We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:50:55 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification This year I'm excerpting from the Official History - The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, by Hugh Cole. Continuing with that theme: ...in the Bastion of the Battered Bastards of the 101st. To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Our near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands. There is only one possibility to save... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:12:45 -0600 "Patton's Prayer for Good Weather" so he could come and save those groundbound airborne types.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36871 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36871 Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:15:11 -0600 Tankers to the rescue? Why? The 101st had *plenty* of fuel. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36862 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36862 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 20:37:26 -0600 It is a well known and established fact that the 101st ABN had the Germans right where they wanted them, and didn't need no stinkin' rescue from no stinkin' treadheads. That's our story and we're sticking to it. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36856 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36856 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 19:02:58 -0600 oh goodie, now we're getting to the part where the tankers come to the rescue!! Hooray! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36852 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36852 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 17:22:46 -0600 Aye! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36847 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36847 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 15:57:01 -0600 I opt for the GI Jane response during SERE. ;) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36846 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36846 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 15:12:37 -0600 There is a motion and a second for the case of stronger language. All in favor... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36831 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36831 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:44:34 -0600 Would we have won Europe without the 101st? A colleague when I was in the Army 30 years ago swore McAuliffe used stronger language :) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36829 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36829 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:37:30 -0600 Would we have won Europe without the 101st? A colleague when I was in the Army 30 years ago swore McAuliffe used stronger language :) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36828 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36828 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:37:01 -0600 It never ceases to amaze me that people expect those involved in a dustup--even from the sidelines--to be some species of transcendental observer, with a heavy dose of omniscience thrown in. "So, you landed in the middle of an NVA battalion's base camp and got your butts shot off--why did you do something that dumb?" "Because 1. nobody knew that it extended so *far* into the woods 2. in all directions and 3. it was supposed to be unoccupied because 4. a company-sized element was observed moving away from it and 5. intel figured that they had just been there to rest and refit so 6. they thought the grunts might find something interesting that they'd left behind." Yup. They found the *rest* of the battalion, and it got really interesting after dark... FUBAR didn't even begin to describe it. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36827 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36827 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:34:21 -0600 All in all, I think it was more FUBAR than SNAFU... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36822 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36822 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:10:15 -0600 Gotta love their sense of humor, though. Everything the Germans have left is coming straight at them, and they come up with this: "The highway nodal position which made Bastogne so necessary to the Germans also set up a magnetic field for the heterogeneous stragglers, broken infantry, and dismounted tankers heading west. Realizing this fact, Colonel Robert's got permission to gather all stragglers into his command. Roberts' force came to be known as Team SNAFU and served mainly as a reservoir from which regular units drew replacements or from which commanders organized task forces for special assignments. "It is impossible to reckon accurately the number and the fighting worth of those stragglers who reached Bastogne and stayed there. CCR contributed about two hundred riflemen; CCB may have had an equal number; General Cota culled two or three hundred men from Team SNAFU to return to his 28th Division; and one may guess there were another two or three hundred stragglers whose identity has been lost. Many of these men, given a hot meal and forty-eight hours' rest, could be used and were used, but they appear as anonymous figures in the combat record (thus: "100 infantry left for Team Browne")." Team SNAFU: that's a good designation for the Denizens, come to think of it... But Fusileer-Six sounds better than SNAFU-Six. The latter sounds like you have a bad cold. And yes, I know what SNAFU means. Need to pop Band of Brothers in the DVD player tonight, I think. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36820 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36820 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:38:36 -0600 You know, the other day I was thinking about the homefront back then when they first announced the NYC transit union strike. I was thinking that this represented how well insulated people were from the demands of war that they felt able and justified to go on strike, shutting down a city and blowing its economy, part of our over all revenue base from sales tax. I guess some folks don't think about their part in the bigger scheme of things. But, as the good general said: NUTS! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36814 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/12/on_this_day_in_1944_22_december.html#comment-36814 Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:02:29 -0600