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World History

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irisblue

(36,690 posts)
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 11:46 AM Wednesday

American troops captured by the Nazis in the Ardennes in Dec 1944 [View all]

1. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/captured-in-the-bulge/


snip-"In the middle of December 1944, the Allies held a 400-mile front—from Nijmegen, Holland, in the north to the French-Swiss border at Basel, in the south. Occupying the northern end of the front were the British and Canadian Armies of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s 21st Army Group, while General Omar Bradley’s 12th U.S. Army Group were emplaced along the southern end.

Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges’s First U.S. Army, to which the 106th Infantry Division was now attached, had the broadest sector to cover—from Aachen to the southern border of Luxembourg, a distance of 120 miles. To the north was the Ninth U.S. Army (Simpson) while to the south was the Third (Patton)."


snip-"The 106th Division was inserted into the line near St. Vith, along the Belgian-German border, with the 99th Infantry Division on its left flank and the 28th on its right. Because this was a “quiet” sector where little or no enemy action was expected, the Army felt that this would be the perfect place to position the division so that the inexperienced lions could become gradually accustomed to life on the front lines."


snip-"The roads were packed with thousands of U.S. servicemen (some 8,000 Americans had been taken prisoner) being marched into Germany, many of them toward Prüm, a small city on the German side of the border."

This article speaks about how the Nazis separated Jewish troops from Gentile troops



Source 2-https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-16/battle-of-the-bulge

snip-"The battle raged for three weeks, resulting in a massive loss of American and civilian life. Nazi atrocities abounded, including the murder of 72 American soldiers by SS soldiers in the Ardennes town of Malmedy. Historian Stephen Ambrose estimated that by war’s end, “Of the 600,000 GIs involved, almost 20,000 were killed, another 20,000 were captured, and 40,000 were wounded.”


The United States also suffered its second-largest surrender of troops of the war: More than 7,500 members of the 106th Infantry Division capitulated at one time at Schnee Eifel. The devastating ferocity of the conflict also made desertion an issue for the American troops; General Eisenhower was forced to make an example of Private Eddie Slovik, the first American executed for desertion since the Civil War."

More there






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