Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #battleofthebulge

Most recents (15)

🧵 Let’s talk about renaming @FortBenning after LTG Hal Moore and his wife Julia.

Let’s discuss history, heritage, service, and sacrifice.
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Before you reply with the “I trained”, “It’ll always be”, “if you ever served”, “erasing our history”, or other weak and misguided arguments, let’s talk about why I have opinions:
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A little history about my family, before we talk history about Benning vs Moore.

Yes, I too, trained at Fort Benning, commissioned through OCS at Fort Benning, earned my blue cord at Fort Benning, and commanded an infantry company on Sand Hill. #FollowMe
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Kimbro Truman was a 22-year-old newly married Texan when he was drafted in 1941 for WWII.

A combat engineer assigned to the
@2INFDIV, he landed at Omaha Beach with the D Day invasion.

He was a squad leader 77 years ago during the #BattleOfTheBulge

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Tuesday, December 19, 1944 - Things are looking grim.

Kimrbo's unit is in the crossroads town of Rocherath, Belgium. The Americans are outnumbered & outgunned by the new German Tiger II tanks.
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Kimbro's unit was tasked with mining a N-S road to allow an element from the US 106th Division to retreat south. [📷: pillbox just outside the southern tip of the road]
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The Allies are preparing to turn the tables on the Germans.

It's Day 13 of the Battle of the Bulge.

We opened this account one year ago and since then we've spent a lot of time talking about Bernard Law Montgomery.

Not our favorite.
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Monty seems to always overplay every hand, to press every advantage, to try to capitalize on every situation.

The man can't help himself.

On December 29, 1944, he does it again.
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Amidst final prep for the Allied counterattack against the German forces, Monty writes Eisenhower a note.
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This #SundayMorning morning, we remember General Patton's prayer for good weather to rescue the American Soldiers and Belgian citizens encircled by German forces in Bastogne during the #BattleOfTheBulge.
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On December 22, 1944, foul skies, dark clouds, and limited visibility negated Patton's advantages in air power and movement and maneuver over the Panzer force enemies.
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With his Third Army approaching the Ardennes, Patton ordered that all ~ 250,000 Soldiers under his command be issued a small card with this prayer.
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Back to the #BattleOfTheBulge

Christmas Eve in the Ardennes was bleak and cold.

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In the northern shoulder, the VII Corps absorbed a major German push.
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In the north, our boys received the first airdrop of supplies in three days (bad weather cancelled every airdrop since December 21)
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Back to the #BattleOfTheBulge.

Maxwell Taylor is just now returning to the fight from DC as his 101st is fully encircled.

Lawton Collins' VII Corps & Matthew Ridgway's XVIII ABN Corps are barely hanging on in the North.

Now another fabled General enters the drama.
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For the most part, the Allies are holding the line and keeping the Germans from advancing too far.

However, the German main push [see the center of this map] now starts to widen and moves north [6th Panzer Army] and south [5th Panzer Army] of Bastogne.
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Patton's Third Army is called in to try to cut the Panzer Divisions off from the South.
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Katherine Flynn Nolan, an Army nurse w/ the 53rd Field Hospital during the #BattleoftheBulge, was an angel in that frozen hell. Kate's platoon established a hospital in a Belgian school. Throughout the fighting, she treated US and German troops.
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In the Ardennes, Kate and her platoon suffered through the same conditions as all Soldiers.

In a 2014 interview with @AmericanLegion, she still recalled the brutal cold: “We were in tents with nothing but a pot-belly stove.”
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Kate's platoon treated the seriously wounded. "Keeping them warm & keeping them alive was our job." The platoon moved around from one infantry unit to another. "We had four hours to get the tents up and be ready for patients. Sometimes they came in b/f we were ready."
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Bastogne, Belgium. 1944. Walk with us this morning.

We're on the lines with the 101st Airborne. Encircled and outgunned, holding Bastogne. Numb hands and feet, freezing in the dirty snow.

The Germans expect surrender.

They expect wrong.

#battleofthebulge
We're at Pvt. 1st Class Leo Palma's foxhole when the Germans arrive. He describes them as warm, bundled up in overcoats. Leather boots shined and oiled. A world apart from him.

They're waving white flags. They want to talk.
They pull out blindfolds and let themselves be blindfolded. They let themselves be led through the lines - roundabout, so they can't case the defenses - to deliver a note they'd brought.
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This is sickening. Waiting for #trump supporters who claim to support #USMilitary to explain how they can continue to support a man who hates our #troops. @JoeBiden’s son #Beau served in #Iraq. @DrBiden has supported #militaryfamilies for years. #USMC #USN #USAF #BidenHarris2020
#Trump referred to former President #GeorgeHWBush as a “loser” for being shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in #WorldWarII. #Bush flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific. He enlisted at 18. Trump enlisted never. history.com/news/george-hw… #SupportOurTroops #VoteBidenHarris
When #JohnMcCain died in 2018, #Trump became furious when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser.” McCain was taken prisoner after flying his 23rd bombing mission over N.Vietnam. #Trump has flown a mission never.
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1 of 6: So many incredible stories from the #BattleOfTheBulge. Here's another.

Norbert Gubbels, a replacement soldier with 1st Battalion, 12th In. Regiment, 4th In. Division was resting in Luxembourg when the Ardennes Counteroffensive kicked off on Dec 16.
2 of 6: Gubbels' Battalion was rushed into the fighting that day. During the struggle, Norbert came upon this enormous mansion where he found ~ 20 GIs taking refuge. (60 years after WW2, Norbert learned that the estate was the home of Rene Deltgen, Luxembourg's most famous actor)
3 of 6: The frozen bodies of dead German Soldiers lined the snow outside the mansion. On Dec 19, Norbert noticed a mortally wounded German stormtrooper writhing in agony. Norbert convinced his fellow GIs they had a moral duty to risk their lives to bring the injured German inside
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Today is December 20th. 75 years ago, Dad and 2nd Platoon, Company D of the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion were still up in the Hürtgen Forest more than 80 miles from the Nazi breakthrough in the Ardennes and Luxembourg. They were attached to the 5th Armored Division and
in supporting them they fired 178 rounds of HE and 2 rounds of WP in the direction of their attack on Bogheim. Dad recalls that they began to get word of a big Nazi offensive 3 or 4 days before Christmas but there were always rumors circulating.
The C Company combat diary gives no hint of what is coming and only a post-war editor’s noted in the 87th Battalion diary reads: “[Ed. note: At this time, battalion was receiving orders that would culminate in Ardennes campaign (Battle of the Bulge).]”
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Today is December 18th. 75 years ago, Dad was having another active day up on the northern Hürtgen Forest front sitting opposite the Roer River, with the company firing 131 HE and 3 white phosphorus (WP) rounds. More about the WP later.
Dad wasn’t aware yet, but word was filtering to the Battalion command of a large Nazi counterattack further south through the Ardennes. The Company C daily diary for December 19th, 1944 says “This sector was quieter today than at any time since we came here. Everything seems to
be concentrated on the Luxembourg offensive, details of which are still lacking.” It would be 2 more days before the battalion received orders to reposition and join the fight in the Ardennes.
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There you stood, America.

Low on food.
Low on ammunition and medical supplies.

Outnumbered.
Five Nazis for each American.

In the dead of winter, they thought you'd surrender.
They thought they'd break through.

They thought wrong. 🇺🇸

#Bulge75 | #USA

How many soldiers did it take to stare down 500 Nazis?

How many soldiers did it take to delay for 20 hours an entire Division of Nazis?

18. It took 18 American soldiers.

We see you there at Lanzerath Ridge.

We see you, America. 🇺🇸

#BattleoftheBulge | #WWII
There you were, deep in the frigid Ardennes.

There, encircled and defiant at Bastogne.
There, holding firm at Elsenborn Ridge.
There, pouring it all out.

There you were, America.
Sons. Fathers. Brothers.

#BattleoftheBulge | #GreatestGeneration
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@ChinneryRoy @RT_sputnik @georgegalloway @francisbeckett @GayatriGalloway @RT_com @UKLabour I don't believe you've read much history of WW2... if you had you wouldn't have come out with such an uninformed statement!
1st & foremost, George is correct - Britain fought for 2 years on our own & that is what saved the world... & what America conveniently forgets! ...cont
@ChinneryRoy @RT_sputnik @georgegalloway @francisbeckett @GayatriGalloway @RT_com @UKLabour 2. There were more '#British' troops landed on D-Day than #American troops.
The #OmahaBeach disaster was the #Americans fault - They screwed up there as they did in #NorthAfrica, #Sicily & #Italy & in the #Pacific at #PearlHarbour on #Tarawa & #Pelelieu & elsewhere. ...cont
@ChinneryRoy @RT_sputnik @georgegalloway @francisbeckett @GayatriGalloway @RT_com @UKLabour 3. #USNavy CnC Earnest King caused a disaster in the #Atlantic in late 12.'41-05'42 when over 600 merchant ships were sunk in sight of US coast, because he didn't want to take #British Advice.
Of all the #American commanders only #Eisenhower & Marshall were Not Anglophobes! ..ct
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@dancohen3000 @For2000years The Soviet Union's armed forces were responsible for 88% of Nazi Wehrmacht's military deaths - That's nearly 9:10... & gives more reality to weight of combat in the East
We are awash in #USMilitary propaganda about #OmahaBeach & #BattleoftheBulge but the Soviets are forgotten!
@dancohen3000 @For2000years 2. The same applies to fighting #Japan - The Final Battlefield was #Manchuria where the Soviets destroyed a Japanese army of 1M in a matter of days & were threatening to invade Hokkaido when Japan surrendered - This is also forgotten!
#America achieved far less than they claim!
@dancohen3000 @For2000years 3. Russia did more to win #WW2 than has been told by the west & even the #Japanese are now asking questions.
In reality the Japanese Emperor & Military were more afraid of the Soviets invading than they were of #Nuks.
japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/0…
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