Americans And Belgians Mark 70th Anniversary Of Battle Of The Bulge -- The Guardian
* Participant: ‘We must never forget what happened in 1944’
* US lost 10,000 dead repelling German Ardennes offensive
Braving snowy weather, Americans and Belgians gathered in the Ardennes on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the biggest and bloodiest US battles of the second world war, the Battle of the Bulge.
Jean-Claude Klepper, 62, of Virton, Belgium, and his 15-year-old daughter Aurélie dressed up like US GIs to mark the occasion.
“We must never forget what happened in 1944,” the elder Klepper said. “Many American soldiers came here to defend Europe. We must honour them for what they did.”
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Update: Americans, Belgians Mark Bulge Anniversary -- Washington Post/AP
My Comment: This is a good explanation on why the Battle of The Bulge still matters .... Hitler's Last Stand: Why the Battle of the Bulge Still Matters (Michael Peck, National Interest).
5 comments:
Come on WNU, why not shake up our little Western narrative a bit and point out how minor a blip the Bulge was compared to the action on the Eastern front during the same period. Not to mention the sheer folly of the Bulge as a strategic operation. They reach Antwerp...and what? The Western Allies capitulate? No.
You sound like my dad Black Knight. Whenever I mentioned any battle on the western front, he would mention Leningrad, Stalingrad, the battle at Kursk, the fall of Berlin, etc..
I don't mean to disparage the sacrifices of the Western Front. But if you grow up in the US you will never hear about the Eastern Front until college unless you study yourself.
So true Black Knight. The U.S. lost 10,000 men during the Battle of the Bulge. During much of the war the former Soviet Union was losing 10,000 soldiers/civilians a day.
WNU,
The Western media/school system was/is just playing to it's audience. But as I have said before many many people knew about the East, my family did. Sometimes the mark of how terrible and momentous something is is how little needs to be said for it to be understood. When my my parent's generation would talk about WWII of course the Marine battles of the pacific and Europe would come up, but invariably someone would say it wasn't as bad as the "Eastern Front" and everyone knew. Your Dad was one of those who was in the middle of a great and terrible event. It marked him and separated him from the general run of humanity forever.
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