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December 16, 1944.

By The Armorer on December 16, 2007 | | Comments (14)

Courtesy the US National Archives

Courtesy the US National Archives

Courtesy the US National Archives

Courtesy the US National Archives

All pics courtesy the US National Archives. The first two come from captured german film of the opening phases of the Battle of the Bulge. The last two are US Signal Corps photos of US soldiers on patrol and a destroyed Sherman tank.

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14 Comments

By Maggie on December 16, 2007 12:59 PM
where have you been? I was starting to wonder if the Navy girl was going to have to put something up! Just teasing, I know it's tough out there.
 
By Maggie on December 16, 2007 1:09 PM
BTW, if you are new to the Castle.....go back int he archives and read the entries from last December too. December 16, 2006
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 16, 2007 1:31 PM
Yes, they are more complete... reflective of the days of cable-access, vice satellite access.
 
By John S. on December 16, 2007 3:56 PM
And for an infamous event in history, on December 16, 1966 the U.S. Navy mistakenly granted an officer's commission to John F'ing Kerry. Why has he only released the "corrected" copy of his DD214 after revision by the BCNR, and not the original? What was the original nature of his discharge. One of his inquiring classmates wants to know.
 
By Justthisguy on December 16, 2007 6:57 PM
This reminds me of a story. Back in '97, I had recently seen the movie "The Unforgiven", in which a coupla characters debated about whether it hurt more to get shot in cold weather or warm weather. I had at that time just finished reading Colonel Hackworth's autobiography, in which he mentioned that he had gotten shot in both cold and hot circumstances. I sent him an email asking which hurt more, cold or warm. He replied! (fewer spammers, who need their fingers crushed, then) As near as I can recall what he told me, it didn't make not too much difference, considering all of the mental, social and physical hurts that were all happening at once. Yeah, that was just his opinion, but he answered my email. That made me feel good for a while
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 16, 2007 7:34 PM
Well, I've not been shot, but I've been cut (and self-inflicted bayonet wounds, too). I bleed more in hot weather...
 
By Justthisguy on December 16, 2007 7:59 PM
Yup, viscosity, or sumthin. Nah, really, vasoconstriction. I hate this compulsive honesty, sometimes. It may not always be in my best interest, when dealing with the other human monkeys.
 
By JimC on December 16, 2007 8:54 PM
Hey Armorer, are called that because your armor prevented you being shot with effect?
 
By Chuck Simmins on December 16, 2007 9:41 PM
Here's my dad's unit history for the date: http://northshorejournal.org/index.php/2004/12/december-1944 And here's a pic of the unit's commander during that time. It's very possible that some who read this knew the man, or of the man, as he went on to greater things. http://northshorejournal.org/index.php/2006/12/a-little-piece-of-military-history
 
By Ledger on December 16, 2007 10:37 PM
I wonder how our modern press would have portrayed those staggering losses during the Battle of the Budge. I wonder what our MSM would have said about the POWs and their treatment (on both sides). I glad the WWII fighters did not have our modern MSM.
 
By MR T's Haircut on December 17, 2007 2:02 AM
I visited with my wife and son, the Cemetery in Hamm, Luxembourg. 45 minutes south of Bastogne. Easy to get to and very BEAUTIFUL and PEACEFUL place. Many many of the fallen from Watch on Rhine/Battle of Bulge are resting here. (of course the most senior buried here is Gen Patton.) There is a memorial depicting the units and actions of Battle of Bulge. As I drove back to Germany, I was struck by the thought and fact of how far Europe has come in such a short period. The only reason I can grasp is because of the termity of the United States and TOTAL Warfare...we had to break the backs of the Germans to ensure this never happened again.
 
By J. on December 17, 2007 7:10 AM
Nice Panther photo. I always liked that tank.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 17, 2007 7:11 AM
No, Jim. I think my Guardian Angel was working really hard to make things easier on my Mom, since Dad's Guardian Angel was retired to the GA PTS facility as a result of her efforts at keeping each of Dad's 7 Purple Hearts from being a show-stopping Purple Heart. Dad certainly didn't his angel, or Mom, much of a break in that regard. Hmmmmm. Perhaps it's significant that all this broke loose after I retired... Nah. Even *I'm* not that self-centered.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 17, 2007 9:00 AM
J. - Um, that's a Tiger II, not a Panther. Though they *do* look a lot alike from that perspective.