Bastogne – The Cold of War

“Haven’t you heard? They’ve got us surrounded—the poor bastards”

– Unnamed Medic to CPL Carson, Bastogne, 19441

Ace pilots, daring offensives, and grand shows of force, all a far cry from freezing foxholes, treacherous trench-foot, and indiscriminate injuries. The reality of war versus what is portrayed has been a topic on the minds of many for as long as war has existed. Whether it be from political propaganda, the glorification of victory, or even just plain being uninformed, it always seems like the true face of war is obscured to the general public. The siege of Bastogne is one of those true faces of war, little talked about in the grand scheme of the war takes place in, yet incredibly important, even more so to the men and women who for their lives and the lives of the innocents around them in an isolated Belgian town while surrounded by an army of evil. This separation between the face of war, especially the second world war, and the true face of the war is evident in how America views war as a whole. The glorification of war is ever present in America with this mentality of always being the good guys, the heroic soldiers that stopped the Nazis? Those where Americans of course, or at least cinema would make it seem so. Showing and talking about the ugly side of war, does not just involve showing corpses or talking about war crimes, like so many seem to think, it involves telling of the cold nights, the rusted steel, the further rationing of rations, all the stuff that isn’t glamorous, that isn’t as dramatic as that which is shown on the silver screen.

Barely two decades after the war to end all war, the continent of Europe would be thrust into a conflict augmented by technological innovation and severe prejudice, both old and new. The second world war would spread from Alaska to Africa, from Iceland to Argentina, with the Allied versus Axis powers turning the globe into a warzone. The war lasted 6 years, starting in 1939 with Adolf Hitler invading Poland, and ending in the September of 1945 with the surrender of Japan, the last Axis power, months after the surrender of Germany in the preceding May. Allied victory started with the invasion of Normandy, a major offensive that allowed the allied troops to get a foothold in mainland Europe. As American troops worked their way towards Germany, to end the war once and for all, they found themselves in the Ardennes Forest, a stretch of land that crosses Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the location of the topic of this paper, Belgium. The forested land would be home to multiple military campaigns during the war, as early in the war Germany used it to mask troops and mechanized forces preparing to invade France. Germany would use it again to attempt to cut off the American forces around the Belgian town of Bastogne from their allies in a plot to retake the port in Antwerp and destroy the Allied supply line into central Europe. This would initiate what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. The severe cold and dangerous weather left the allied men freezing and fatigued, with no way to get air support through the thick fog. This resulted in the American forces being pushed back to Bastogne. Bastogne, because of it being a connection point for the surrounding road network, was important to the Germans, with its capture being required to push further west. The Germans that would surround the town would belong to the XLVII Panzer Corps, lead by Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz , who had been tasked by Hasso von Manteuffel, commander of the 5th panzer army, with taking the town which was occupied initially by the American 28th Infantry Division2, but after severe losses the 101st Airborne division, along with an assortment of Artillery, Armored, and combat engineer battalions would be given to assist in the defense.

The American troop stationed in the city would form defensive positions, with the bulk of defense being concentrated in the north and east, so German forces tried to circle around to the east and south where defenses were weakest. They almost succeeded in destroying the artillery to the southeast of the town but were eventually pushed back. German forces would then cut off the roadways leading into the town, surrounding the Americans, and trapping them. The cold and harsh weather made the situation worse for the Americans as the weather prevented the air dropping of supplies, so they had to weather the cold with lackluster supplies and gear. Not only were the men lacking in provisions, but also leadership, Major General Maxwell Taylor who was the commander of the 101st, had been called away to a meeting in the United States. This wouldn’t deter the Americans however, as they would push back multiple assaults using a military advantage known as interior lines. Interior lines are the advantage given to defenders of an area because their routes to move supplies, arms, and soldiers is shorter than the routes on the exterior of the defended space, as they have to move around it. For days, the situation stayed in a limbo, both sides sent out scouts, with little to no success with the occasional machine gun fire or mortar shelling shattered trees around them. The Americans were feeling their lack of munitions, artillery could not fire as in some places they were down to three rounds3 and needed to save if an armored push ever came. On the 22 of December von Lüttwitz would send an ultimatum to the acting commander in Bastogne, General Anthony McAuliffe. Von Lüttwitz let the American commander know that he had the town surrounded and that the only way to save his men was to honorably surrender, also citing how any civilian casualties would not play well to “the well-known American humanity”4 . The ultimatum stated that if the surrender did not occur within two hours, the German forces would begin firing on the town. McAuliffe would send a one-word response, “NUTS!”, which would be interpreted to the German messenger as “Go to Hell!”5.

Luckily eventually the sky cleared, and the Americans were able to airdrop supplies to the defenders of Bastogne. The supplies were crucially needed, and still not enough, not every man had a blanket, and not enough 30-caliber rounds were dropped, and the rations dropped would only hold them men for a couple of days. The battle proper would start the night of Christmas eve with a bombing by the Luftwaffe, which would hit an aid station in town. The Panzer corps would then assault in the west, sending 18 tanks and a battalion of infantry, which actually managed to break past the lines. The tanks would split into two groups, one of which would be destroyed by the 1st Battalion 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment and four tank destroyers from the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, the other would take heavy losses with one tank getting as far as the command post in Hemroulle, a village on the outskirts of Bastogne. The defense of Bastogne provided a huge blow to the advancement of Germany’s Armored troops and sent a wave of morale through the rest of the American troops on the western front. Even though they had pushed back the Germans, it was only a matter of time before the Americans lost a war of attrition, luckily reinforcements arrived. General George Patton and his Third Army fought to get to Bastogne and help the besieged men there, first reaching the defense lines set up by the 326th Engineers with the tank Cobra King6. This allowed wounded soldiers and civilians to be evacuated from the town and allowed Major General Taylor to return and resume command. With the complete encirclement broken, ground communication sand supplies were able to be received. Even though the men of the 101st expected some well-earned rest, they were ordered to stay and assist with the offensive. It was a hard-fought push over the course of the next couple of weeks but bit by bit the Germans were pushed back, with the Americans recapturing the towns of Racogne, and Bourcy, as well as the Bois des Corbeaux (Crow’s Wood). After fighting some of Germany’s elite troops consisting of Hitler’s personal bodyguard unit, Waffen-SS lead Hitlerjugend, and the Armored Fuhrer Escort Brigade, the 506th eventually retook Noville and Rachamps, pushing back the Germans and finally relieving the 101st.

The 101st Airborne suffered heavy casualties, 341 soldiers were killed, another 516 missing, and 1691 were wounded. This earned them the title of “The Battered Bastards of Bastogne”7. The 101st would be awarded with the Presidential Unit Citation, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre (War Cross), as well as being cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for their actions defending Bastogne8. Other Armored Divisions and Tank Battalions were also rewarded with the Presidential Unit Citation, though would not get the praise the 101st received. This would lead to General McAuliffe lamenting about how the Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division was never properly credited in accordance with their importance of the battle in Bastogne9.

While much of the general public’s perception of the second World War focuses on events like Pearl Harbor, D-Day, VE-Day, or even the Allied capture of Hitler’s Eagle Nest, the war was filled with less dramatic events that were equally important. The defense of Bastogne to this day is celebrated by the town with reenactments and museum exhibits every year with the annual “NUTS!” weekend10. The event draws travelers and locals every year where they can visit the museum, take one of the hikes through the reenactments, and walk through the wonderful Christmas market, where you might find the Patton impersonator. The Siege of Bastogne, while it may seem insignificant when compared to some other battles, there was not some grand offensive, there was not any heroes making daring moves, or even a brilliant commander, it was soldiers in the freezing cold holding on because they knew they had to. This type of event is much more representative of the true face of war, a face that needs to be turned to the public, a face we cannot look away from. These less attractive parts of war, the parts that do not fit into the idea of the exceptional American hero-soldier, those are the parts we need to teach more, as they are the parts that make war ugly. But it’s also not just about making war ugly, its about making it dull, by taking all the polish off of it, by showing the cold fox holes, the random death, the desperate times we don’t just make good guys and bad guys out of people, we make a villain out of war itself.

1 Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (New York : Touchstone, 1992), http://archive.org/details/bandofbrothers00ambr.

2 Department of Defense. Defense Audiovisual Agency et al., Photograph of Infantrymen in Bastogne, Belgium, Series: Photographs of American Military Activities, 1860 – 1985, 1944.

3 Ambrose, Band of Brothers.

4 Anthony McAuliffe, “McAuliffe Christmas Letter to the 101st Airborne,” accessed April 16, 2022, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McAuliffeBastogneChristmasLetter101Airborne.jpg.

5 S. L. A. Marshall, “Bastogne: The First Eight Days,” September 2, 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20190902012543/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Bastogne/bast-14.htm.

6 “Vilseck Tank Confirmed as ‘Cobra King,’” Stars and Stripes, accessed April 16, 2022, https://www.stripes.com/news/vilseck-tank-confirmed-as-cobra-king-1.86612.

7 George Koskimaki, The Battered Bastards of Bastogne: The 101st Airborne and the Battle of the Bulge, December 19,1944-January 17,1945, Reissue edition (New York: Presidio Press, 2007).

8 “Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 101st Airborne Division | Lineage and Honors | U.S. Army Center of Military History,” accessed April 16, 2022, https://history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/div/101abdb.htm.

9 Jon T. Clemens, “10th AD Tigers Missed Credit For Valiant Fight at Bastogne,” ARMOR Magazine, August 1992, https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eARMOR/content/issues/1992/JUL_AUG/ArmorJulyAugust1992web.pdf.

10 “NUTS WEEKEND 2021,” Bastogne War Museum, accessed April 16, 2022, https://www.bastognewarmuseum.be/en/events/8568/.