Alamo In The Ardennes

Today's marks the 79th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, the German surprise attack on American forces in Belgium and Luxembourg.  It was Hitler's last offensive, a desperate plan to split the Allied front and shatter the British/American alliance with the Soviets.  The battle, including the American counteroffensive lasted until January 28, 1945.  Though Hitler's gamble failed, it was the costliest American battle of the Second World War, with 81,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured.

For those interested, I'm recommending a book I read earlier this year on an overlooked aspect of the battle.  In most accounts, what gets our attention is the heroic defense of Bastogne by the 101st Airborne Division, rushed into combat (and the subject of several episodes of Band of Brothers) and General Patton's incredible feat of completely and quickly reorienting his Third Army and relieving the siege of Bastogne (featured in the movie Patton).

What is often ignored is the desperate stand of the 28th Infantry Division in the opening days of the German offensive and its impact on disrupting the Nazi attack plan.  It's the subject of John McManus' book, Alamo in the Ardennes.

Twenty years ago, while historian McManus was interviewing veterans of the 101st, some mentioned that the unsung heroes of the Bulge were the soldiers of the 28th, prompting McManus to do the research and tell their previously untold story.

The German plan for their winter offensive was to capture the key road hub of Bastogne by mid-day on December 17 and then pivot northwest and cross the Meuse River.  The entire offensive was a desperate gamble with very little chance of success, but failing to seize Bastogne would doom even that small chance.

The 28th Division had just been through a brutal struggle in the Hurtgen Forest, suffering almost 6,000 casualties in November, and was sent to a quiet section of the front in north Luxembourg to recuperate.  Instead they found themselves taking the main blow of the surprise German offensive.  What followed were a series of small scale engagements; company and squad size, in which the American infantry, usually outnumbered 5 or 10 to 1 and facing German Panzer divisions, were able to slow down the planned advance while sacrificing themselves in the process.  The hardest-hit regiment of the 28th lost all but 400 of its 3,250 soldiers.  Not to be forgotten was the assistance from Combat Commands of the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions which were rushed to the scene with directions to slow down the Germans and suffered terribly in accomplishing that task.

The result was that German forces only began their approach to Bastogne late on December 19, which gave time for the 101st to reach the town and hold it.  By the next day, when the Germans reached the area in force, it was too late to launch a direct assault on the town.  Though they began the siege, the German strategic gamble had failed.

McManus does a great job in the book balancing the big picture with the details on these small-scale engagements.  He tells the stories of individual soldiers, at times providing almost a shell by shell narrative.  A compelling book providing well-deserved recognition for these brave Americans.

The 28th saw 196 days of combat between July 22, 1944 and mid-March 1945.  Its total organizational strength was about 14,000 men.  During combat deployment the division incurred 15,904 battle casualties and 8,936 non-battle casualties.  The odds were heavily against a soldier present on July 22, 1944 not being killed, wounded, captured, missing, or otherwise incapacitated by March 1945.