Some pictures of the spot today and some well known photo's of back then.

Quote:

On December 18, 1944, very early in the morning, the American "14th Cavalry Group" had gotten in an ambush of the German "Kampfgruppe Hansen" on the road between Poteau and Recht. Propaganda movies were made by the Germans shortly after those fights and the numerous photos are often used as typical photos from the Battle of the Bulge.

For more information read: Ardennen Poteau '44 Museum - The Official Website => History.









Notice the M1 .30 Carbine used by this German soldier.


The spot today.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Nice ones!

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Nice thread!

Very nice Nick!!
Thanks for the "then and now" pics!!

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...this army made up of ex-resistence men and named by the Prince Himself, became known as the STOOTTROEPEN(Stormtroopers).
Nulli Cedo = I'll give way to no one.

Scott

Very nice thread. I've got a book that was written by an American Soldier who was in that area and or a survivor of the Malmedy Massacre. I'll see if I can find what box it's in and tell you more about the book. Anyway, the reason I mention said book is because I think it had soem good info about what you just posted? If not this book, then the volume that Roland Gaul did on the Americans.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

thanks for the nice pics well done the one with the soldier with the
belt of ammo around his neck would he be a .SS.man ??
best krieg

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for thow . will be ours someday .we shall have it all
. . und mear

Unfortunately, the 14th Cavalry Group got alot of what it deserved. Its command was not the most competent bunch on that front, especially given their more veteran status. Colonel Devine, the group commander was more concerned with spit and polish than combat readiness. He was also loath to integrate the attached tank destroyer battalion (3" towed) into his unit; instead relegating them to the Northern flank of his sector on their own.
The XO went missing early in the action (obstensively he went to "get more ammunition") while Devine left his CP and was out of contact leaving no one definitely in charge. As Devine had made little effort to tie in his flanks with the green 99th and 106th divisions he left these two units vulnerable when his own front collapsed and fell back through the Losheim Gap.
Not a stellar moment for the US Army.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

Interesting information!

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Thanks for that.
I saw their website when planning my Ardennes trip back in February.
As I couldn't do everywhere in a week I'm pleased to see someone got there and did the Then & Nows I had hoped to do.
Thanks.

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A ghost of 'Then & Nows' past.....






OK - no 'Volksturm' jokes......

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Haha!! Great!!!!

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

That's OK MArtin, we all know you served with the 62nd Peoples Grenadier Division ;-)) And they actually were a hard-fighting Division-so no insult there ;-))

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Yes - the legendary 'pink shirts' Division....

Seriously, I love that sequence of Poteau photos. We've all seen them a thousand times, I know they were of course posed for the PK-Berichter, etc, but what a fantastic resource they are of images of late-war front-line Waffen-SS troops.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Haha nice!

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Have you seen the runner looking back on his opponents? It looks as if they are 200 meters behind! What a fighting face we can see.

Really impressing!

Mats

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Mats R

They are all Waffen SS.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Hi Martin, this Div had in the neighborhood of about 25 Knights Crosses as well as about the same of German Crosses in Gold. I don't think the pink thing, was a trend until after about mid to late 1943. ;-))

Anyway, you look graceful, when crossing that road ;-))

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.