Thomas Hoke can still well remember the weather in December 1944 and the long days that followed.
The battle started on December 16, but his company arrived on December 27 and remained there until the end of the battle, almost a month later. When he arrived, the snow had enveloped Germany in one of the biggest storms the country had seen in years.
"There were 20 of us and a thick fog covered the entire area," recalled the 96-year-old Hoke from his home in Emmitsburg.
The fog was advantageous for Germany, since the Allied planes, including the recognition flights, lay on the ground and allowed the Nazis to enter.
As a combat doctor of the medical battalion of the 87th Infantry Division, the then 20-year-old Hoke was part of a company he called a collector, which followed the soldiers on their advance.
"We picked up the wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Our doctors treated them and then sent them to the clearing company, which resembles a MASH outfit," he said, noting that they had 10 ambulances and about 15 launches like him in the had companies.
For 40 days, the mission of the Americans and Allies was to advance their line from northern France to northern Belgium to stop the Nazis who tried to take Antwerp, Belgium.
Many historians regard the Battle of the Bulge from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945 as the last attempt by the Third Reich to take power.
Monday marks the 75th anniversary of the battle, named after the bulge that the Germans created in a section of the Ardennes Forest through the American line of defense. At the end of the battle, Germany never came more than 70 miles from Antwerp.
The weather was the worst, a combination of heavy, wet, deep snow and fog actually affected the type of wounds that Hoke would see.
"We had no gun wounds because nobody could see each other," he said.
Frostbite was common because the feet had little time to dry in icy and wet conditions.
"Our biggest problem was that we had too many frozen feet at the relief station," he said. "I still think the doctors were happy because we had too many people with their toes cut off."
The snow also wreaked havoc when it supplied the men with supplies.
"We were on the Siegfried Line when (Gen.) Patton picked us up and got everyone he could up there. We weren't prepared for this kind of weather," he said. "We moved to the area where the 106th division had given 6,000 men to the Germans because they had no food and could do nothing but surrender."
Hoke is not sure of many of the lessons from the battle, but they have learned more about medicine on the battlefield.
"We learned one thing: if we brought a wounded soldier back to our station within 15 to 20 minutes, he had a very good chance of survival," he said.
Mount Airy Earle Lynwood Browning served in the 106th Infantry Division.
Browning, now 95, was just 18 when his officials found out he could type and sent him to an administrative position in the general's offices.
"It probably saved my life," he said in his house.
This is because the 106th were tired of fighting.
"The 106th Infantry Division had 15,000 soldiers," said Browning. "As a result of the Ardennes offensive, they lost half of them, either killed, wounded or taken prisoner of war. They lost about 7,500 soldiers."
He remembered trying to dig foxholes in the frozen ground, but only one person could get in. And he still can't forget the sounds of the Screaming Mimis, the nickname of the German fog launcher missile artillery that missed the troops and hit the nearby town.
"You could hear people screaming and crying when they reached the city," he said.
And when the missiles hit the ground, Browning sent him almost a foot across the ground.
With such a loss and destruction of life for his division, Browning said he had been reminded of it this summer. He was one of the people responsible for creating the certificates for Purple Hearts and other medals.
aftermath
By the end of the Ardennes offensive, the Americans had suffered 75,000 casualties, according to the US Army’s Military History Center. The Germans lost between 80,000 and 100,000.
It was a major turning point in the war and also showed the tenacity of American troops.
On May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was over.
Corey Campion, associate professor of history and global studies at Hood College, said the Nazis were confident of going into battle.
"D-Day's Allied offensive from Normandy had stalled by fall '44," he said. "I think some of their hopes were somewhat misplaced. Berlin and Hitler are far removed from reality at this point, but there is still reason to believe that they could actually succeed."
Middletown's Bob Smart is a lover of World War II history. He said what really won the fight was American strength and ingenuity.
"The Germans weren't really prepared for the amount of unplanned, accidental countermeasures by American units that slowed things down," he said.
(Source: Rhonda Vance, Mash Viral- 15/12/2019)
