Skip to main content

A nervous American GI moves out of a tree line with his comrades following behind somewhere in the Hürtgen Forest, December, 1944.

A nervous American GI moves out of a tree line with his comrades following behind somewhere in the Hürtgen Forest, December, 1944. Photo shot by WW2 veteran and renowned photographer 


At 4:00 AM on December the 16th, 1944, German artillery and aircraft began a mass bombardment of American lines - primarily in the area of the Ardennes. 

The Ardennes was considered a quiet front by the US Army, a place where battered divisions - primarily chewed up and spat out from the Hürtgen Forest - could rest and recuperate with little chance of a major engagement.

One of these such divisions was the 30th, the heroes of Mortain. They had breached the Siegfried Line north of Aachen at a hefty price and were subsequently moved to the Ardennes. 

The supply situation in the ETO was still poor despite the opening of Antwerp and the clearing of the Schledt. Much of the Army did not have the proper winter equipment or ammunition to wage an effective defense against massed units of German armor and infantry. 

As such when on the 16th they attacked, many of those battered American divisions were pushed aside and nearly annihilated, valiant though they fought. 

Thus began a campaign that would last more than a month and cost the lives of over 80,000 Americans and 100,000 Germans. 

It would be the last major offensive they mounted in the Western European Theater of Operations and forever go down in history infamously.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A MAN THAT FAILED TO CONTROL HIS SEXUAL URGE

A MAN THAT FAILED TO CONTROL HIS SEXUAL URGE A man who can control his sexual urge is a man who can live many years on earth. Men don't know that some of their failures are caused by multiple girlfriends Not all girls have good spirit. Some are demons, others have venom between their legs. Some women are destiny destroyers, beware. Pay close attention: 1. A real man only has one woman in his life. 2. Don't obey your Erection at all times. Most erections mislead you Control your erection if you don't want to have few days on earth with much poverty in you. 3. Don't date a lady because she has curves, boobs and a sexy shape. These things are simply misleading avoid such, don't fall for what is called social media irony. 4. Not everything you see under skirt you must work to eat, some skirts contain snakes that bite you and make you uncomfortable. control your sexual urge Self control and abstinence pays a lot in most cases. 5. Marrying a woman doesn't mean she own...

moments before her execution.

Amanda, moments before her execution, whispers words that stun witnesses and unravel lies.  Amanda, a loving mother, had been wrongly accused of kidnapping and murdering Judge Samuel Turner's daughter, Olivia.  The trial had been swift and brutal, with public sentiment against her, and her protests of innocence had fallen on deaf ears.  One rainy afternoon, Amanda is visited by Judge Turner himself, who delivers a bitter tirade.   However, Amanda remains silent, and during his speech, a memory resurfaces, giving her a sudden clarity.  She remembers a detail from the day of the crime that she had overlooked, a mention of Turner's grandparents' farm.  This realization brings a spark of hope, and Amanda wonders if Emily, her own daughter, could still be alive, hidden away where no one had thought to look. Amanda, who is on death row for a crime she maintains she didn't commit, makes a surprising revelation during her execution.  With a newfound deter...

Two boys in this photograph from the early 1900s, taken by Dr. Allan Warner of the Isolation Hospital in Leicester

Two boys in this photograph from the early 1900s, taken by Dr. Allan Warner of the Isolation Hospital in Leicester, UK, had been exposed to the same source of smallpox.  One of them had received the smallpox vaccine, while the other had not. Dr. Warner captured these images as part of his study on the disease. The smallpox vaccine holds historical significance as the first vaccine developed to combat a contagious disease.  In 1796, British doctor Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the milder cowpox virus could provide immunity against the deadly smallpox virus.  Cowpox acted as a natural vaccine until the modern smallpox vaccine became available in the 20th century. From 1958 to 1977, the World Health Organization led a global vaccination campaign that successfully eradicated smallpox, marking it as the only human disease to be completely eliminated. Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.