Battle of the Bulge – December 16, 1944

[oriskany 60789xp 6]

[avernos 34968xp 2]

good point I should dust off some tiny fighting men and get stuck into a game for die wacht am Rhein

[templar007 52385xp 2]

Again history snuckup on me.  Didn’t remember this date until reading it here.

 

And here I thought that I was being a good Amateur Historian with my observation of December 14th as the honoring of the 47 Ronin in Japan.

[lee337 505xp 2]

I’ll post pictures of the game we are playing this week.

[midnightblue 1301xp 5]

This always makes me think of my Grandpa.  A great man to the end (nearly 23 years ago) and a Sherman driver under Patton’s command in the Battle of the Bulge.  He didn’t talk much about the war except when we asked some questions for school projects, but he idolized Patton (and was on guard duty at the base when Patton was killed).  I’m afraid most of my information on his military career is word of mouth as there was a huge fire that destroyed my grandpa’s records, and a ton of other folks’.  https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/fire-1973

He’s deeply missed.  (Grandpa is the man on the left wearing his helmet.)

[oriskany 60789xp 2]

Awesome contributions, guys.  I’m always happy when the community responds to historical content.  😀

Here are some materials from our long-ago Battle of the Bulge 70th Anniversary article series, originally run in December 2014.  Apologies in advance, this was a long time ago when my miniature and terrain collection was certainly not what it is now.

Oh, and slight errata on the image below, turns out that is not Joachim Peiper at upper right, although 938,883 books and references have erroneously claimed that it is through the years.  That’s definitely a Waffen SS man from KG Peiper (probably 1st SS LAH), but not closer scrutiny reveals it’s not Peiper himself.

[zorg 20091xp 1]

our weather was very similar with snow, sleet, wind, and fing cold this weekend.

[oriskany 60789xp 1]

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).

[oriskany 60789xp 1]

A few more materials from the second part of that first article, featuring some of the fighting around St. Vith that took place on the second day of the battle (December 17, 1944).

[zorg 20091xp 0]

Thanks had that on the pc for ages seen on a post about somthing an though im having that will stick a video about the stug III it can find it on the computer. Nice refresher on the bulge @oriskany

[zorg 20091xp 1]

two interesting videos the first go’s into the gubings of the tank and varies upgrades/improvements

the second is varies war films of tanks an planes attacking targets.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=stug+iii&&view=detail&mid=A4CC290A3DDB344CE3E4A4CC290A3DDB344CE3E4&&FORM=VDRVRV

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=stug+iii&&view=detail&mid=E82A85DC9DBE5583B300E82A85DC9DBE5583B300&&FORM=VRDGAR

[trewets 4782xp 3]

Some friends and I( seven or so) are starting an escalation league  in Jan and one of us is going 101st airborne and I am going either 901st grenadier of panzergruppe Kampf which were in and around Bastogne. so should/could have some historical connotations.

[bobcockayne 20737xp 1]

My Grandfather was like that about WW1 , bits I know are odd bits he told me when I was knee high to a grasshopper, and had no dates other the he lost his eye in the German big push in 18.

 

[oriskany 60789xp 1]

Two great videos on the StuG III, @zorg!

Good to hear from you @bobcockayne .  😀

Interesting ideas on the campaign, @trewets – indeed KG 901. was part of Panzer Lehr and deeply involved along the southern shoulder of Bastogne at battles like Marvie (December 21, 1944), we actually featured one of these specific engagements during our 2014 article series (901st KG, PzRgt 130., 243rd Sturmgeschütz Brigade, etc).

Some of the details are below:

 

[trewets 4782xp 1]

Your write up in 2014 gave me the idea for the KG 901 @oriskany …..thanks for posting it again to give background for my comment. Will try and blog/project the progress of my efforts as KG901. Campaign starts 2019 at 500 points and increases 250 points every month. As the weather around Bastogne was pretty poor will go with winter panzer grenadier troops and Stug support as the campaign goes on,I might even see about getting Stug riders if that is accurate for the time.

 

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