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Back to our continuing Twitter reenactment of the Battle of the Bulge

If you haven’t been following along, you’ll need to at least read this thread.

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Here's the situation on Wednesday, December 27, 1944: The Allies, feeling confident they can hold the Germans, look to settle on a plan to erase the bulge.

Montgomery still has a lot of concerns about the Patton / Ridgway / Collins plan.
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Many on here have been very critical of Monty (@shelby3a is certainly no fan) but Monty's not the only one who had reservations about this simultaneous push directly north south.
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Other Allied leaders, including Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff Beetle Smith, believed Gerd von Rundstedt, Field Marshal directing the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes, had enough combat power left in the North to defeat the VII & XVIII Airborne Corps.
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Monty also had reason to believe that the Allied First Army in the North was decimated by the fighting in December and may have been unable to sustain the kind of daring counterattack Patton wanted.
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Patton disagreed, referring to Monty "a tired little fart."
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“War requires the taking of risks and [Monty] won’t take them,” Patton wrote in his diary.

This statement seems incongruent with the catastrophic risks Monty just assumed in Op Market Garden [if you haven’t, may want to go back and read our threads on that operation].
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So, a compromise middle option is developed within Eisenhower’s staff. Take a look.
[END]

To settle on a strategy, Eisenhower sets a meeting with Monty for the next day, Thursday, December 28th in the beautiful Belgian port town of Hasselt.

The two Masters of the Universe are to meet on Ike's command train.

And that's where we'll pick it up tomorrow.

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More from @18airbornecorps

29 Dec
[1 of 7]

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.
[2 of 7]

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. Image
[3 of 7]

Amidst final prep for the Allied counterattack against the German forces, Monty writes Eisenhower a note. Image
Read 7 tweets
28 Dec
[1 of 9]

Back to the Battle of the Bulge.

He's late.

Thursday, December 28, 1944, ~ 2:30 PM.

Delayed by fog and snowbanks, Eisenhower's command train pulls into a rail siding in the Belgian town of Hasselt three hours behind schedule. Image
[2 of 9]

Ike is there to meet with Monty.

Ike needs to get the bellicose Brit on board with this plan [we're calling it the "middle option" plan] we showed you yesterday. Image
[3 of 9]

Monty is good with the plan, but he believes it's too early to counterattack.

Monty makes his case: intel suggests another (final) impending German attack, so we should build up our defenses & wait rather than attack. Image
Read 9 tweets
27 Dec
[1 of 7]

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.
[2 of 7]

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.
[3 of 7]

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.
Read 8 tweets
26 Dec
[1 of 19]

76 years ago tonight, James Hendrix [and we're not talking about the one who briefly served in the 101st], a bazooka man with the 4th Armored Division, was on patrol near Assenois, Belgium.
[2 of 19]

The day after Christmas saw James' 4th Armored Division put pressure on the final German holdout ahead of the southern sector in Bastogne.
[3 of 19]

The 19-year-old had a tough life up to that point.

The oldest of 14 children in Lepanto, Arkansas, he had to leave school in the third grade to work in the fields with his sharecropper father.
Read 19 tweets
26 Dec
[1 of 9]

KILL SHOT

So let's step back from Bastogne a bit here. Let's zoom out from the tactical to the operational.
[2 of 9]

On this day 76 years ago, this fella, Lawton Collins, the VII Corps Commander, meets with Matthew Ridgway in the XVIII Airborne headquarters in Werbomont, Belgium.

Together, Collins & Ridgway devise a plan to take advantage of momentum gained by Patton's 3rd Army.
[3 of 9]

The plan: a kill shot.

The VII Corps & XVIII Corps attack from the North while Patton's 3rd Army pushes north and cuts off the Germans from the South. Essentially, they'll meet in the middle of the bulge, leaving an isolated pocket of German tank forces on each side.
Read 9 tweets
26 Dec
A KING ENTERS BASTOGNE

The Battle of the Bulge Continues

[1 of 12]
[2 of 12]

Benedict Arnold's thrust at Saratoga.

The defeat of Pickett's Charge.

The first 48 hours of the American Meuse-Argonne offensive in WWI
[3 of 12]

The Great Moments in battle can serve as characters unto themselves, role players shifting the ground beneath a tragedy.
Read 12 tweets

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