World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends on January 25, 1945
World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends: On this day January 25, 1945, January 25, 1945, the German lines had been pushed back to their initial jumping off point. Hitler's last gamble in the West had ended in failure. The Germans lost approximately 100,000 men, who could not be replaced, while Allied casualties were placed at about 80,000, killed, wounded, and captured. The Third Reich was now in its death throes, and it was only a matter of months before it totally collapsed from the Allied onslaught.
Called “the greatest American battle of the war” by Winston Churchill, the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Adolf Hitler’s last major offensive in World War II against the Western Front. Hitler’s aim was to split the Allies in their drive toward Germany. The German troops’ failure to divide Britain, France and America with the Ardennes offensive paved the way to victory for the allies.
Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the assault, also called the Battle of the Ardennes, took place during frigid weather conditions, with some 30 German divisions attacking battle-fatigued American troops across 85 miles of the densely wooded Ardennes Forest.
As the Germans drove into the Ardennes, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name. The battle proved to be the costliest ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 casualties. The formerly serene, wooded region of Ardennes was hacked into chaos by fighting as the Americans dug in against the German advance at Saint-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and, later, Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division.
“Did you ever see land when a tornado’s come through? Did you ever see trees and stuff, twisted and broken off? The whole friggin’ forest was like that”, said U.S. Army Charlie Sanderson in My Father’s War: Memories from Our Honored WWII Soldiers.
The surprise German attack broke through the front on day one as stories quickly spread of massacred soldiers and civilians, according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History.
“For those who had lived through 1940, the picture was all too familiar. Belgian townspeople put away their Allied flags and brought out their swastikas”, the center writes. “Police in Paris enforced an all-night curfew. British veterans waited nervously to see how the Americans would react to a full-scale German offensive, and British generals quietly acted to safeguard the Meuse River's crossings. Even American civilians, who had thought final victory was near were sobered by the Nazi onslaught.”
Troops Faced Severe Cold
Hitler’s mid-December timing of the attack - one of the bloodiest of the war—was strategic, as freezing rain, thick fog, deep snow drifts and record-breaking low temperatures brutalized the American troops. More than 15,000 “cold injuries” - trench foot, pneumonia, frostbite - were reported that winter.
“I was from Buffalo, I thought I knew cold”, baseball Hall of Famer and WWII veteran Warren Spahn said in “The Love of Baseball”. “But I didn’t really know cold until the Battle of the Bulge.”
Nazis Sent in Imposters and Changed Road Signs
Another Nazi strategy was to attempt to infiltrate the Allied troops.
Veteran Vernon Brantley, a private first class in the 289th Regiment, told the Fort Jackson Leader in 2009 that his unit had just arrived in Germany from France when they were told to load up and return to Luxembourg.
“We got word that the Germans had dropped a lot of paratroopers behind our lines, and that they were dressed like American Soldiers and spoke English”, he said. ”... They were there to create confusion.”
The Germans also changed road signs and spread misinformation.
“The Nazis were carefully groomed for their dangerous mission”, LIFE magazine reported in 1945. “They spoke excellent English and their slang had been tuned up by close association with American prisoners of war in German camps. ... Under the rules of the Hague Convention these Germans were classifiable as spies and subject to an immediate court martial by a military tribunal. After brief deliberation American officers found them guilty, and ordered the usual penalty for spies: death by firing squad.”
To stop infiltrators, the U.S. troops would ask suspected Germans to answer American trivia questions.
“Three times I was ordered to prove my identity”, General Omar Bradley recalled, according to the Washington Post. “The first time by identifying Springfield as the capital of Illinois; the second by locating the guard between the center and the tackle on a line of scrimmage; the third time by naming the then-current spouse of a blonde named Betty Grable.”
Allied Air Forces Arrived on Christmas Day
It wasn’t until Christmas Day that the weather conditions finally cleared, allowing Allied air forces to strike.
“It was on that bright, clear and cold Christmas morning in 1944 that the ground froze solid”, Brantley told the Leader. “The tanks and air forces could finally maneuver, and get assistance to all of us who were previously blocked off. … It was a welcome sign to see the sun come up. It meant that we were alive for one more day.”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander, and Lt. General George S. Patton Jr. led the American defense to restore the front. According to the National Archives’ Bloodiest Battle, Eisenhower gave Patton the Third Army, about 230,000 soldiers, and ordered him to head to the Ardennes.
101st Airborne Division Dropped Into Bastogne
In the small, pivotal Belgian town of Bastogne, the Germans surrounded thousands of Allied troops. Eisenhower, in response, sent in more units, including the famed 101st Airborne Division.
“When the Germans sent a message demanding the surrender of the 101st on December 22, they got a one-word response from its commander, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe: ‘Nuts!’” the Bloodiest Battle states. “This was interpreted by German officers as a more colorful—and negative—response to their demand. The day after Christmas, units of Patton’s rapidly approaching Third Army finally arrived, broke through the German lines, and rescued the troops.”
Claiming victory of the battle on January 25, 1945, and the Allies headed for Berlin. The war ended less than five months later with Germany’s May 7 surrender.
In all, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, 1 million-plus Allied troops, including some 500,000 Americans, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, with approximately 19,000 soldiers killed in action, 47,500 wounded and 23,000-plus missing. About 100,000 Germans were killed, wounded or captured.
“The Ardennes campaign of 1944-45 was only one in a series of difficult engagements in the battle for Europe”, wrote John S.D. Eisenhower, in his 1969 book, “The Bitter Woods”. “Nevertheless, it can be said that the Ardennes campaign epitomized them all. For it was here that American and German combat soldiers met in the decisive struggle that broke the back of the Nazi war machine.”
History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica /
ARMY.mil / National WW2 Museum New Orleans.org / Holocaust Encyclopedia | United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.org / Imperial War Museum Military museum in London.org / National Geographic /
World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends on January 25, 1945 (YouTube) 
This Day in History January 25
• 1533 Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
• 1765 Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands near the southern tip of South Americas, is founded.
• 1787 Shays's Rebellion: The rebellion's largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.
• 1858 Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional.
• 1890 Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
• 1915 Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
Wikipedia.org
Understanding Military Terminology
Port complex
(DOD) The strength in personnel of a given force structure in terms of which casualty rates are stated.
Joint Publications (JP 4-01.5) Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Transportation Terminal Operations
Port of Debarkation
The strength in personnel of a given force structure in terms of which casualty rates are stated.
Also called POD.
See also Port of Embarkation.
Joint Publications (JP 4-0) Joint Logistics
Port of Embarkation
The geographic point in a routing scheme from which cargo or personnel depart.
Also called POE.
See also Port of Debarkation.
Joint Publications (JP 4-01.2) Sealift Support to Joint Operations
Port Operations Group
A task-organized unit, located at the seaport of embarkation and/or debarkation that assists and provides support in the loading and/or unloading and staging of personnel, supplies, and equipment from shipping.
Also called POG.
See also Planding force support party; task organization.
Joint Publications (JP 3-35) Deployment and Redeployment Operations
Port Security
The safeguarding of vessels, harbors, ports, waterfront facilities, and cargo from internal threats such as destruction, loss, or injury from sabotage or other subversive acts; accidents; thefts; or other causes of similar nature.
See also Physical Security; Security.
Joint Publications (JP 3-10) Joint Security Operations in Theater
Port Support Activity
A tailorable support organization composed of mobilization station assets that ensures the equipment of the deploying units is ready to load.
Also called PSA.
See also Support.
Joint Publications (JP 3-35) Deployment and Redeployment Operations
Joint Publication - Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms
The Old Salt’s Corner
“Tales of Legendary Ghost Ships”
Legend of the Haunted Submarine of World War I, UB-65
During the hellacious and bloody battles of World War I, a terrifying new enemy was unleashed beneath the waves of the sea; the submarine. Never before had these new weapons of war seen such deadly and widespread usage. The Germans in particular put submarines to spectacularly lethal effect. Silent, stealthy, appearing from nowhere from under the dark waves to ravage their victims, the German U-boots or U-boats, a shortened version of Unterseeboot or literally “undersea boat”, were feared by seafaring vessels, in particular the merchant and supply ships which would go on to lose millions of tons of cargo by the time the war ended. Yet although these undersea specters of death terrorized the enemy, it would prove that there were mysterious forces at work aboard one U-boat that would go on to terrorize the crew just as much as anyone else, and propel it into the long maritime pantheon of undersea mysteries and cursed vessels.
The submarine UB-65 was a Type UB III U-boat built by the German Imperial Navy in 1916, and before it was even completed and launched to seek havoc upon the enemy, it had already acquired a dark, ominous reputation for death. The construction of the sub was plagued by numerous freak accidents and horrific deaths. In one instance while the hull was being laid, a huge steel girder that was being lifted by chains and swung into position crashed to the ground when its sturdy chains inexplicably snapped. Two workers were unfortunate enough to be below the massive girder when it fell and were subsequently horrifically cThin Lizzyed beneath it. One of the workers was killed instantly but the other was not so lucky, writhing in agony as colleagues tried desperately to free him before he finally succumbed to his grievous injuries two hours later. It would later be established that the chains seemed to be in perfect working condition and no explanation could be found for how they might have suddenly broken as they had. In another incident, three engineers were in the newly built engine room doing a routine test of the dry cell batteries when they were overcome by sudden noxious diesel fumes. The deadly fumes quickly incapacitated the men and they had all asphyxiated by the time their bodies were dragged up into the light of day. Again there was no explanation for what had caused the fatal leak.
These ominous portents of doom and spooky freak accidents would not stop with the completion of the submarine’s tumultuous construction. During a test run with the aim of establishing the sub’s seaworthiness, the UB-65 encountered a fierce storm that brewed out of nowhere and violently swept one crewman overboard with an enormous wave. The crewman’s body was never found and it was assumed that he had died. Not long after this, as the sub was doing a test dive, the ballast tank was damaged and the dry cell batteries flooded with seawater, which again filled the engine room with poisonous gas killing two additional crew members. When the captain ordered the sub to the surface, it refused to do so as the deadly fumes continued to spread throughout the ship. The crew were luckily able to repair the malfunctioning sub and get to the surface before any more crew were lost to the toxic gases.
On another test run meant to test the sub’s diving ability, a fracture occurred in one of the ballast tanks yet again. Inundated with a sudden deluge of seawater, UB-65 sank in short order, finally resting upon the bottom with its crew in a mad panic and doubtlessly wondering how long they’d last before they all suffocated. The crew, now stranded at the bottom of the sea in a steel coffin, desperately worked to repair the sub and bring it to the surface as their limited oxygen supply dwindled. After 12 perilous hours under the sea, UB-65 was finally fixed and was able to surface before everyone aboard perished. It was considered almost a miracle at the time that no one else had died in the incident.
These accidents and incidents quickly imbued UB-65 with the malevolent reputation as a cursed vessel. In 1917, despite all of the problems and spooky rumors being whispered amongst sailors, UB-65 was scheduled to embark upon its official maiden voyage. If there was truly some sinister force infesting the sub, then it showed no signs of waning. As the torpedoes were being placed prior to this first real mission, one of them inexplicably exploded, which damaged the ship, seriously wounded several crew members, and killed the sub’s second officer, a Lieutenant Richter. Despite the tragedy, the Germans were desperate for more ships and hastily repaired and launched UB-65 again.
Not long after this, UB-65, already known for being a cursed vessel, would earn itself the title of a haunted one as well.
One of the earliest ghostly sightings aboard the sub was made as UB-65 was scouring the English Channel for enemies to decimate, by a lookout stationed up in the ship’s conning tower. The lookout was allegedly up in the tower when he noticed someone standing down on the deck directly below him, which was unusual since all of the hatches had been battened down and there should have been no one there. When the mysterious figure looked up, the lookout could clearly see that it was Lieutenant Richter, the second officer who had been killed in the freak torpedo accident. The ghostly Richter reportedly shouted some sort of warning and disappeared when the lookout began screaming in terror. Shortly after this, a panicked crewman ran to tell others that he had seen the dead Richter casually strolling about on deck. The captain thought the crewman was just seeing things, but nevertheless went to investigate the deck, where he found another crewman cowering in fright near the conning tower. This terrified crewman confirmed the story and explained that the dead second officer had sort of hovered off of the ground up the gangplank, along the bow, and had stopped to look out over the sea before simply vanishing into thin air.
From these initial sightings, the dead Lieutenant Richter began to make regular appearances aboard UB-65. He was seen by one engineer in the engine room, where he seemed to be examining the instrument panels before fading away into nothing. On another occasion, the spectral second officer was seen standing atop the conning tower in the middle of a violent storm, seemingly oblivious to the howling winds and enormous swells churning around him. In other instances, the ghost was seen roaming around the darkened, claustrophobic passages below decks and even phasing through walls. Richter would apparently gain some company when a crewman was killed in an air raid while on shore leave and his ghost began to be sighted aboard the sub as well.
For a long time, the wreckage of UB-65 could not be located and the mystery of its explosion and sinking over the years became a perplexing maritime mystery. The wreck was finally found and identified by underwater archaeologists in 2004. Examination of the UB-65 wreck showed no signs of being heavily damaged by a weapon attack, which conflicted to official German Naval records which list it as having been destroyed by its own torpedoes. The aft hatches of the wreck were also found to be open, an apparent indicator that some of the crew had made attempts to escape. The sinking of the sub was eventually attributed to “accidental causes” although the exact cause is still not known for sure and it is still not clear what the explosion was that the American sub reported. It is thought that perhaps the explosion could have been caused by a depth charge which detonated near the doomed vessel and caused enough internal damage to sink it without leaving any obvious major hull damage. However, in the end, even with the discovery of its wreckage the exact fate of UB-65 remains as mysterious as the ominous phenomena that hung over it throughout its career.
World War I brought its fair share of hell to both sides, and in the case of UB-65, perhaps a bit of hell was brought to it as well, infesting it, pervading it, and locking it into the annals of great unexplained mysteries of the sea.
Mysterious Universe.org
