Stand at Elsenborn Ridge

While the Battle of the Bulge, and particularly the defense of the crossroads at the Belgian town of Bastogne have received more attention, the much lesser known defense on the north edge of the attack, where the outnumbered troops of the American 99th and 2nd infantry divisions blunted and stalled the attack of the most powerful German divisions assigned to the battle, was arguably more important.

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Script by THG

#history #thehistoryguy #WWII

[christopherwilson]

I’ve been waiting years for this story. My dad was in Co M 394 of the 99th Infantry Division. The story of their fight and flight to Elsenborn ridge from Buchholz Station and Lanzrath along with ferocious fighting done by the 393 and 395 is equal to the misery at Bastogne. My brother and I have spent years studying this particular slice of WW2 history and are thrilled that eighty years after the fact we are not the only ones who ever heard of Elsenborn Ridge. Thank you. One day the story of the 106th division should also be told.

[AlArnold-ylly]

My friend Gerald Fowler was in the 462nd Anti-aircraft Battalion which was part of the 2nd infantry division. He went out with Captain John Mott very early in the morning of December 16th on reconnaissance and were preparing to go on the offensive that morning. They soon met German soldiers in overwhelming numbers. Gerry was the Chief non-commissioned communications officer.
He later led a small patrol of men behind enemy lines to recover the communications equipment that connected to all the anti-aircraft guns.
Gerry died in 2020 just 9 months short of turning 100 years old. He was one of the most humble men that I had ever met. He told me that he never talked about the war for 50 years. I still think about him often and miss him very much.

[jonas]

Elsenborn is still home to one of the largest belgian military training areas. I went through basic training there, facing the harsh winter, now exactly 15 years ago. I spent some very cold nights, in basically the same forests and similar dugouts. And yet, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been. These kinds of stories are so necessary to rememeber what others sacrified 'for us'

[alanjones]

My Dad was a 22 year old sergeant in Co.H 2nd Batt. 395 Reg. 99 Div. on Elsenborn Ridge . His squad manned a water cooled machine gun in a hole surrounded by chicken wire for grenade protection . When things got so bad they were told to get out of that hole, leave that gun and run run run . Dad went over on the Queen Mary converted to a troop ship and brought home on the Queen Mary converted to a hospital ship . Thanks for the show .

[uptowngirl]

Thanks so much for bringing attention to the brave actions of the 99th. It is truly history that deserves to be remembered.

[SODC]

My dad was in the 990th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company positioned in the Ardennes forest working a saw mill when the German offensive began. His commanding officer left in his jeep to inform HQ, and advised his me to scatter. Dad and a few of his fellow engineers eventually were sheltered from the Germans by a Belgian family. They contacted others, who over a period of two weeks, moved the Americans to the rear of the U.S. line, where they rejoined their unit. I guessing the families were connected to the French Underground, because they knew what to do and when to do it. I have dad’s photos of the families still. He often mentioned how much he wished he could visit the area and connect with those families.

Thank you for enlightening us all on the importance of these smaller battles to the big picture of the war effort.

[philipalotis]

As a Young man in the 1960s I had a reputation as as tough SOB. but more often than not, when you say "It's history that deserves to be remembered" (or some variation of it)
It makes me cry. this was one of those times. This is my first ever comment on YouTube. I love your channel.

[jbellos]

Thank you so much. I, and many others, have been waiting years to hear about Elsenborn and the 99th knowing it was a decisive and forgotten victory. My dad was 99ID/393IR, 1st Battalion, Baker Co. over run and made it to Elsenborn on 18 DEC in the dark and survived the carnage. He never spoke of it. God bless you and Merry Christmas.

[MM-vvmt]

Great work, Lance! Thanks for this Christmas card!

My dad was an Army Ordinance Ombudsman assigned to the Advanced Section (AdSec) of Command Zone (CommZ) to work with line units as they moved up to the front to help them establish their tank supply chains and repair depots. He was working with the 14th Calvary Group near Losheim, Belgium which was attached to the same Corps as the 2nd and 99th Inf. Divs. on the morning of Dec. 16th, and he and his driver were quickly overrun by the attacking German forces. Both played possum in a ditch all day until nightfall when they melted away into the forest and began rounding up American stragglers, eventually bringing back more than two dozen Doggies to 2nd Division lines after almost two weeks of operating behind German lines. He was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor. He told my older brother that the Ardennes reminded him of the Superior National Forest in Northern Minnesota where he had hunted for meat along the Gunflint Trail during the Depression, and because he knew how to use that kind of terrain for cover and concealment and how to survive in a Minnesota winter, he was able to save those troops from German POW cages. Because of his experience as a master machinist and ordinance engineer and his fluency in German, he later played an important role in Operation Overcast/Paperclip, the US Army's operation to identify and collect German scientists, including Werner Von Braun, and precision machine tools and machinery to keep them out of the hands of the Red Army. He was one of the first US officers into Peenemunde Germany where he rounded up many German scientists on the so-called "Osenberg List" who were working on the V-2 ballistic missiles at the German Army Research Center in May 1945. He met our mom in Paris in August 1944 where she served as a WAC in the same HQ company with AdSec CommZ, and they got married in November of 1945 when they both returned Stateside, raising eight kids, three of whom served during the Vietnam War. As a reserve officer, he spend much of the late 1940s and early '50s working with Von Braun on the Redstone Rocket Program at Huntsville, Alabama.

As they say, amateurs discuss strategy; experts discuss logistics. So, Lance, please do a story about the role of AdSec/CommZ during the Allied Advance across Northern Europe and a story about Operation Overcast/Paperclip. Their history deserves to be remembered!

[dwseawell]

I really like your words on this pivotal battle. Most of us have scant imagination of the trials of these young GIs in Belgium in Late December 1944. My Uncle Luther was there and I only once heard him mention it and that was to make a joke of it. He was riding a motorcycle down a road when a German machine gun opened up on him. He wrecked the bike and laid in the snow looking at his shredded paints and blood and thought he must be on his way to St. Peter. Then he felt his legs and realized it was just severe road rash…..then he laughed.

[NAACat]

I cannot thank you enough for sharing this remarkable story. One of my favorites.

[richardthornhill]

Good analysis. Elsenborn Ridge had fewer war correspondence witnesses therefore was not a well known.
The press seems to glamorize themselves. The warriors of Elsenborn Ridge deserve to be remembered.

[pkh]

My late uncle landed at Utah Beach on DDay with the US 4th Division. He fought across Northen Europe until being wounded in November of 1944 in the Hiurtgen……After five days in a field hospital, he was reassigned as a replacement NCO in the US 99th, and was on Elsenborn Ridge.

[NelloCambelli]

The husband of my former spouse’s mother was found in 1997 surrounded by a tree and its root system. God Bless the souls of those who lost their lives in the Bulge’s cold.

[QuantumRift]

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”. These men were unwavering, tenacious, and absolutely the right men at the right time and the right place. Thank you.

[larryheystek]

Understand that the then "classified" variable time (VT) fuse for the 155mm were specially released for use in the emergency that the German attack caused. They were used with great affect against the German infantry as they attacked across the open fields towards the ridge. This weapon caused many of the casualties.

[robertbenson]

Thank you THG, for a great Christmas present! This is one of the best presentations of the northern shoulder of the Bulge that I’ve seen. I’m going to share this with my family in the next few days.
My dad had joined the 99th Division after he graduated from OCS in 1942. The 99th was training at Camp Van Dorn, MS. at the time. When the 99th was ready to ship out in August of 1944, they were stationed at Camp Maxey, TX. near Paris, TX. When the troop trains started east, the 99th knew that they were headed to the ETO.
When the 99th was moved into the Ardennes, G-2, military intelligence, told the brass of the Division that “they were in a quiet sector”. The Germans had one horse drawn artillery piece across the Siegfried Line from them. On the morning of 16 December, 1944, several soldiers of the 99th, wondered if the Germans were working that horse to death.
Dad was in the 1st Battalion, 394th Infantry Regiment, Company A. As a 1st Lieutenant, he was in charge of a platoon of nine 57 mm anti-tank guns located in the crossroads town of Losheimergraben, Belgium. The I&R platoon of Captain Bouck was about 2 miles south of Dad’s position.
The 394th was at the southern end of the 99th’s line. To the south was the 14th Calvary group and then the 106th Division. The 14th was a lightly armed reconnaissance unit, not equipped to handle an armored attack. The 106th had literally gotten into the line within 24-36 hours before the German attack began. Within a few hours, the 106th and the 14th Calvary had been overrun. This meant that the entire southern flank of the 99th was completely exposed.
At the start of the artillery barrage, the company commander of the company that dad was attached to, deserted. With no one in charge, Dad took over command of the company. This would be a position he held until the end of the war.
At the end of the second day, it was decided to pull back west to consolidate the American lines. The 99th completed a “strategic withdrawal” to the twin towns of Krinkelt and Rocherath, Belgium. It was in Krinkelt that Dad told me the soldiers of the 99th found out that the Russian invention of the Molotov Cocktail worked well against German armor when deployed from above.
After a couple of days of fighting, the 99th completed the movement to the Elsenborn Ridge.
I was able to visit the Battle of the Bulge sites a couple of years ago though a tour sponsored by the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
The very first day, we toured the northern shoulder of the Bulge.
I was able to stand in Losheimergraben near where the 394th was positioned at the start of the Bulge. There is a marker in Losheimergraben dedicated to the 394th Regiment. First Battalion of the 394th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions during the Bulge.
For his actions of re-organizing the company and leading the withdrawal to Krinkelt and later the Elsenborn Ridge, Dad was awarded the Silver Star.
He didn’t get his captain’s bars until mid-April of 1945. Because a company commander was slotted as a captain, I told him the Army owed him the difference in pay between a 1st Lieutenant and a Captain.
Many of the POWs from the 99th Division captured during the Bulge, were freed by the 99th in April and May, when the Division was moved into Bavaria.
Thank you again for an excellent episode.

[jamescooper]

I knew a man who was awarded the Bronze star at Bastogne- Claire Fitzgerald. As much history as I have read; I’ve Never known this story! Thank you THG. ❤️❤️

[mikeshafer]

Great bit of history. My dad was in the 75th/290th RCT. They went into action 24th December 44 a ways to the south. As my dad put it, "One hell of a way to spend Christmas Eve." Bless all of them and those who have served.

[trevorbarrett]

I’m currently reading, Butler’s Battlin’ Blue Bastards. It is the story of the 3/395 IN during WWII specifically, their actions near Elsenborn Ride. Great read and it’s surprising how this history has been forgotten. Truly remarkable how they held off the Germans.