Reply To: Battle of the Bulge – December 16, 1944

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Good idea, @avernos – “’tis the season” as they say, for Battle of the Bulge / Wacht am Rhein wargaming.  Lord knows there are plenty of Panzer Leader battles I would  be doing, but the web gaming thing is pretty much closed down for the Christmas holiday.  All my players are busy with family, and I’m still b***z deep in Darkstar rules.  Almost a pity, really.

@templar007 – I am familiar (passing knowledge)with the 47 Ronin but not the significance of the 14 December date.

@lee337 – Great looking Shermans.  Is this part of 4th Armored Division’s drive up from t he south through Houffalize to relieve Bastogne?

@midnightblue – Awesome post, sir.  Do you have much more information on your grandfather?  “Sherman crewman under Patton during the Battle of the Bulge” – one can’t help but immediate imagine, or even “hope” he was with a certain unit:

4th Armored Division, specifically 37th Tank Battalion of “Combat Command Reserve”

This is would up being the spearhead of Patton’s counterattack from the south, the first unit to finally break through to units of the 101st Airborne along the southern shoulder of the Bastogne Pocket.

We heavily feature this battle in a game of Panzer Leader in that article series.

The commander of that battalion was one Lt. Colonel Creighton Abrams – the same Abrams that the M1 Abrams main battle tank today is named after.

More on that particular engagement later …

@zorg – great pic!  One can never go wrong with a Tiger I.  Looks like an Eastern Front photo, given those farm houses in the background.  Also, no Tiger Is in Battle of the Bulge.  All the Tigers were Tiger IIs.  I only know because I was desperate to feature a Tiger I in our article series, and scoured any records I could find in hopes of finding a historical unit that had them.  I ran across 9th Panzer Division which entered the later phases of the battle, but the sPzAbtg that had the Tiger Is scheduled to join them never made it out of the rail yard (bombing).  Meanwhile, t he Tiger I was already featured in the series so I had to publish some errata for the historical faithful (I honestly don’t think anyone minded).