Subject: This day in 1944: Hunger, frostbite, gangrene
From: "Tarver Engineering"
Date: 12/22/03 9:07 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: This day in 1944: Hunger, frostbite, gangrene
From: "James Linn"
Date: 12/22/03 7:24 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
The 101st was almost out of food and 30 cal. ammo for their Garands.
Many
froze
to death in their foxholes overnight. It was still snowing. But they
never
allowed the Germans to take the critical Batogne crossroads. In the
meantime at
our field we had all our 6x6 with snowplows keeping our runway clear,
Word
was we would be able to fly tomorrow, the 23rd. We just kept looking at
the sky
and thinking of the Battered *******s of Bastogne. We were so close we
could
almost touch them, but there was nothing we could do until the sky
cleared. We
all hoped for a better tomorrow. Iron men in harms way.

I watched a documentary recently on the 1st Canadian Paras. They had
trained
with the 101st in the US(and with the British as well).

They were plugged into the north side of the line at Bastogne, and one of
the interviewed vets complained that they wanted to stage a breakthrough
to
Bastogne as they were about 15 miles north, but were told that Patton
would
have the honours. As brave as that desire was to help their friends, it
was
possibly much wiser to let an amoured division breakthrough than to push
a
lightly armed para division in, one that didn't have proper winter
equipment, armour or sufficient arty(gee that sounds like the Canadian
armed
forces of today).

Sound like if the 1st Paras had broken through they would just be trapped
in
Bastogne with the 101st. The better part of valor. (sigh)

It was the Germans who were trapped at Bastogne.




A member of the 101st was quoted as saying, ": Th e Germans have us surrounded.
Poor *******s.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer