Band Of Brothers

[Videoskooter]

Today, in the USA and Belgium, we remember "The battle of the Ardennes" which took place during WO II in Bastogne-Belgium.

Nazi-Germany tried to reconquer our country and their goal was to re-take our harbour in Antwerp, one of the biggest in Europe.

Hitler's killers surprised the American troops who were stationed in South-East Belgium and who had never thought he would try again.

What follewed was one of the bloodiest battles in our small country: 100.000 Germans, 15.000 G.I.'s were killed in action. Many civilians were forced to flee again and many of them, women and little children where slaughtered by the Nazi's.

Let's celebrate and honour all those veterans who fought for us so we can live in a free world!

Learn from history! And think about it: when you look at series like Band of Brothers , it ain't fiction. My parents and grandparents "acted" in the real movie!

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/D...gne.battle.ap/

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA...6/12160008.htm

[Bernie]

Very interesting and sad that as an American I was not aware of this. We always see/hear of D-Day this and D-Day that on television, but it was so much more than that one day.

[Boodikka]

Video, what do Belgiums think of General McAuliffe? Is he as revered there as he is there?

I always find it interesting that many of the 101's surviving members claim that they never needed rescuing from Patton's 3rd.

[Videoskooter]

Boodikka, McAuliffe is famous for his answer "Nuts" when the Germans asked him if he was considering to surrender. This is celebrated in the town of Bastogne where the Mayor and his staff are trowing nuts to the people on the market place. This year, this celebration was leaded by King Albert II himself. There's also an General McAuliffe Square in that town.

Of course most Belgians know and honour General Patton coz' he is the most famous person.

You can read the "nuttiest" story in full:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bulge/s...ootage_04.html

[Mixmachine]

There is a very good Henry Fonda movie that I haven’t seen in ages, like most films they are not exactly 100 % accurate but…
Some details I remember from PBS/Discovery/History channels shows; English speaking Nazis impersonated GI's and during the early battle confusion managed to divert US re-inforcement units away from the front, many of this impostors were captured while wearing US uniforms over their German’s, also dozens of captured GIs were executed and buried in the woods by the Gestapo, local witnesses revealed the location and perpetrators' name and rank after the battle, GIs bodies and evidence was collected and after the war many of this Nazis were convicted and /or executed as war criminals, a few years back(was in the News) some American family members visited this site where a monument stands in memory of the GIs.…...

[Boodikka]

I assume the film you are referring to is 1965's BATTLE OF THE BULGE. It's not close to being accurate (some are the tank battles are fought in completely inaccurate weather conditions), but I always loved Robert Shaw's performance (as a fictional Waffen SS officer) and the "Panzerlied" sequence from the film (actually, it's very well-scored, still have the soundtrack on LP).

The executions you refer to were carried out by Waffen SS soldiers under Joachim Piper (sp), I believe. The executions took place at Malmedy.

[Mixmachine]

Yeah, that’s the movie, when I first saw it as a teenager it was all news to me so I never knew about the inaccuracies, (it motivated me to seek more detais about the battle thou), I just read over at IMDB that even Ike complained about this flick.

I'm glad you reminded me of all this details, I can never remember all the names and places :( unless I look them up.

I seem to remember that the German 'impostors' were executed on the field as spies, as wearing the enemy's uniform is a capital offence during war, do you know any details about this?

[Boodikka]

Some were executed, and others were taken prisoner. These troops were commandos under Otto Skorzeny. Strangely enough, though many of his men were considered to be working outside the rules of war, Skorzeny was acquitted at Nuremberg!
There is evidence that Skorzeny helped Nazis escape judgement after the war (the "Odessa" program), helping many relocate to South America :( I've actually seen post-war footage in a documentary with Skorzeny and the Perons...

[Mixmachine]

Yes, those are the juicy details I like to read about, thanks, and there is another long forgotten film you remind me of, "The Odessa Files" with John Void.... :P

[Videoskooter]

There were many German spies who infiltrated in the American platoons. They spoke American, they had the right attitude, the right uniform but ...they were wearing German underwear and in many cases that blew their cover (true fact!)

Too bad the CNN-link I placed can not be reached anymore, coz' there you could see the big monument in Bastogne that honours all the American heroes.

Last week we saw many interviews with witnesses that survived the atrocities and we saw images of many, many women and little children that were slaughtered by the Nazis. Makes you think, you know. Both my grandparents were in the resistance and my grandmother was captured by the Gestapo but she could escape. The day before she died, I saw her for the very last time and allthough she was very ill and confused, she, even then, told me how she hated the f***ing Germans. People who lived through those terrible times didn't and will never forget or forgive the Nazis for what they've done! Those wounds won't heal as long as those generations live.