“If those Hun bastards want war in the raw, then that’s the way we’ll give it to them!”—General George S. Patton
Personally making all the orders to drive his forces north through Luxembourg, Patton restructured, resupplied, and continually pushed his men forward toward Bastogne. While Patton was perhaps the finest armor commander ever in the Army, his subordinate, Colonel Creighton Abrams, was equally formidable. Patton called Abrams one of the best tank leaders of the war, and later, at the end of the Vietnam War, Abrams became Chief of Staff of the Army.
Abrams was born in Massachusetts on September 15, 1914, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1936. Unlike Patton’s “spit and polish” image, Abrams did not care for the rigid discipline of West Point, received demerits, but was a born leader who rose through the Corps of Cadets.
Twenty-one years after Eisenhower’s West Point graduating “Class the Stars Fell On,” Abrams’ fellow graduates fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, with sixty of them promoted to general. A former cavalry officer, Abrams witnessed the late-1930s outbreak of hostilities in Europe and quickly recognized the future importance of tanks in warfare. He was known for his leadership in the 4th Armored Division, as he and Patton formed the team that broke the German “stranglehold” on Bastogne. Abrams was a tough, uncompromising officer, and one colleague once remarked, “That son of a bitch will be Chief of Staff of the Army someday if he just keeps his nose clean.”
Commanding the 37th Tank Battalion, Abrams disengaged from a battle 125 miles away to assault the southern portion of the German bulge. His tanks struggled along treacherous, icy roads, but he kept both armor and infantry moving toward Bastogne. When his tanks fired, ice clouds formed from the blasts, making it difficult to determine whether they had struck the enemy. One of Abrams’ officers bluntly described the conditions: “…It was cold as a bastard.” Visibility was so poor that crews could barely see the tank ahead of them, yet confidence in Abrams’ leadership never wavered.
On December 17, 1944, near Malmedy, Belgium, the Waffen-SS and elements of the German Wehrmacht murdered captured American prisoners. Hitler permitted such atrocities in an effort to instill fear along American lines. At the start of this surprise attack, Battery B of the 285th American Field Artillery Observation Battalion was heading toward St. Vith when its men were captured. Colonel Joachim Peiper, a former adjutant to Heinrich Himmler and a notoriously brutal officer, led the German 1st SS Panzer Division, Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
More than 20,000 prisoners of war were taken during the early stages of the battle, making it one of the costliest engagements of the war. At the Baugnez crossroads, 113 American soldiers were captured; 84 were murdered in what became known as the Malmedy Massacre. After the shooting stopped, German soldiers kicked wounded prisoners in the testicles to determine if they were still alive. If they moved, they were executed. Some Americans survived by playing dead and later crawled to safety.
In 1946, at Dachau Concentration Camp, Peiper and seventy-two of his men were put on trial. While many were sentenced to death, none were executed. By 1956, the last remaining prisoners convicted of this war crime were released.
Growing up near Highland Falls, New York, the town surrounding the United States Military Academy, actor Charles Durning was a decorated veteran who later starred in more than one hundred films. One of nine children, Durning lost five sisters at an early age to scarlet fever and smallpox. His mother laundered clothes for West Point cadets, and his father, an Irish immigrant, became a U.S. citizen by enlisting in the Army. A wounded World War I veteran, his father had been exposed to mustard gas and died at a young age.
Durning later shared the screen with Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Burt Reynolds, and Dustin Hoffman, earning nine Emmy nominations and two Academy Award nominations. He left high school early and was drafted into the Army at age twenty. One of the first Americans to land on Omaha Beach, Durning saw many soldiers killed around him. He killed seven German soldiers, was wounded by machine-gun fire, and later suffered shrapnel wounds from a land mine.
After months of recovery, Durning returned to the line during the Battle of the Bulge, where he was stabbed multiple times by a German soldier. He defended himself by killing his attacker with a rock. Shortly afterward, he was captured by the Germans and survived the Malmedy massacre. By the end of the fighting, serving with the 398th Infantry Regiment, he was wounded again and saw the war’s end in Germany. Private First Class Durning received three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star. He died in 2012 at age 89 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
As Eisenhower worried about the survival of the 101st Airborne, Patton believed the German offensive was losing momentum due to shortages of men and supplies. Battling both enemy forces and brutal weather, Patton addressed his troops:
“To each officer and soldier… I wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s blessing rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day.”
He also ordered his chaplain to compose a prayer:
“Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously harken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee, that armed with Thy power we may advance from victory to victory, crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.”
Patton’s operations slowly gained ground, though at great cost. The 4th Armored Division lost ten tanks during the fighting, and fears persisted that the Third Army would arrive too late to save the 101st. As Christmas approached, surrounded troops in Bastogne shook hands and prepared for what they believed would be their last stand.
Abrams pressed his tanks forward and narrowly escaped death when his jeep struck an American land mine. Improved air cover soon followed, with P-47s striking German positions and C-47 cargo planes dropping supplies to the 101st—some falling into enemy hands due to the proximity of German lines.
Outside Bastogne, Abrams counted on just twenty tanks to capture the German-held town of Sibret. With the situation deteriorating, he made the independent decision to bypass the town and drive directly into Bastogne. Though it meant disobeying orders and risking court-martial, one of his tank commanders later said, “It was then or never. And he took the calculated risk.”
Pushing through enemy positions, the Germans attempted to slow the advance by throwing land mines into the path of the American armor. When Abrams’ tanks finally reached American lines, the exhausted soldiers of the 101st were so dug in that they initially refused to leave their foxholes. Only after prodding from the 4th Armored Division did they emerge to welcome the tanks into Bastogne.
Eisenhower continually pressed Patton for updates, and Patton famously messaged General McAuliffe: “Xmas Eve present coming up. Hold on.” Patton also ordered hot turkey dinners for his soldiers on Christmas. On December 26, he delivered Eisenhower a late Christmas gift—the corridor into Bastogne created by Abrams’ daring action.
Though controversial and nearly sent home by Eisenhower and General George C. Marshall, Patton’s brilliance in armored warfare proved decisive. With the British unwilling to mount large-scale operations, the Third Army’s rapid disengagement and redeployment into the Bulge campaign proved critical. Writing to his wife Beatrice, Patton reflected:
“The relief of Bastogne is the most brilliant operation we have thus far performed and is, in my opinion, the most outstanding achievement of this war. Now the enemy must dance to our tune, not we to his. In the morning, we are starting on a new series of attacks which may well be decisive. This is my biggest battle.”