogne area, Foy, Malmedy (massacre place) an a big American cemetery in Neupré in the summer and must say when you are standing on this grounds all i can think off is to thank the brave man who liberated us from the Germans, i also went to the Hurtgen forest, Vossenack, Kall-trail, Hill400 etc. area aswell, also there is the same feeling, we can't thank them enough for this. maybe an idea to make a video about the Hurtgen forest aswell? I would be happy to guide you to this places. Greetings
Nobody ever covers the TRUTH about the northern shoulder. The TRUTH destroys the British myth about Monty saving the day. It was USA 2nd armored division who STOPPED and destroyed 2nd ss panzer at Celles, then went on to destroy 2nd panzer at Humaine that stopped the german drive. It was USA 3rd armored, along with 82nd airborne who stopped sepp Detreichs armor drive north. Between USA 2nd & 3rd armored, and MANY other USA units, they STOPPED and destroyed the German attack. A few brit units came in BEHIND 2nd armored at Celles then pushed south to mop up. But as Churchill publically said in parliament when he admonished Monty for trying to take credit, this was one of the largest American battle an victories of WW2. The 2nd & 3rd armored division history books cover the Bulge in depth. But they are very hard books to find. I have them as my Grandfather was with 2nd armored from start to finish. 1942 to 1945. He said the worst part if the war was the bulge. Because we used so much artillery & air that the bodies & body parts were everywhere. And without looking very closely, which they DIDNT, you couldnt really tell WHO they were. Ours, theirs, civilians. He said it was really bad. And finding body parts in the tank tracks which had to be cleaned daily so the tracks wouldnt freeze, was just horrendous.
Well photographed, well edited, well scripted and well narrated, with a fitting score to boot. Great job for an overview video, just right for the 80th anniversary!
Well done , excellent photography and editing Two correctable small correctable errors in script, Bastogne, no street battle but there was plenty urban fight in Cleraux ,St Vith and many other smaller towns, Clervaux was HQs for 110th RGT of 28th Div, Div HQs was a few miles back in Wiltz
Good presentation. However, too heavily focused on Patton and the 101st around Bastogne. Bastogne was not in the most important sector of the Battle of the Bulge. It was on the southern periphery. The majority of German, and American, forces were to the north and west. The battle was really won and lost elsewhere. The US 1st Army, which did the majority of the fighting, was commanded by Montgomery from December 20th. Patton had a smaller and less significant role than Montgomery. Cheers.
Yes it went next to nowhere for six months and wasted hundreds of thousands of men in pointless secondary campaigns like the Hurtgen Forest, Lorraine and Alsace. The allied armies shook have stuck together and been concentrated in the north, as Montgomery proposed in August 1944. He proposed that 40 divisions in 4 armies (1 British, 1 Canadian and 2 American) all drive together across northern Germany instead of being dispersed everywhere down through southern Germany. First objective, the Ruhr to kill German industrial production. There was little of strategic importance in southern Germany.
But of U.S. national parks are your thing, what prompted you to do this? Was it the 80ty Anniversary? An intention to get a lot of hits, likes, and increased profits from Your Tube?
I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe lately, and it’s still American history. I’ll get back to National Parks in the near future. I’ll be branching out and covering. More history and museums alongside the parks.
For depicting such a historically important event, you make a significant mistake by showing Panzer IIs (being 1939-40 tanks) instead of: Tiger II, Tiger I, Panther, Panzer Mark IV, Hetzer, Jagdpanther, Stug III and IV, Nashorn, Sturmtiger, SkDfz 162 IV/70, and Jagdtiger.... all being later War vehicles. Facts like these make a difference.
You missed the bit where the US was warned by the English with their Enigma ,that the German's were about to attack but for whatever reason they ignored it.😢 Many Americans would die because of the failings of the higher-ups.
Hello, i live 30 miles from Bastogne, i know a lot about this battle and i can tell you that germans never went inside Bastogne. There were never street fighting in Bastogne, all the fighting took place outside the city.
I see you went in the small 101 museum, that's great, it's way better than the big one.
Nice video, cheers from Belgium :-)
I appreciate the information: hopefully people will visit themselves and learn much more than I was able to provide
@megatheriumclub true words. There is so much to cover during the battle of the bulge.
Thank you for being polite in your correction of a major error in this otherwise reasonably good video.
@bbakkum you know, when you love history every truth is important.
C O R R E C T... Germany launched several independent attacts from outside the perimeter, but NEVER coordinated.
My father was in Liege, Belgium when the battle started. He was with the 72nd Ordnance Group. His brother Mike was front line infantry near St Vith. After the Germans overran his unit’s position on the 16th of December, my Uncle Mike and other survivors were redeployed into St Vith. In the ensuing fight he was awarded two Bronze Stars. I only learned about it years later after reading a magazine account of the war experiences of Westmoreland County Pa men. When asked what he did in the war, my Uncle Mike would simply say…” I brought home a Luger.”
My father was a WW2 combat veteran. He too avoided talking about the war
Excellent video.
I, too, would like to see a similar video on the northern shoulder of the Bulge.
My dad, was in the 99th Infantry Division. They were moved into the northern part of the Ardennes in November of 1944. G-2 (Intelligence) had told the 99th that there was one horse drawn artillery piece across the Siegfried line from them.
On the 16th of December, the 99th Division and surrounding US forces, endured the longest German artillery barrage, on the Western Front, during WWII. One GI was heard to say, “They’re sure working working that horse to death!”
Dad’s regiment, the 394th, held out for two days in the crossroads town of Losheimergraben. During the night of the third day, they began a “strategic withdrawal” back to the west and the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt. It was there, Dad told me, that the soldiers of the 99th Division found out that the Russian invention of the Molotov Cocktail, (gasoline in a bottle with a rag lighted on fire), worked well on German armor, when deployed from above.
The 99th eventually was moved to the Elsenborn Ridge. On the high ground there, American artillery destroyed the German advance.
The road net west of the towns of Spa and Liege, gave the Germans the shortest route to Antwerp. The actions of the 99th Division, along with other US forces, prevented the Germans from using the roads in that area.
While the 101st Airborne, gets the majority of press, and rightly so, the 82nd Airborne was extremely important to holding the northern shoulder.
Because of the size and weight of many of the German armored vehicles, only certain roads and bridges could be used in their advance. The actions of many US Engineer units, prevented the Germans from using those roads and bridges. The line most often heard from German commanders was, “The damned engineers!”
What the Germans didn’t have was time and gasoline. An excellent museum in the northern shoulder of the Bulge, is at La Gleize, Belgium. Here, Kampfgruppe Peiper, ran out of time and gas.
There is a King Tiger tank on display outside the December 44 Museum in La Gleize. The tank wasn’t destroyed by American action but was abandoned after the Germans ran out of fuel.
The Battle of the Bulge was won by the Americans because of small unit actions and courage and resourcefulness of the American soldiers.
And Montgomery took over command of US 1st Army on December 20th and immediately made important and sound decisions, such as to pull back from St Vith to superior defensive positions, rather than get surrounded like at Bastogne.
@ With as much animosity American troops had toward General Montgomery, he did make some critical decisions early in the attack. You are correct in your statement.
Monty should have kept his mouth shut after the Bulge had stabilized. He had made the statement that he had won the Battle of the Bulge. It took Winston Churchill, in a speech in the House of Commons, to give full credit to the American troops.
My dad’s division, the 99th, was one of the US divisions that was under Courtney Hodges and Omar Bradley before the Bulge, under command of Bernard Montgomery during the Bulge and in their movement to Bavaria late in the war, they were in the 3rd Army under George Patton.
Dad always said they could have been under command of Napoleon but the average GI in the line didn’t know or care who the general was. 1st Sargents had more direct involvement than the commanding general for the line soldiers.
Those tanks, and their markings, while traveling on the Summer, all seem quite unconvincing.
Best available footage I could find. It’s an overview, not a reenactment.
I knew several veterans of that terrible battle. All gone now Gone are there suffering. They admitted they were there. Would speak of it but never talked about it only amongst themselves. Wonderful gentleman would do anything to help you Never talked only how bitter cold it was. We’re blessed to have been friends with them. Ruff guys but gentle to all of us kids.
Thanks for sharing
I had a math teacher who was a Tank commander in the Battle of the Bulge. You should have seen his scars.
Thanks for sharing
Amazing video!
Thanks!
Very well done indeed.
I appreciate you saying so. Thanks for watching
Nice work! Like to see you cover the 'Northern Shoulder' next.
I’m not sure I know enough about it to do justice
Salute boys! Thank you to my friends Don (101st) and Ted (82nd) . I'll never let your memories die.🙏
Thanks for sharing
Great work, i visited the Bastogne area, Foy, Malmedy (massacre place) an a big American cemetery in Neupré in the summer and must say when you are standing on this grounds all i can think off is to thank the brave man who liberated us from the Germans, i also went to the Hurtgen forest, Vossenack, Kall-trail, Hill400 etc. area aswell, also there is the same feeling, we can't thank them enough for this. maybe an idea to make a video about the Hurtgen forest aswell? I would be happy to guide you to this places. Greetings
Thank you
Nobody ever covers the TRUTH about the northern shoulder.
The TRUTH destroys the British myth about Monty saving the day.
It was USA 2nd armored division who STOPPED and destroyed 2nd ss panzer at Celles, then went on to destroy 2nd panzer at Humaine that stopped the german drive.
It was USA 3rd armored, along with 82nd airborne who stopped sepp Detreichs armor drive north.
Between USA 2nd & 3rd armored, and MANY other USA units, they STOPPED and destroyed the German attack.
A few brit units came in BEHIND 2nd armored at Celles then pushed south to mop up.
But as Churchill publically said in parliament when he admonished Monty for trying to take credit, this was one of the largest American battle an victories of WW2.
The 2nd & 3rd armored division history books cover the Bulge in depth. But they are very hard books to find. I have them as my Grandfather was with 2nd armored from start to finish. 1942 to 1945.
He said the worst part if the war was the bulge. Because we used so much artillery & air that the bodies & body parts were everywhere. And without looking very closely, which they DIDNT, you couldnt really tell WHO they were. Ours, theirs, civilians. He said it was really bad. And finding body parts in the tank tracks which had to be cleaned daily so the tracks wouldnt freeze, was just horrendous.
Good job.
Thanks
Semper Iratus Fidelis
Thank you!
Well photographed, well edited, well scripted and well narrated, with a fitting score to boot. Great job for an overview video, just right for the 80th anniversary!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Well done , excellent photography and editing
Two correctable small correctable errors in script, Bastogne, no street battle but there was plenty urban fight in Cleraux ,St Vith and many other smaller towns, Clervaux was HQs for 110th RGT of 28th Div, Div HQs was a few miles back in Wiltz
Great video 🙏🏼I visitid almost all the places shown over the the last years .
Awesome! Thank you!
Very well done .
Many thanks!
Very informative
Thanks for watching
Il faudrait évoquer tout les zones des combats autres ,stavelot, st vite,Rochefort, surtout à ce 80 em.
Thank you for bringing them up!
The key factor other than the lack of fuel for the Germans was the weather clearing up and the allies getting back their air superiority .
I mentioned that later in the video. Thanks!
Good presentation. However, too heavily focused on Patton and the 101st around Bastogne. Bastogne was not in the most important sector of the Battle of the Bulge. It was on the southern periphery. The majority of German, and American, forces were to the north and west. The battle was really won and lost elsewhere. The US 1st Army, which did the majority of the fighting, was commanded by Montgomery from December 20th. Patton had a smaller and less significant role than Montgomery.
Cheers.
Thanks for watching! And for the added context
The broad front strategy was a mistake.
Yes it went next to nowhere for six months and wasted hundreds of thousands of men in pointless secondary campaigns like the Hurtgen Forest, Lorraine and Alsace.
The allied armies shook have stuck together and been concentrated in the north, as Montgomery proposed in August 1944. He proposed that 40 divisions in 4 armies (1 British, 1 Canadian and 2 American) all drive together across northern Germany instead of being dispersed everywhere down through southern Germany. First objective, the Ruhr to kill German industrial production. There was little of strategic importance in southern Germany.
But of U.S. national parks are your thing, what prompted you to do this? Was it the 80ty Anniversary? An intention to get a lot of hits, likes, and increased profits from Your Tube?
I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe lately, and it’s still American history. I’ll get back to National Parks in the near future. I’ll be branching out and covering. More history and museums alongside the parks.
Tony McAuliffe forever!
Thanks for watching
Overall Good minus the Patreon style clips.
Which clips are you referring to?
For depicting such a historically important event, you make a significant mistake by showing Panzer IIs (being 1939-40 tanks) instead of: Tiger II, Tiger I, Panther, Panzer Mark IV, Hetzer, Jagdpanther, Stug III and IV, Nashorn, Sturmtiger, SkDfz 162 IV/70, and Jagdtiger.... all being later War vehicles. Facts like these make a difference.
I agree. I used the footage that was available. Not perfect, but it gets the larger point across.
You missed the bit where the US was warned by the English with their Enigma ,that the German's were about to attack but for whatever reason they ignored it.😢 Many Americans would die because of the failings of the higher-ups.
Thanks for the added information. I’m sure I missed a ton. Hopefully this video inspires people to learn more.
Wake me when the intro is over........
The video is time stamped. Feel free to skip ahead