You tell it like it was and I remember it, as a kid. But as you know, Ich liebe Hitler. So, reluctantly, 444.

CML, love the parody, so 555... but your comment about the Ardennes and the Russians is not accurate. To begin with the Allies since D-Day took a month to get off the beaches and into the French countryside. There, they met the Waffen SS as well as the German Army and LW ground units fighting in the hedgerows and USAAF bombing of French towns only angered that ally. The Allies identified and allowed Communist partisans to be betrayed to the Germans and all the real fighting was still done in the East. As the Ardennes goes, the Germans assembled roughly 50 divisions in total secrecy (along with tens of thousands of gallons of fuel and 50 freight trains worth of ammunition by rail) while Skorzeny's Kommandos dressed as US MPs and speaking english switched the road signs and caused a major diversion and confusion. The LW amassed 2460 aircraft for the start of the offensive but could not attack the 16 major Allied airfields due to bad weather; instead, the LW supported the ground offensive and used the jets Me-262 and Ar-234 in battle. In total, they killed several hundred Allied aircraft and performed 100s of sorties. The German forces quickly advanced forward towards their objectives but got caught in a pocket. Still, the fighting bought the Western German forces time so the war didn't end in Dec 1945 and even with withdrawl, it was due primarily to lack of ammunition and fuel that was not resupplied. Even the rearguard action delayed the Allied forces by blowing up Pieper's vehicles and support which was hundreds of tanks, AFVs, artillery pieces, Nebelwerfers, and so on for 2,000 more lives. The remnant escaped to rejoin German forces in the West and it was 5 more months until Germany surrendered to the Russians in Berlin. The fighting had always been more severe in the East than the West. What Hitler accomplished was a delayed potential collapse of the West in late 1944. It was a gamble for Antwerp and the Scheldt estuary, but withdrawing behind fortified lines to allow the enemy to walk right up to Germany's doorstep would have been more foolish. They may have lost the Battle of the Bulge but they did cause a delay and prevented the Western German forces from collapsing earlier. In fact, when the offensive was going in Germany's favor it gave brief renewal of patriotism and faith in the Fuhrer. Even at the end, Germany still had millions under arms and large parts of the nation as well as Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Channel Islands were still under German control. SS Werwolves operated in hit-n-run attacks, assassinations, and disruption of De-nazification until 1947. And most of the criminal Nazis escaped to S America while very few at Nuremberg were executed. The US, Britain, and USSR took many German scientists and war criminals to their nations to work for them on weapons development and space exploration, the most notorious being the US for taking in the Dachau doctors as "space medicine" experts and giving SS Captain von Braun and his rocket men US citizenship. Also, it should be noted that although Germany lost to Russia, the Germans killed 30 million of them (5x the Holocaust). Germany, for all its murder and destruction, suffered not that badly and the US as always came in last and took the least punishment, while taking the lion's share of German technology!

But, but .. Rob .. didn't the Ardennes Offensive exhaust the Panzer reserves and leave the Germans with virtually nothing to stop the Red Army once it broke through. I was always of the belief that Stalin delayed his Winter offensive to allow for maximum destruction of the Panzer reserves in the Ardennes gambit. I do understand the objective of reaching the Scheldt Estuary because that would have created huge problems in logistics, but even so, by the time the Germans reached the Scheldt the weather would have cleared and they would have been destroyed by relentless Allied air attacks

CML, by 1945 the Red Army had 20,000 tanks for use against Germany and another 20,000 artillery pieces opened up the Battle for Berlin. German production of AFVs of all types could never match the Allies and USSR. Still, Hitler cobbled together almost 50 understrength divisions to fight the battle and threw-in the Volkssturm units along with HJ of the SS. The Russians lost over 600,000 of their 2.1 million men in that final offensive against the Reich and Germany still had millions of troops scattered in the nations I mentioned above. 2 million German soldiers were marched back to the USSR from their sector to fix the damage done and 10 years later a couple of hundred thousand returned home to E Germany. The others died of starvation or were worked to death/murdered. German women raped in the eastern sector were 2.2 million but Stalin ordered a halt after 2 weeks. I agree that had Hitler achieved the goals of Antwerp and the Scheldt Estuary that the set-back would have been temporary at best. Allied bombing would be bad, but the Germans would have re-taken western airfields and still had enough fighters and flak to remain for a while. Bombers can't take territory and the port lost would have delayed supplies to those Allied troops in the West. Basically, the Battle of the Bulge bought some time for the Western German forces. Germany was in danger of Western collapse since Nov 1944 and it is amazing that Hitler was able to assemble 50 divisions with fuel and armament in mere weeks in total secrecy. The Western war was really over on April 22, 1945 when the US reached the Elbe and went no further per the Yalta agreement, leaving the Reds to take Berlin. The assumption that the Reich was cut in two is false b/c there were units still operating in the North, in central Germany, and to the South for the Redoubt scrapped plan. Instead, Hitler assumed that the 12th and 9th Armies would converge on Berlin to help rescue it. They were engaged and could not and there was no time to collect 3 million more forces scattered all over the Reich to fight in the East.

I should add also that Antwerp was hit by 1610 V-2 missiles and an unspecified amount of two smaller-scale V-3 weapons. Had Antwerp been taken, mobile V-2 units would have been set-up to hit Allied targets. The LW with airfield use could have used He-111s to drop V-1s by air as well ;-)

Well done 555 - so sad when the lives of so many people who just want it to be over have their remaining hopes and dreams snuffed out just weeks and months before the nightmare they've suffered through ends. We must never forget the axis powers in the east and west threw their children at the enemy rather than surrender. Using children as weapons has to be the most inhuman aspect of any war.

@Rob - though we are obviously diametrically opposed on issues such as religion and gun control, I usually enjoy reading your authoritative comments about 20th century warfare. But have you ever considered para breaks? I read your last two comments but there's no way I'm going to wade through that earliest one. If you're going to write so much try and make it more accessible.

By the end of the war, the 101st AB had reached S Germany, occupied Hitler's retreat at Berchtesgaden, and cut into Austria...

And speaking of 101st Rob, this song about the 101st ABN just happened to be my one hundred and SECOND submission at Amiright (102nd AMR ;-D) Missed perfect numerological congruence by THAT much

I enjoyed this parody for exactly the sentiment it was written in, which made me love the idea of them REALLY saying that to the enemy. Think I'll sidestep the deeper debate it's generated though, since I'm neither old nor knowledgeable enough to get into that! ;^) So this is part of a musical? Sounds like a fun project - good luck with that, and here's a 555 review for this number

Len-NIE! You magnificent BASTARD! Read YOUR SONG!!

There's another story connected to the NUTS! reply. When Major Wagner was leaving in anger, he tossed his blindfold to the side which PFC Leo Palma picked up. Not knowing the historical significance of it, he used it as a rag to clean his B.A.R. and threw it away!!!