I was wondering about posting this thread. "Who else will have any idea/give a damn what I'm talking about?" but I decided to put it out there anyway.
We began at Malmady, a charming little village and the scene of the Malmady massacre where 84 unarmed American POWs were gunned down by men from Jochim Peiper's task force. An excellent small museum has been set up next to the field where the killing took place.
Word of the massacre spread quickly. My uncles all confirmed that officers in their units often turned their eyes the other way when POW issues came up and that higher ups had to step in to remind them that POWs were often the source of important intelligence.
We left Malmady and headed up to Elsenborn and Elsenborn Ridge... the terraine would remind you of Southeast Ohio, rolling hills, farm fields and trees, the difference being that here the trees are all firs planted in tight rows and farmed regularly... Elsenborn Ridge is a dominating bit of terraine that the 99th ID miraculously held throughout the battle and helped to contain the German advance on the northern edge. As we drove around you could see why the ridge was so important. You are either in wide open farm fields or deep fir forests, no cover or too much cover and the roads, even today, wind in and out of small towns and across the hills, sometimes providing a vantage point, but usually running across the low areas.
We found a marker/memorial to my old unit, the First Infantry Division, at the northern end of a road juncture. When I looked around I could see that the division had been streched out along the edge of that rare road that ran along the ridge line for several miles. The First had just gone through a real bloodletting in a fruitless battle to gain control of the Hurtgen Forest in October and November and had been rushed back into battle from their rest and refitting in a quiet zone. They lost another 500 men, all listed on the obelisk, in this battle.
The light was begining to fade as we made our final stop at St. Vith (consider your dad toasted, Gator), again another charming little town that sits atop a hill and astride several critical road junctures.
Scooter, we did not have the time to get out and explore the forests. Wish we could have, but that's for another trip to the area, perhaps this spring or this summer.
Impressions: We found few markers or monuments in the area, but when we did we would find a wreath recently placed by the Belgians. When compared to what you see and experience in the US, you can see that remembering the sacrifice and service is much more prevalent here. You were out there exposed to an extremely harsh winter, living in a hole in the ground or beneath a thin canvas tent for weeks at a time. You were either an inviting target crossing a bare ass field in foot thick snow, or you were hunkered down in the middle of a dense forest. As we drove along I was reminded of all the comments in histories of the battle regarding the darkness of the Ardennes and Hurtgen. From the outside, in full light, and looking in to the forest you can see no further than 20 or 30 yards and then it becomes pitch back. I can only imagine what it must have been like if I were in the middle of the forest. Finally, the US Army had 600,000 men trying to cover a road net that stretched out, north and south for 130 Kliks, approx 80 miles and perhaps another 120 kliks deep at the height of the German advance. Compare that with 140,000 troops that Rummy expected to be able to provide adquate force structure to cover all of Iraq.
