Battle of the Bulge, restored COLOR FOOTAGE by George Stevens - DESTRUCTION OF BASTOGNE 1945
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Episode 234
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The siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the densely wooded Ardennes highlands converged on Bastogne, just a few miles away from the border with neighboring Luxembourg, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack.
The German offensive began on 16 December. Although outnumbered, the regiments of the 28th Infantry Division delayed the German advance towards Bastogne, allowing American units, including the 101st Airborne Division, to reach Bastogne before the German forces surrounded the town and isolated it on 20 December. Until 23 December, the weather prevented Allied aircraft from attempting to resupply Bastogne or from performing ground attack missions against German forces. The siege was lifted on 26 December, when a spearhead of the 4th Armored Division and other elements of General George Patton's Third Army opened a corridor to Bastogne.
BACKGROUND
After the successful invasion of Normandy and the subsequent eastward push through France, the Allied front lines extended from Nijmegen in the north down to neutral Switzerland in the south. The valuable port city of Antwerp had been captured during the push, and by the time winter arrived, the Allies even had control of German territory near the city of Aachen. Adolf Hitler soon laid out a plan to attack the Allied lines in Belgium and Luxembourg; 25 divisions would launch a surprise attack through the Ardennes, with the aim of crossing the river Meuse (called Maas in German and Dutch) and recapturing Antwerp. Despite major misgivings from his senior commanders, including Gerd von Rundstedt and Walther Model, the plan was not modified and the jump-off date was eventually set as 16 December 1944. Meanwhile, the Allied commanders considered the Ardennes area to be unsuitable for a large-scale German attack, mainly because of terrain issues. In addition, intelligence reports suggested that the only German divisions stationed in the area were weary, and in the weeks leading up to the assault, no Allied commander saw reason to believe that an attack was imminent. Bastogne, a hub city that commanded several important roads in the area, was defended mainly by the 28th Infantry Division, which had seen continuous fighting from 22 July to 19 November, most recently in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, before being assigned to this relatively quiet area. The Allies believed only an infantry division was present opposite the 28th Infantry, and they believed any attack along this sector would be limited in scale. The seven roads in and out of Bastogne were critical to the movement of German armor, making Allied retention of the roads imperative.
Hasso von Manteuffel-commanding the 5th Panzer Army-gave Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz′s XLVII Panzer Corps the responsibility of capturing Bastogne, before crossing the Meuse near Namur. Lüttwitz planned to attack a 7 mi (11 km) front with three divisions: the 26th Volksgrenadier and the 2nd Panzer would lead the assault, with the Panzer-Lehr-Division behind them. Opposing this significant force were two battalions of the 110th Infantry Regiment (the third was held back as a division reserve), responsible for a 9 mi (14 km) front along the river Our which forms the border between Germany and neighboring Luxembourg. The Allied forces were gathered into small groups at major Luxembourgish villages, with outposts along the river manned only during the daytime. The forces were too thin to maintain an even battle line, they focused their attention on the four roads that crossed the Our. Due to heavy rain preceding the German attack, only one of the roads was in good enough condition to be used as a crossing point-the northernmost road, which crossed the Our at Dasburg on its way to the Luxembourgish town of Clervaux (in German: Klerf, in Luxembourgish: Klierf) and Bastogne. The 2nd Panzer Division was assigned to cross the river along this road, while the 26th Volksgrenadier Division would construct a bridge near Gemünd for its crossing. Lüttwitz realized the importance of the road network of Bastogne-he knew that the town had to be captured before his corps could venture too far westward. Therefore, he ordered the Panzer-Lehr Division to push forward to Bastogne as soon as his other troops had crossed the river Clerve in Northern Luxembourg.
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This is without a doubt some of the best candid behind the scenes film taken during the war.
IIRC, airborne troops, C-47s, and WACOs were preparing for Operation Varsity in March 1945. Remarkable footage.
My Uncle dropped there with the 13th Para, theres a good book on that operation I read, the last drop!
17th Airborne anti-tank company and their 57mm guns. No divisional patches worn, but they wore their first aid kits tied to their helmet negging and each man was issued a yellow air-ID scarf.
Dang Stephen, you know your stuff, nice!
Thank you for posting. The quality of this footage is fantastic.
Thank u. My grandad was a US Paratrooper in the Army. I miss him so much. They really were the Greatest generation.
Really liked the video! Great footage! Thanks for posting. 👍❤️🇺🇸
Tomorrow is memorial pls fly your flag for all our great vets they gave their today so we could have our tomorrow God bless them all we owe them everything
Yes Raymond
Always appreciate especially the color versions of your WWII vids....yields an extra dimension of reality as if it happened yesterday !!.....
George Stevens was awarded three Oscars and president of the SAG. He made Shane, Giant, and A place in the sun. One of the greats. His team made the only color film in the ETO
I have been a WWII jeep enthusiast since 1970. I have never seen a wartime tow bar. I thought they were added after the war by civilians. That one looked like it may have been made from the tongue of a trailer. I had a junky Ford jeep in 1970 and acquired 2 more original WWI jeeps in the late 80s. Then I found combat wheels for them all. I moved to WA state in 2005 and my dad sold them all without my knowledge before I could retrieve them. I'm still pissed almost 20 years later
As previously mentioned, much of the activity being filmed by George Steven's crew is of troops belonging to the U.S. 17th Airborne Division, who are preparing for their role in Operation Varsity. Although the Division had been rushed from England to engage in the Allied counterattack after the 'Battle of the Bulge', this was to be their first (and only) combat air assault, and the last major airborne operation of World War II.
Although to an individual soldier when in combat and bullets are snapping/popping past, ground shakened by airial bombs and mortars...(notice all of the mortar blasts during the flyover and filming along ground...just imagine what it was like during battle)...even so, beyond those on the Eastern Front and those who were blocked in to the Ardenne Forest above Foy not far from Bastogne and all the others along the Allied lines....while they endured hell....as a whole, the ETO could provide moments of peace or a view that allowed one's mind to day dream about an area back in the states perhaps...or farm land...or places where they weren't reminded of the HELL every second...it seems that beyond being crammed into a tin can that was constantly in motion....few places in the Pacific, particularly the South Pacific from Guadacanal towards the Phillipines 1942-1944...few places if any provided divisions or even smaller groups never were given a moments repreive from always being mindful they are in war....and unlike in several of these videos seeing fields of German POW's, mostly surrendered and seemingly pleased to have done so were sights the Marines and others who served in the PTO would ever experience... the landscapes and weather was rarely if rarely pleasant....and the Japanese were exponentially more radicalized, indoctrinated, and fanatical that 95%+ of the German Soldiers.... Whereas 1000s of Germans would surrender in the PTO would result in 1000s of Japanese launching usually nighttime bonzai charges forcing the Americans and allies to kill each soldier....even when they changed tactics and began utilizing more Jungle or Guerilla style tactics, using concealment and cover to their advantage....even when the US Bombing by air and sea were accurate....the Japanese were so well entrenched into the broken glass sharp like coral caves....whether the Temperatures were 120'F+ or not the other option was torrential downpours off and on throughout the day causing the air to be like inside of a sauna... standing water and high temps the perfect combo for mosquitos....malaria....the lack of fresh water...the irregular diet or often little to no diet due to being on islands the Navy could not maintain supplied until long after the young men were gone...for those who survived the waves of humanity rushing at them, the bombing and mortars during the day...still, they had no relief as in many places there were concerns or unknowns about the local indigenous tribes....some that practiced cannibalism until the 60s and a few still from reports....if an aviator forced to bail out landing inland on Papau New Guineau (Not part of the Solomons...North)... Yet, all those who made it ashore throughout the Pacific all the way to Okinowa were faced with death by so many things other than the enemy...while the winters certainly impacted the ETO and costs lives it was no where close to that of the PTO....due to the land masses and areas where battles taking place were not country sized land masses such as in the ETO...but on small islands some as small as key West or smaller...2-3 miles wide-6-8 miles long and some even smaller...literal specs....if you can ride a bicycle from one end to the other and from coast to coast then the area being bombarded by both militaries is not very large...so the landscape will not provide any seeping meadows or majestic mountains....on these islands, if maniacal Japanese were not charging at you and still charging after being shot 4-5-7-10 times and still charging did not kill these young men....then mosquitos were the most deadly of all... even if did not die from malaria, being shot, blown up, then malnutition...muscle cramps,,,having non-stop diarrhea without TP....in hot humid insect ladened place where even praying for any relief may come in the form of a sniper or a charge while doing your business....back sides raw and infected....foot-rot...open sores from skin being constantly wet...resulting in massive blisters....during each patrol when cross or enter every body of water and under every jungle canopy ...the possibility of leeches, and other disease causing creatures and bacteria in water... spiders, snakes (especially when venemous), salt water crocodiles, and in India, Burma, Thailand everything from Elephants, larger snakes, TIGERS, and if on an island just not able to leave anything out without having small land crabs, or other creatures...territorial animals like different types of birds, wild/feral hogs, etc... I guess that is why nearly twice as many perished in the PTO....both were horrible but I would have preferred the ETO to the PTO...including how Germans treated American POWs vs the Japanese.... These are amazing videos...thanks for posting...
Wow a p-61!!! That’s amazing. I’m pretty sure those were rare to see. I’m not an expert historian so I could be wrong
You are not wrong on that one. Only 674 of them were built during the war. So a drop in the bucket as opposed to most other aircraft.
@@IHUTCHI ...but I always thought the P-61 ( unlike the P-38) had their 2 engines with counter-rotating blades ? This one seemed to have both props spinning in the same rotational direction.
@@IHUTCHI and in the European theatre. I know they were used in the Pacific. I never saw a picture of one in Europe. Such an awesome video thank you
@@TheWilferch As far as I know they were all standard rotation props on all of them unless they did some experimental counter rotation ones???
@@IHUTCHI ..actually I erred. A deeper dig shows that the P38 indeed had counter rotating blades....one engine's blades rotated in the opposite direction of the other...to offset the take off torque affects of the 2 engines. I once visited an aircraft museum in Texas some years back... where a "P38-looking" craft ( but black) was shown, and the pitch of the Hamilton Standard (HS) props of one prop was reversed. I assumed here from this vid it was the P61 I was viewing....hmm....maybe it had this feature too seeing that P38 used it. Reports were that HS had some trouble making a reverse-pitch blade when most others were not.
Great film 👍🏼 Who can identify the P - 61 Black Widow tailnumber at 9.09 🤩 I get 255.. 😕🤷🏼♂️
Interesting round nosed plane not sure what that was? I saw a comment mention a p61.
Thanks Frederick, I'm still catching up with all your content.
With slightly better colour, this could almost be right now in Eastern Europe. Same look & feel despite the years. :(
_I am a little confused by the season, I rather expected winter. Do you happen to know if this perhaps was shot in northern autumn 1945? Cheers._
Winter footage was shot in the winter of 44-45. The other footage was in spring 45, of preparation for the airborne assault across the Rhine.
Who is the 2 star general shown?
That Jeep nearly ran over those pedestrians 😮
saw that !! ......
I look at the little kids and cry, one day they would of walked down those streets with nothing wrong, the next it would be rubble, just how the fk did they comprehend that?, absolutely disgusting.
Not exactly gripping whatsoever....
Sorry man, I wasn't there to direct
@@M1945 ✔
I know Jager ; I hope our man Frederick hasn't caved to peer pressure .
Uninteresting....
Sorry, I can't please everyone all the time