Operation Wacht am Rhein - The Battle of the Bulge.
The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16th 1944. Hitler had convinced himself that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was not strong and that a major attack and defeat would break up the alliance. Therefore, he ordered a massive attack against what were primarily American forces. The attack is strictly known as the Ardennes Offensive but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the Allied front line, it has become more commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. Hitler’s plan was to launch a massive attack using three armies on the Allies which would, in his mind, destabilise their accord and also take the huge port of Antwerp through which a great deal of supplies was reaching the Allies. American troops suffered 81,000 casualties, including 19,000 deaths, in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The German army suffered 70,000 casualties with 20,000 dead.
SS Kreigsberichter (War Reporters) at the Born crossroads. Kampfgruppe Peiper had emeged from the direction of Born and turned east towards west towards Malmedy. The key to identifying this location is the roadsigns. To the east, St Vith 8km, to the west, Malmedy, 13km.
Dead GI's in the Belgian hamlet of Honsfeld. Although the water trough is still there construction of the wall has changed the alignment somewhat.
German troops subsituting their boots for those of dead GI's in Honsfeld. Note the roadsigns in this photograph have been censored by the Germans.
SS troops on the attack near Poteau! This photograph is actually a staged assault as evidenced by the German casually walking down the ditch in left of frame. There had been an earlier fight against a US Cavalry squadron to which the abandoned and destroyed vehicles and equipment seen in the photo belong.
A knocked out Tiger tank in Rue Haut Rivage, Stavelot.
Miscellaneous Battle of the Bulge photographs.
The incident which became known as "the Malmedy Massacre" happened at the Baugnez Crossroads in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium on December 17, 1944, the second day of fighting in the famous Battle of the Bulge. During the battle battle a number of American soldiers were taken prisoner by Waffen-SS soldiers who were fighting in the battle group named Kampfgrüppe Peiper, which was spearheading the German attack. These soldiers were subsequently shot by the SS. There is much controversy surrounding actual events but 72 bodies were recovered several weeks later and a further 12 when the snow melted.
There is now a monument at Baugnez crossroads or “five ways” as the Americans called it due to the five intersecting roads. The empty field opposite the monument is where the massacre took place.
Photographs from left to right: US tank at the Baugnez Crossroads, the field where the massacre took place (the house is post war), The crossroads, Stars and Stripes over memorial, The memorial itself.
Hotel du Moulin in Ligneuville, HQ for Gen. Timberlake and Kampfgruppe Peiper on the sme day, A Sherman tank in the yard of the Poteau museum (this tank is here as that is where it was left in 1944), last three - the La Gleize King Tiger.
Photographs from left to right, top row: Sherman tank in La Roche en Ardenne, Willy's jeep in McAuliffe Place, Bastogne, Bust of Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe in McAuliffe Place, Bastogne, The last Liberty Way marker - 1446km, Sherman tank Bastogne, Damage to the Sherman tank, Mardasson Memorial near Bastogne, View from top of Mardasson memorial, 101st Airborne memorial on Foy/Bizory road, Club Calypso, in WWII known as Café Scholzen, headquarters of the 9th Fallshcirmjager Regiment who took Lanzerath. US POW's recall Peiper entering this building and speaking with the para commander heatedly about delays in the advance.
All the above photographs are of the Easy Company positions overlooking Foy in the Jacques Woods near Bastogne. The first is of the Foy/Bizory Road and the rest of the woods and the foxholes. The last three are of the Houffalize Mark V Panther tank. This tank was pulled from the nearby river in the 1970’ with all crew still on board. Their names are on the side of the tank. The tank belonged to the 116th Panzer Division.
