Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

fredtheobviouspseudonym · 01-28-2016, 04:33 PM

The Bulge, at least early on, was a distinctive and unusual battle for the Americans.

First, remember that most guys on the front line in Dec. 1944 probably got there after the breakout from Normandy (July-August '44.) The turnover in front line troops was pretty high. So most of the US troops had only experienced Germans either on the run or holding in place. The power of the German attack in the Bulge panicked lots of guys (including Bradley, Hodges & Eisenhower.)* It was a remarkable military feat for the guys on the front to form up & resist the German attack. So some sort of psychological shock would be appropriate. Rumors are rife. "Geez -- the Krauts have a hundred thousand tanks and magic airplanes! We'd better start thinking about where our Dunkirk is gonna be . . . " not much of an exaggeration.

Second, US troops used to a secure supply network got a shock. Some rear-area units were overrun by the Huns -- others just bugged out. "Which way is Bordeaux . . . ?" So the regular doses of chow & ammo often dried up -- adding to the sense that everything in the US Army was going belly up.

Third -- due to decisions made by General Bradley in the late summer of 1944 there was a great inadequacy of winter clothing & other related supplies. So US guys in the Ardennes were using summer-weight jackets stuffed with straw or leaves or newspaper to try to stay warm, or wearing multiple (as in 3 or 4) cotton shirts under their field jackets. Clever guys who had had their families send them sweaters & long johns were much envied and often mugged for their warm duds. By the onset of the battle trench foot (look up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_foot) had taken the equivalent of the front line infantry of four divisions off the line (almost 10% of the whole US infantry force in the ETO); other sufferers had to fight with this ailment.

Fourth -- the Ardennes really was a freaky environment for the GI. It's almost all forested, with narrow roads and small, steep-sided valleys as standard terrain. It's claustrophobic, almost like fighting in a jungle. If you can see the enemy you're in range of virtually every weapon he's got, including grenades. So it's kill or be killed at a moment's notice -- great time to develop some severe psychological syndromes. And for the first week or so of the attack the skies are a low overcast; no sight of the sun. So the GIs were really NOT comfortable in that environment -- remarkable that they did as well as they did.

Also -- to get the feel of that time & place, read Rick Atkinson's "The Guns at Last Light" -- as about three chapters on the Bulge. Also Charles B. MacDonald's "A Time for Trumpets" -- MacD. was an infantry company commander in the 2nd Infantry Division during the Bulge; he was wounded in late January, 1945. So get the word from a guy who was there.

* See Atkinson's book, "Guns at Last Light," and Millett & Murray's "A War to be Won" for examples. Eisenhower begged the US diplomats to, in turn, beg the Soviets to advance the onset of their winter offensive to rescue the beleaguered Americans. The effect at Yalta was, to say the least, problematic. Ike also demanded 100,000 US Marines as reinforcements. Given how Ike & other senior US Army generals felt about the Marine Corps, this is VERY significant.

01-28-2016, 04:33 PM	#23
fredtheobviouspseudonym Join Date: May 2007	WWII Gaming Advice -- More Detail on Bulge The Bulge, at least early on, was a distinctive and unusual battle for the Americans. First, remember that most guys on the front line in Dec. 1944 probably got there after the breakout from Normandy (July-August '44.) The turnover in front line troops was pretty high. So most of the US troops had only experienced Germans either on the run or holding in place. The power of the German attack in the Bulge panicked lots of guys (including Bradley, Hodges & Eisenhower.)* It was a remarkable military feat for the guys on the front to form up & resist the German attack. So some sort of psychological shock would be appropriate. Rumors are rife. "Geez -- the Krauts have a hundred thousand tanks and magic airplanes! We'd better start thinking about where our Dunkirk is gonna be . . . " not much of an exaggeration. Second, US troops used to a secure supply network got a shock. Some rear-area units were overrun by the Huns -- others just bugged out. "Which way is Bordeaux . . . ?" So the regular doses of chow & ammo often dried up -- adding to the sense that everything in the US Army was going belly up. Third -- due to decisions made by General Bradley in the late summer of 1944 there was a great inadequacy of winter clothing & other related supplies. So US guys in the Ardennes were using summer-weight jackets stuffed with straw or leaves or newspaper to try to stay warm, or wearing multiple (as in 3 or 4) cotton shirts under their field jackets. Clever guys who had had their families send them sweaters & long johns were much envied and often mugged for their warm duds. By the onset of the battle trench foot (look up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_foot) had taken the equivalent of the front line infantry of four divisions off the line (almost 10% of the whole US infantry force in the ETO); other sufferers had to fight with this ailment. Fourth -- the Ardennes really was a freaky environment for the GI. It's almost all forested, with narrow roads and small, steep-sided valleys as standard terrain. It's claustrophobic, almost like fighting in a jungle. If you can see the enemy you're in range of virtually every weapon he's got, including grenades. So it's kill or be killed at a moment's notice -- great time to develop some severe psychological syndromes. And for the first week or so of the attack the skies are a low overcast; no sight of the sun. So the GIs were really NOT comfortable in that environment -- remarkable that they did as well as they did. Also -- to get the feel of that time & place, read Rick Atkinson's "The Guns at Last Light" -- as about three chapters on the Bulge. Also Charles B. MacDonald's "A Time for Trumpets" -- MacD. was an infantry company commander in the 2nd Infantry Division during the Bulge; he was wounded in late January, 1945. So get the word from a guy who was there. * See Atkinson's book, "Guns at Last Light," and Millett & Murray's "A War to be Won" for examples. Eisenhower begged the US diplomats to, in turn, beg the Soviets to advance the onset of their winter offensive to rescue the beleaguered Americans. The effect at Yalta was, to say the least, problematic. Ike also demanded 100,000 US Marines as reinforcements. Given how Ike & other senior US Army generals felt about the Marine Corps, this is VERY significant. Last edited by fredtheobviouspseudonym; 01-31-2016 at 01:23 PM.