It was 80 years ago this week that the final big battle of WWII in Western Europe — the Battle of the Bulge — got underway.
In brief, the Battle of the Bulge marked a last-ditch counter-offensive by the German Army against the U.S. and its allies as the allies advanced through Belgium and toward Germany. The German attack, which caught the Americans by surprise, earned its name from the “bulge” that the sudden German thrust created in the middle of the American line in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium.
The battle was immortalized in the 1965 movie, The Battle of the Bulge, and then 40 years later in the great HBO series Band of Brothers, which followed the exploits of E Company of the fabled 101st Airborne Division, including its crucial role in the defense of the Belgian town of Bastogne where General Anthony McAuliffe uttered the famous, one-word declaration word, “Nuts!” in response to a demand for him to surrender from the German commander who had surrounded the Americans. The 101st Airborne hung on, against all odds and a militarily-superior enemy, stalling the German offensive until General George Patton arrived with reinforcements.
Soldiers fought in brutal winter conditions against a ruthless German enemy that literally was taking no prisoners — the Nazis executed hundreds of captured American soldiers during the engagement. Altogether, the U.S. Army lost approximately 19,000 men and suffered 75,000 total casualties in what became the United States’ deadliest single World War II battle, which extended from December 16, 1944, to January 16, 1945. When the battle was over, so too for all intents and purposes were the Germans, whose surrender occurred less than four months later.
The reason we wish to make note of this epic battle is because in some of our sister newspapers, we write a weekly “Through the Years” column. In our Revere newspaper, it was noted that seven Revere families were notified this week 80 years ago that their sons, husbands, and fathers had been killed in action.
We today can only imagine the profound and deep sense of grief and sadness that enveloped entire communities all across the country as the telegrams from the War Department were delivered by the thousands to families informing them of the loss of their loved ones over those terrible four weeks.
In addition, it occurred to us that so few of the Greatest Generation, including our own uncles and fathers who served in that war, are still alive today. All of the members of Easy Company have passed away.
We do so in hopes of acknowledging the debt we owe to the brave soldiers who gave their lives in the forests and on the fields of Belgium 80 years ago, with the hope that we might fulfill the sentiments expressed by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address: “…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”