Not a nice way to spend Yule, Christmas or New Year
Published: Thu, 12/21/17
Did you know that last Saturday was the 73rd anniversary of the start of the last major German offensive on the Western Front in WW2? On the 16th of December 1944 the German military launched a massive counteroffensive against allied forces in the heavily forested region of the Ardennes in Belgium, France and Luxemborg. This offensive became popularly known as the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ and the intention was to recapture the port of Antwerp from and split the allied lines. If the attack had been fully successful it might have resulted in the encirclement and destruction of four allied armies. Hitler hoped that this would force the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty so that he could concentrate his forces on fighting the Soviets on the Eastern Front.
The Campaign started well for the Axis forces. The Western Allies were taken completely by surprise but the Germans failed to capture key roads which were essential to the success of the mission. The attack began in very overcast weather which had grounded the allied air forces. The lack of allied air cover gave the German forces an initial advantage. However, as the weather improved allied air superiority meant that the German forces were soon degraded. The battle lasted until the 25th of January 1945 and cost the Americans around 89,000 casualties. For the German forces, many units were left severely depleted of experienced fighting men, equipment and vehicles and supplies.
In the long run the German offensive had no effect on the ultimate outcome of the war and wasted resources that could have been better used to defend the homeland at the German border.
You can read more about it on Wikipedia if you are interested https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge . Or, if you like a good war film, you could watch the movie they made in 1965 with Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058947/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt
So what? Hopefully you are going to be enjoying a peaceful Christmas with family and friends. This will be the case all over Europe. But 73 years ago hundreds of thousands of men spent Christmas locked in a life and death struggle in the forests of the Ardennes. The war was lost for the Germans and yet there was a great deal more death, destruction and suffering to come. It would be nice to say that the world is at peace this Christmas time, unfortunately that would be far from the truth. At least Europe is not convulsed with war and has not been for many decades.
Tonight is the shortest day of the year. Here in East Yorkshire we had less than 8 hours between sunrise and sunset. It has also been pretty dull all day. In a week or so the days will start to get noticeably longer and a new year gets started. I have some big plans for next year. My book proposal goes in the post on Saturday. The first training of the new year will be on the 6th of January here in Beverley http://iceandfire.org.uk/train.html Also, date for your diary, there will be a seminar in Somerset on the 7th of April, we have not confirmed a venue yet but hope to very soon.
So, Yule blessings, raise a glass to all the possibilities of the new year.
regards
Graham
PS Windscreen is back in the van. The rope trick words just fine and thanks to those who sent me useful tips on how to make the job easier.