Letters to the Editor for Friday, December 11, 2009

Battle of the Bulge a key WWII fight
This is a personal recollection of the Battle of the Bulge that raged in western France from Dec. 16, 1944, until Jan. 25, 1945.

The Germany army smashed the American lines in the Ardennes Forest in the last great offensive of World War II. The German target was Antewerp, the port city in Belgium.

On Dec. 16, 1944, the Germans hit the American 1st Army head on. The 106th Infantry was green and had no battle experience. They were overrun and practically wiped out. The 99th took heavy casualties. The first goal of the Germans was to capture a fuel dump that was stored nearby. The enemy hit the 2nd Division from the side and did not get to the fuel. I have heard that the American soldiers could not understand why the captured or killed Germans had pieces of rubber hose draped over them. It was later discovered that the purpose was to siphon fuel from any captured or disabled vehicles they could find. The weather had turned cold, the mud was frozen and it began to snow. The Air Force could not get their planes off the ground due to the snow and fog.

The German army kept rolling over, running through, or bypassing everything in their way toward Bastogne. It was there that they were getting low on fuel. The 10th Armored Division was putting up a desperate defense. Parts of the 101st Airborne were tucked in to help hold Bastogne, but they were badly out numbered. It was here that a few Germans came in under a white flag demanding surrender. Gen. McAuliffe replied, “Nuts!”

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower called a meeting of his commanders to get a better picture of the counter-offensive and how to defeat it. All of the commanders begged off any kind of action except one, Gen. George S. Patton. When asked when he could leave, he answered, “Give me 10 minutes.” They had to weld cleats on the treads of the tank’s tracks to keep them on the icy roads in the hills. Three days later, they arrived at Bastogne.

When the skies cleared, American planes got off the ground and bombed the enemy positions including the crossroads and intersections. Fleets of cargo planes dropped foods and ammo for the ground trips. It was there that the enemy actually ran out of fuel. In 1984, there were tanks still sitting there as a reminder.

The Bulge was closed through the efforts of the Army’s infantrymen, tankers, engineers, clerks, cooks and the paratroopers, including the Air Force.

Can you imagine 1 million men in a space of 40 miles? If you ask anyone who was in the Battle of the Bulge what comes to mind first, the answer likely will be, being cold and hungry. The snow was 3 feet deep. We lost more people in the last of January and the first of February due to the cold than we did in combat.

We have a group, Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge (V.B.O.B.), that meets here in Lynchburg two times a year at the Golden Corral. We always gather the Monday nearest to Dec. 16 and the Monday nearest to Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. for dinner.

All veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and their families are invited. One year we had 52 people present, but each year since, our numbers have gotten smaller. Come to this meeting and you will hear history that you will never see in print. Each person is responsible for the cost of his or her own meal. Come and bring a friend or two. For more information, call the Rev. E. Clarence Perdue at 534-6139.
E. CLARENCE PERDUE
Forest