Many people think the only Luftwaffe operation during the Battle of the Bulge was Bodenplatte, but German fighters were very active from the start of the Ardennes Offensive trying to support the ground troops as they advanced from 16 December 1944 onwards.
Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA, is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers ‘Zero Night’ and ‘Castle of the Eagles’, both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Felton
Visit my audio book channel ‘War Stories with Mark Felton’: https://youtu.be/xszsAzbHcPE
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the ‘Comments’ section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the ‘Comments’ section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Bundesarchiv
Sources:
– ‘Battle of the Bulge 1944 (2) Bastogne’ by Stephen Zaloga (2004)
– Snow & Steel: The Battle of the Bulge 1944-45′ by Peter Caddick-Adams (2014)
– Last Assault’ by Charles Whiting (1994)
28 Comments
I actually already knew about this. I only mention this because it's the first time that's ever happened!
Mark, thanks for all you do.
I remember being a young kid , and like since the age of 4 or 5 I was always watching things like WW2 in color and World at War. It's great to have a trip down memory lane and seeing some more new awesome material and stories of the war.
read the book TO WIN THE WINTER SKY
Striking shot of the pursued plane detonating at 4:43. Assuming it wasn't 1940s SFX, perhaps a fighter-bomber's own not-yet-dropped payload blowing it to bits?
Excellent work, as usual.
Some new footage I have not seen, awesome.
A lot of german planes involved in „Bodenplatte“ were shot down by friendly fire as they were returning from their attacks.
Reason: german AA batteries were not informed in advance so they mistook returning planes for allied fighters.
Oh yes, this was talked about in your presentation of Operation Nordwind. Thank you, a good amount of work goes into these videos.
What is "the bulge"? I grew up in the very western part of Germany near the point, where the borders of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium meets, but I never heard of a region called "the bulge" … 🤔
Yes!! Happy you covered this. very fascinating
Thanks
The problem with the German plan was that they could not afford the losses in aircrews and aircraft. The Americans on the other hand made up the losses in aircraft within a week and there were hundreds of pilots in reserve waiting for assignments. The same with German armor and artillery, the Allies built hundreds of tanks and guns every week, while the German factories were being bombed into rubble. The Germans diverted men and material to a battle they could not win while the Russians continued their successes on the Eastern front.
1min 26..GARBAGE,,,Monty did not plan market garden, why lie Mark Felton? MG was down too Brereton and you know it,,stop with the porky pies Mr Felton
Once again, shining an expert light on some of the other campaigns during WWII.
Happy Xmas to all other fans and to Mark, wishing you all a fantastic 2023!
I always type 'like' before watching his videos cos I do know it´s right and interesting.
The favorite topic of the Western media is The Battle of the Bulge
Although interestingly, the last serious city siege that decided the end of the war was not exactly the Battle of the Bulge, but the two-month long siege of the Hungarian capital Budapest
(it's no wonder that not much remains of the former world-class city, which was razed to the ground by Russian heavy artillery and American bombers during the day and night)
There were no special fights in Vienna, probably Hitler wanted to spare Vienna from the war, only at the cost of minor fights, but the Red Army managed to pass through Vienna without any problems
Although, according to Hitler's own admission, he does not have many good memories of the 5 years he spent in bitter misery in Vienna as a construction worker or as a street painter, in addition to the fact that he considered it a beautiful city (and the Austrians did not reward his anti-Semitic statements at that time, he was, therefore he also spent his lunch breaks alone, but there were times when he had to leave his workplace because his colleagues wanted to beat him) but he nevertheless spared Vienna from destruction at the end of WW2
Then came the roughly 2-week siege of Berlin, which the Russians easily took (by then the Germans had completely run out of soldiers, ammunition, and weapons) and by the time the allies arrived, the Russian NKVD had already packed up everything and took away everything that could be moved.
In fact, Hitler's last successful offensive was the Ardennes offensive, where they managed to defeat the American troops fairly well, but this was also due to the fact that most of the American soldiers sent there were inexperienced recruits, while the Germans sent SS soldiers who had already been on the Russian front a long time ago, the the Americans had no idea about the field conditions while the Germans knew it exactly, and specifically there were problems with the American military boots themselves, they got soaked very quickly in the heavy snow: more people were hospitalized with pneumonia and colds than with combat injuries
Hitler carefully considered weather factors, deliberately choosing foggy and cloudy weather so that Allied planes and bombers could not destroy the German troops
By the way, you can see who the most successful fighter pilots of the Second World War are. that many Germans find among them the mild expression in the first place
When you make videos nazis is finland? we dont have videos telling about nazis and finland frendchip when nazis was in finland or finland ppl was in german frontline.
Thank you
Mark are there any stories about JG 44 that you can make videos on. I always found that last part of the war for German pilots to be an interesting period where even tho it was all lost they still treated allied pilots with the utmost respect
The huge number of all Allied troops did not allow the Luftwaffe to act as it was necessary. The shortage of fuel and other military supplies, and especially the very active actions of Soviet troops in the east with huge offensive actions in the main territories of Nazi Germany forced the Wehrmacht to divide all remaining forces and reserves, including the air force, to stop the enemy's offensive both in the east and in the south and in the west… Therefore, despite the numerical superiority of the British and American air forces, the Germans partially managed to seize the initiative and achieve tactical success in the Battle of the Bulge and scare the Americans and their allies. In addition, the decisive advance of Soviet troops in the east helped to reduce tensions on the western front, including in air battles with more experienced and well-trained but already few Luftwaffe pilots at that time.
Thank you for the great
Video,s .
So good
Dr. Felton, thank you for yet another great documentary! I don't think much of the French as fighters, however there was one French unit fighting against the Luftwaffe along side with the Russian/Soviet pilots. There were from Normandy, I believe. It would be great to watch a video/documentary about them. Thank you again!
Its interesting that some commentators and independent reportages are likening Ukraines current position in the conflict with Russia.,to Germanys Ardennes battles. Thanks Mark for the Ardennes history.
Watch on the Rhine was so wasteful while the Soviets were so ready for a massive assault on the Eastern Front…
A statistic from the Bodlenplate Operation, due to the secrecy behind the mission ground crews were not informed, 25% of the Luftwaffe loses were due to their own AAA.
All of us are indebted to Mark for what we can learn from his videos. To him and all of his fans I wish a Frohe Weihnachten und ein gesundes neues Jahr!
I didn't think there were hardly any flying German aircraft remaining at the time of the bulge. As I understand it, there were even fewer pilots than planes…
If he had online classes, I would just ask, where do I sign up? It would be worth every penny.