Firsthand account of Battle of the Bulge

[Jim O]

According to the United States Army Center of Military History, the Battle of the Bulge, fought in the winter of 1944-45 in Belgium, was the largest land battle of World War II in which the U.S. participated.

More than a million men fought in the hostilities - 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans and 55,000 British. In all, there were some 200,000 casualties, with approximately 20,000 killed.

The battle began early in the morning on Dec. 16, when more than 200,000 German troops and nearly 1,000 tanks launched what was to become Hitler’s last effort to reverse the ebb in his fortunes that had begun when Allied troops had landed in Normandy on D-Day six months earlier.

They struck in the dense Ardennes Forest region around Belgium, hoping to drive the Allies back into the English Channel. The defense consisted of inexperienced and battle-weary American troops stationed there for rest and seasoning. After the first day of fighting, the Germans broke through the Allied front, advancing their spearheads toward the Meuse River, creating the shape in their lines that gave the battle its name.

The U.S. First Army was ordered to withdraw - all except a dozen men who were in charge of General Omar Bradley’s communications equipment. Of these, six were on a ridge manning a radio tower, and another six were down in a deep valley with the land lines.

According to one of those men, Richard Brewster of Exeter, N.H., "We were ordered to stay there and keep transmitting until we were overrun. Our mission was to report back about enemy equipment that went along the road above us."

Of the original 12, plus a Lt. Warren - who was parachuted in to help get the men out - Brewster is one of only two remaining survivors. Five of the six in the tower team were gunned down by the Germans on the spot. The sixth escaped to the woods, from which he would emerge nightly to get the transmission equipment back in working order after the Germans destroyed it during the daytime.

Lt. Warren was killed as he was trying to draw fire away from Brewster’s group while they were aiming to dismantle the tower to be transported back to the Allies.

Eventually Brewster and his five colleagues, plus the one survivor from the tower team, rode two trucks up a goat path out of the valley. They were wearing uniforms they had stolen from dead German soldiers under cover of darkness. And they were led up the goat path by an old Belgian man on foot.

"At that point," Brewster recalled in a recent phone interview, "there were so many American vehicles that had been captured by the Germans and that were being driven down the road that we just joined the parade. Looking at us, no one could tell we weren’t German."

Their luck held pretty well until they started to get low on fuel. But one of their team - a Jewish private from New York City - spoke German, along with three other languages.

"So he got out of the truck and began ordering ’real’ German troops to gas up our trucks for us. He was extremely brave. And we immediately ’promoted’ him to lieutenant."

On went the two trucks. When they thought they were close enough to Allied lines and knew the way, Brewster and his companions made a break for it - ending up in the wrong village, on a dead-end road, with two German motorcycles behind them. Taking the distributor caps from their trucks with them, they ran and knocked on the door of a farmhouse.

The Belgian family who lived there were part of the Belgian underground, and seeing "seven terrified GIs in German uniforms," took them in and hid them for three days.

"When the Germans came looking for us, our hosts refused to let them in the house," Brewster said.

Using an escape route devised by the husband of the family that were harboring them, the seven young Americans finally made it to Liege, which was held by the Allies. But their saga wasn’t over yet.

"We were in German uniforms, so we spent three hours under our trucks with guns to our heads convincing our American colleagues that we were really Americans. We finally got them to believe us, but our reward for all of this! No rest, nothing to eat, nothing at all! They wanted the communications equipment put up again. Right away!"

Eventually, Brewster was shipped to Japan and finally repatriated to the U.S., where he made his home in New Hampshire, married, raised a family, and worked for a phone company for 33 years.

Next Thursday evening, Sept. 21, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Weston Library, Brewster will tell his story as the first speaker at this fall’s Weston Military History Group lecture series. His talk, "Escape from the Bulge," is free and open to the public.

Source: TownOnline.com - Weston Town Crier

[Tom Houlihan]

"We were in German uniforms, so we spent three hours under our trucks with guns to our heads convincing our American colleagues that we were really Americans. We finally got them to believe us, but our reward for all of this! No rest, nothing to eat, nothing at all! They wanted the communications equipment put up again. Right away!"

Well, I find this most interesting!! I've heard of Skorzeny's men, but I've never heard of Americans dressing as Germans! Amazing they got away with it at all!

Too bad I'm not a little closer. I'd love to hear him talk!

[barrett.t]

My first thoughts are what a waste of human life both American and German.
20,000 dead it really hits home when you see that number.

[Biscuit]

Originally Posted by Tom Houlihan

Well, I find this most interesting!! I've heard of Skorzeny's men, but I've never heard of Americans dressing as Germans! Amazing they got away with it at all!

Too bad I'm not a little closer. I'd love to hear him talk!

Agreed! That's some story. Sounds like something they should have made a movie about...of course, Hollywood would have probably screwed the whole thing up! Oh well!

[TRDG]

Thanks Jim, I've never heard that one,very surprising to me, as well as others here I see!!

The end, after they got through to the lines, that was a surprise, and not, they got no commendations at all, business as usual? WOW, not if that happened today I bet!!

Cheers, a very interesting read sir.

Tom