The Danger Zone (DZ)

Hitler’s seemingly insane gamble in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge, wasn’t perhaps as crazy and desperate as it seemed or has been represented. Consider this.

In Washington, after lunch on 27 December, 1944 Henry Stimson, the Secretary for War, walked over to the War Department. He went into Marshall’s office and sat down. He had come to talk about the unthinkable. Stimson later recollected what Marshall had said to him:

if Ge...

Just a few weeks before the Germans launched their massive and unexpected offensive in the Ardennes on 16 December 1944, Major General Pete Quesada, the commander of IX Tactical Air Command, reported a conference he had had with General Hodges, commander of the First US Army: "He went on and on about how we might lose the war …".

Hodges was the last man you would want commanding exactly this army. And he was the man that G...

20th December 1944 proved a momentous day for Eisenhower, Bradley and Mongomery. Bradley’s ego was shattered by his best and most trusted friend. Montgomery was about to have greatness thrust upon him. The lives of the top Allied generals were reported to be in danger from Otto Skorzeny’s assassination squads dressed in American uniforms, carrying American arms and riding in American vehicles. And Bradley was dropping the ball big ...

… on December 20, during Eisenhower's morning staff conference, Ike telephoned Bradley and emphatically stated, "Where is the line you can hold the best and the cheapest? I don't care how far back it is." Bradley was in no position to supply Eisenhower with answers. What had convinced Smith that a changeover was vital was that 12th Army Group had lost communications with First Army for more than forty-eight hours....

On 19 October 1944, 

Spaatz flew on to Luxembourg to visit Bradley. Bradley told him he planned to start his big offensive toward the Rhine on November 10. Spaatz wanted it sooner than that. Hitler's jet fighters were appearing in growing force, and they threatened to drive Spaatz's daylight bomber formations from the skies. "To maintain our present air supremacy over the Hun," warned Spaatz, "will cost the st...

The Germans had launched their massive Ardennes offensive on the morning of 16th December. Bradley had brushed it off as a spoiling attack.

… by Sunday afternoon, December 17, Bradley had conceded misjudgment in his previous evening's modest estimate of the enemy effort. "This is Rundstedt's all-out attack," Bradley now announced. "Pardon my French — " he said over the situation map, " — I think the ...

In his book Retreat from Moscow, David Stahel relates:

If the German troops retained a general measure of faith in their commanders, this is not to say it came without qualifications. The most common complaint was the absence of winter clothing, which by early December 1941 was a criticism that had been dragging on for two months. The extent of the problem justified, in the starkest of terms, a questioning of faith in the German lea...

“He was really a moron”. Which of Eisenhower’s generals said that, and who was he referring to. Stick around and I’ll tell you.

Tag words: Eisenhower; Rick Atkinson; The Guns at Last Light; Bradley; Carlo d’Este; US 12th Army Group; Lt. Gen. Courtney Hicks Hodges; Bedell Smith; Forrest Poague; American First Army; General George S Patton Jr; Geoffrey Perret; There’s a War to be Won; Hürtgen Forest; Life magazine; Wilderness campaign...

If you’ve ever read the Grimms Brothers fairy stories of Hansel and Gretel or Snow White, then you’ll already have a really good feel for the dark, sinister Hürtgen Forest that Omar Bradley’s First Army entered in September 1944. Journalist, William Walton, of Time/Life magazines told its story in the 1stJanuary 1945 issue of Life magazine, under the headline “A Gloomy German Woods Takes Its Place In U.S. History Beside The Wildern...

In this part your going to meet the man who defied Bradley and Patton in Brittany. A man as described by David Irving as literally having a mouthful of steel.

Tag words: Bradley; Patton; Brittany; Brest; David Irving; Troy Middleton; Russell Weigley; Eisenhower’s Lieutenants; Carlo d’Este; A Genius for War; Third Army; French Forces of the Interior; 6th Armored Division; Generalleutnant Hermann B. Ramcke; David Irving; The War Betwe...

It was Omar Bradley who, during the campaign by Patton’s Third Army in Brittany who said to Troy Middleton, the commander of the VIII Corp who was fretting over Patton’s orders to take Brest as quickly as possible:

Some people are more concerned with the headlines and the news they'll make than the soundness of their tactics. I don't care if we get Brest tomorrow or ten days later. If we cut the peninsula, we'll get it anyhow. But w...

From 27 July 1944, as the Americans began to achieve a surprisingly spectacular breakout, beyond everyone’s wildest dreams as Operation Cobra gained a good head of steam, Monty perceived that the situation that had been planned for before the D-Day invasion had now totally changed. He told Alanbrooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff: the main business lies to the east.

That is the Allies armies must now race to the bridgeles...

Nigel Hamilton, in his book The Battles of Field Marshal Montgomery, wrote about Montgomery’s concerns of the hopeless preparations being undertaken for the cross channel invasion. His concern was that no overall ground force commander had been appointed. Nigel Hamilton wrote what Monty’s feelings were about this in May 1943, more than a year before the invasion took place:

"A cross-Channel operation is being envisaged," h...

Was there fake media in January 1945? Was it Montgomery that said what sent the Americans into a blind rage, or was it Nazi disinformation (and so long ago)? What Monty really said, did it cause the Americans to meltdown because it was false, or because it was true? Is it harder to get along when you’re winning than when you’re losing? Luckily for you I’ve got all of the answers.

Tag words: Montgomery; Battle of the Bulge; Bradley; ...

A good commander surrounds himself with the most talented people to make it easier to achieve his mission. The goals that Eisenhower and Monty wanted to achieve were very different and are reflected in the men they chose to surround  themselves with. Monty’s Chief of Staff was "Freddie" de Guingand. He’d filled that role in the 8th Army when Monty first took command of it on 15thAugust 1942. He was a staff officer when Mo...

It was the coldest winter in Europe for as long as anyone could remember. The Battle of the Bulge was at its height. Monty finished telling his boss, Eisenhower, that he now had to do something that was impossible for him to do. Eisenhower was feeling as low as he could go. The American leadership shared Bradley’s view about the sudden resurgence of German strength: "Pardon my French . .. but where in hell has this son of a bi...

What was so remarkable about General Omar N. Bradley’s exhortation on Christmas Day to Field Marshal Montgomery to immediately attack the north side of the German salient created during the Battle of the Bulge? Would you support what Bradely recommended?

Tag words: General Omar N. Bradley; Field Marshal Montgomery; Battle of the Bulge; Eisenhower; Chief of the Imperial General Staff; Alan Brooke; Russell Weigley; Eisenhower’s Lieute...

As General Bradley travelled to a meeting with Montgomery, in the thick of the Battle of the Bulge, he was puzzled to see the Hollanders, Bradley’s description of them, walking on the sidewalk in holiday dress. How strange was that? The Nazis had just launched a massive attack. There was a real chance that these people would again have their Nazi masters return, but here they were, all dressed up. Bradley got an explanation from hi...

Which general was it, who called Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery a tired little fart? Was it Eisenhower? Perhaps General Omar N. Bradley? Or was it General George S Paton Junior?

Tag words: Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery; Eisenhower; General Omar N. Bradley; General George S Paton Jr; Normandy bridgehead; David Irving; The War Between the Generals; General Somervell; LeRoy Lutes; 12th Army Group; Battle of the Bulge; Carl...