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Post by quincannon on May 11, 2021 20:01:47 GMT
Despite anything you may have read Ian, that ground in the video was the most critical in the entire Bulge fight. Had that not been held as long as it was, the Germans would have moved across the Elsenborn Ridge, and probable split the American and British armies. It was just behind that ground, immediately west of it, that MacDonald fought his part of the Bulge battle in, and if you recall his description of the area, it is identical to what you see in the link.
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Post by yanmacca on May 12, 2021 11:01:04 GMT
Yeah, I do remember how MacDonald discribed that ground and his CP and mortar positions along with his platoons. Great book! Here is another clip you may like.
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Post by yanmacca on May 12, 2021 11:17:39 GMT
I forgot to add yesterday, when the discussion was about cups used as entrenching tools, in 1870, the US Army introduced the trowel bayonet, this was later named "U.S. Bayonet Model 1873 Trowel", I would guess that this would be issued to Infantry and not Cavalry.
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Post by mhoyt on May 12, 2021 14:32:21 GMT
okay, just as long as we don't repeat Liddel Hart's lies about how the British won the Battle of the Bulge.... cough. At the age of 13 I was telling my librarian to burn that book. It did not help that I had read A Time for Trumpets prior to his book though. I am much more flexible and appreciative of his works now days, and of other's viewpoints; except for maybe the worst breakout/retreat/charge in the history of Plains Warfare that we won't talk about (cough cough)
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Post by yanmacca on May 12, 2021 14:39:34 GMT
We did help though Mark, that northern shoulder needed sorting out, I don't have any data on me at the minute, but I seem recall Monty pulling back and consolidating the line and one US commander saying that this move saved his unit.
But it was a US affair and they stuck at it in what was at first a close run thing.
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Post by quincannon on May 12, 2021 16:38:07 GMT
The concern about Montgomery taking over command of American forces in the northern part of the Bulge is in my view strictly in the mind of Bradley, and how it effected his reputation. Under the circumstances it was the correct thing to do, and if Bradley did not like it he can go to hell. Even many of the other American general officers that initially did not care for that move, later upon reflection thought it made sense. Bradley never forgave Eisenhower for doing what he did, which goes to show what a petty little man Bradley really was.
One book I really like about the part of the Ardennes Campaign depicted in the film clip is "The Key To The Bulge" by Stephen M. Rusiecki. The book centers on Bulkholtz Station and Losheimergraben, and tells the tale from both sides.
Mark: Damn you. You are making me feel ancient (which I am by the way). You read "Time For Trumpets" when you were 13. I read it every morning on the bus in route to the Pentagon, when I was an LTC. You are nothing but a whippersnapper, sonny boy. You should respect your elders by not reminding them of how goddamned elder they really are.
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Post by yanmacca on May 13, 2021 10:06:10 GMT
While we are on the subject of Bradley, I wanted to show you a thread from another board, this is Axis history forum, and I have been on this board for longer than I have been on these boards. I know most of the people who are writing on this thread and many of them really know their stuff plus many of them are your fellow Americans too, so no Bias here.
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Post by quincannon on May 13, 2021 16:55:39 GMT
I had already read that link Ian, and Anderson puts out the straight stuff on Bradley. He was everything Anderson said and more. The shameful treatment of Terry Allen, and Teddy Roosevelt was the thing that first inspired me to look into who Bradley really was, way back when. Once you peel the onion that was Bradley's public persona then you find a self absorbed Missouri school teacher, who never grew into to being a leader of high moral courage, and having the abilities normally associated with a person of such high position and rank.
We Americans are funny in that we don't mind being critical of our own, if our own deserve criticism. Every time the American Army failed in Europe, every disaster that befell it, Bradley was the man directly to blame, from Falaise to Hurtgen, to the Bulge.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2021 15:46:56 GMT
strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/20210530.aspxJumping to an entirely different theater and time, I just read this today and find the comparison of War Plan Orange to OPLAN Orange interesting, with just enough similarities to make me suspicious. I think we do not pay enough attention to Strategy today, have falsely embraced the Operational Level of War, have assumed the Strategic Offensive-Tactical Offensive instead of Strategic Defensive-Tactical Offense, and it is impossible today for the nation to craft a coherent national strategy. I become more convinced the Army needs to reconsider its role and concentrate on long range missile strike and a resumption of Coastal Defense through Air and Missile Defense through a Central Pacific Belt while the Navy perhaps concentrates more on Submarines. The Space Force, in my view, results in less concentration of effort and was misguided. Your value may vary.
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