Remarks at Battle of the Bulge 65th anniversary review

By Maj. Gen. Karl R. Horst, JFHQ-NCR/MDW commanding generalDecember 16, 2009

Historical photo
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

BELGIAN MINISTER OF DEFENSE DE CREM, LUXEMBOURG DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION MACKEL, PRESIDENT OF THE VETERANS OF THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE MR. PARIS, PRESIDENT OF THE BATTLE BULGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION MR. SHEHAB.

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR BATTLE OF THE BULGE VETERANS FOR INVITING ME TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS AUSPICIOUS OCCASION. IT IS INDEED AN HONOR AND A PLEASURE TO BE HERE TO COMMEMORATE THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LARGEST LAND BATTLE OF WORLD WAR II, THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE.

FOR THE SOLDIERS OF THE 3D INFANTRY REGIMENT "THE OLD GUARD" AND THE U.S. ARMY BAND "PERSHING'S OWN," IT IS LIKEWISE AN HONOR, ONE THEY WILL APPRECIATE MORE AS TIME PASSES AND THEIR OWN SERVICE ADDS TO THE "MYSTIC CHORDS OF MEMORY" THAT BINDS EACH NEW GENERATION WITH THOSE THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE.

THE SOLDIERS IN FORMATION ARE HERE TODAY AS REPRESENTATIVES OF TODAY'S ARMY TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE SOME 600,000 AMERICANS WHO TOOK THE BRUNT OF A DESPERATE ATTACK BY A WOUNDED BUT STILL DETERMINED ENEMY, SURPRISED BY AN ONSLAUGHT THAT CAME IN THE DEPTHS OF WINTER AT THE SECTION OF THE LINE WHERE TERRAIN WAS MOST DIFFICULT, WHO BULGED, BUT DID NOT BREAK, WHO HELD THE SALIENT POINTS, AND IN SIX WEEKS WERE AGAIN ON THE OFFENSIVE, THROUGH BELGIUM AND ON TO GERMANY ITSELF. SIX MEDALS OF HONOR, A PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION FOR AN ENTIRE DIVISION, ONLY BEGINS TO SCRATCH THE SURFACE OF THE HISTORY WRITTEN IN THOSE DAYS IN DECEMBER 1944 AND JANUARY 1945.

WE ARE ALL HERE TO PAY TRIBUTE TO YOU VETERANS.

THIS MORNING WHEN I STARTED MY PHYSICAL TRAINING RUN AT 5:30 A.M., I THOUGHT OF YOU VETERANS - IT WAS AT 5:35 A.M. ON THE 16TH OF DECEMBER, 65 YEARS AGO TODAY WHEN THE GERMAN ARTILLERY, NUMBERING 2000 GUNS STARTED THE PREPARATORY FIRES FOR THE BATTLE THE GERMANS WOULD CALL "HERBSTNEBEL" OR "AUTUMN FOG,' THAT WOULD LAST SIX WEEKS AND CLAIM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES.

FOLLOWING THE MASSIVE PREP FIRES, HITLER'S 5TH AND 6TH PANZER ARMIES, LAUNCHED AN ALL OUT, WHIRLWIND ATTACK ON FOUR DIVISIONS OF THE FIRST U.S. ARMY IN THE SEMI-MOUNTAINOUS, DENSELY-FORESTED ARDENNES REGION OF EASTERN BELGIUM AND NORTHERN LUXEMBOURG, EN ROUTE TO THEIR OBJECTIVE OF ANTWERP. HOPING TO DRIVE A WEDGE BETWEEN THE ALLIED FORCES, SPLITTING THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN LINE, HITLER DEVOTED SOME 20 GERMAN DIVISIONS, SEVEN OF THEM PANZER, IN A THREE-PRONGED ATTACK.

THINKING THAT THE ARDENNES WAS THE LEAST LIKELY SPOT FOR A GERMAN OFFENSIVE, AMERICAN COMMANDERS CHOSE TO KEEP THE LINE THIN, A TRAINING AREA FOR NEWER UNITS, SO THAT THE MANPOWER MIGHT CONCENTRATE ON OFFENSIVES NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE ARDENNES.

EVEN THOUGH THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE ACHIEVED TOTAL SURPRISE, NOWHERE DID OUR AMERICAN TROOPS GIVE GROUND WITHOUT A FIGHT. WITHOUT KNOWING THE EXTENT OF THE ATTACK, GEN. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER SENT TWO ARMORED DIVISIONS TO COVER THE FLANKS OF THE GERMAN ADVANCE AND TO ASSIST WHEREVER POSSIBLE IN STOPPING THE ATTACK.

THE NEXT DAY, DEC. 17, 1944, THE 7TH ARMORED DIVISION ENGAGED THE GERMAN PANZER ARMY AT ST. VITH, A MAJOR ROAD THAT LED TO THE MEUSE RIVER AND TO ANTWERP. THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IN THWARTING THE GERMAN ATTACK, ALTERING THE TIMING, SLOWING THEM DOWN AND FORCING A LESS DIRECT ROUTE TO THE MEUSE RIVER.

THAT SAME DAY, ONE OF THE WAR'S MOST HIDEOUS CRIMES WAS COMMITTED AGAINST AMERICAN SOLDIERS, THE MALMEDY MASSACRE. OF 140 SOLDIERS WHO WERE TAKEN PRISONER AT BAUGNEZ, 86 MEN WERE SHOT WHILE ON THE WAY TO MALMEDY. FORTY-THREE SURVIVED TO TELL THE TERRIBLE STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY.

THE CITY OF BASTOGNE, WITH ITS CROSS-ROADS, WAS A STRATEGIC POSITION, WHICH BOTH THE AMERICANS AND GERMANS WANTED TO OCCUPY. THE 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION AND SOME SUPPORTING UNITS MANAGED TO GET THERE FIRST BUT THE GERMANS QUICKLY SURROUNDED THE CITY.

THE DEFENSE OF BASTOGNE WOULD BECOME LEGENDARY AS BRIG. GEN. ANTHONY G. MCAULIFFE REPLIED TO AN ULTIMATUM TO SURRENDER FROM THE GERMANS. HE SIMPLY SAID, "NUTS." THIS EXEMPLIFIED THE ENTIRE AMERICAN DEFENSIVE EFFORT AS OVERMATCHED AMERICAN SOLDIERS FOUGHT HARD AND INFLICTED HEAVY DAMAGE TO THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE.

AFTER A FEW INTENSE DAYS OF FIGHTING, VII CORPS AND THE THIRD ARMY BROUGHT MUCH NEEDED RELIEF TO THE TROOPS AT BASTOGNE AND LAUNCHED A COUNTERATTACK PUSHING THE GERMANS PAST THE BORDER OF THE CITY.

THE ALLIES THEN LAUNCHED A MASSIVE COUNTER-OFFENSIVE TWO DAYS BEFORE THE NEW YEAR, AND FIERCE FIGHTING CONTINUED FOR DAYS. HITLER THEN ORDERED A PLAN HE DUBBED "THE GREAT BLOW." THE GOAL OF THIS PLAN WAS TO ELIMINATE ALLIED AIR POWER.

ON JANUARY 1 AT 8 A.M., GERMAN LUFTWAFFE FIGHTERS SWARMED OVER BELGIUM, HOLLAND AND NORTHERN FRANCE BOMBARDING ALLIED AIRFIELDS. MORE THAN 200 AIRCRAFT AND MANY BASES WERE DESTROYED. HITLER'S PLAN INFLICTED A GREAT DEAL OF DAMAGE, BUT NOT WITHOUT PAYING A HEAVY PRICE. THE GERMAN LUFTWAFFE LOST SOME 300 PLANES.

FINALLY, ON JAN. 8, 1945, HITLER ORDERED HIS TROOPS TO WITHDRAW FROM THE TIP OF THE "BULGE." HE REALIZED HIS GREAT OFFENSIVE ON THE ALLIED ARMIES HAD FAILED. BY JAN. 16, THE FIRST AND THIRD ARMIES HAD JOINED IN THE VILLAGE OF HOUFFALIZE. ST. VITH WAS RETAKEN JAN. 23 AND THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE WAS OFFICIALLY OVER JAN. 28.

MORE THAN 1 MILLION MEN, 600,000 AMERICANS, 500,000 GERMANS AND 55,000 BRITISH PARTICIPATED IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE. BOTH SIDES TOOK HEAVY CASUALTIES: 81,000 U.S. TROOPS INCLUDING 19,000 KILLED AND 23,554 CAPTURED ALONG WITH 1,400 BRITISH CASUALTIES AND 200 KILLED. AND THE PEOPLE OF BELGIUM LOST MORE THAT 3000 CIVILIANS KILLED.

INCREDIBLE COURAGE, RESOLVE AND FIERCE DETERMINATION ENABLED AMERICAN SOLDIERS TO COMPLETE THEIR MISSION. DESPITE THE BITTER COLD WEATHER AND BEING OUTNUMBERED, U.S. TROOPS HELD A STRATEGIC FOOTHOLD IN THE BELGIAN COUNTRYSIDE AND CRUSHED THE GERMAN ARMY.

WINSTON CHURCHILL CALLED THE ARDENNES "THE GREATEST AMERICAN BATTLE OF THE WAR." MANY MEN AND WOMEN FOUGHT AND SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES THAT WINTER. WE ARE HERE TO REMEMBER THAT WHAT THEY DID WAS NOT IN VAIN AND TO PLEDGE TO HOLD OUR PORTION OF THE LINE DURING OUR TIME AT THE FRONT.

TO OUR VETERANS I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR

COURAGE, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO SHARE THIS EVENT WHICH COMMEMORATES THIS HISTORIC AND DECISIVE BATTLE.

GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES. REMEMBER OUR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM STILL STANDING FAST, CARRYING YOUR LEGACY WITH THEM -- MAY GOD WATCH OVER THEM.

GOD BLESS AMERICA. GOD BLESS BELGIUM AND GOD BLESS LUXEMBOURG.

AS YOU WERE THEN AND WE ARE TODAY - ARMY STRONG!

THANK YOU.

Related Links:

The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (CMH)

Military District of Washington