Remembering the Bulge

Mitch Berg reminds us that today marks the 61st anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge. Mitch includes links to one of my favorite stories of heroism and bravery -- the story of Lt. Lyle Bouck and his platoon of scouts pinning down and delaying 3,000 Germans, killing hundreds of elite German troops. The stories are here and here.

I first read the story of Lt. Bouck in Junior High. It was in the "Battle of the Bulge" book in the Time-Life series on WWII. I don't believe these books are still in print, but if you're looking for a great gift idea for a young person or adult who is a WWII history buff, you couldn't go wrong with these. I think I read 2/3 of the 39 books our school and public libraries had in stock. The books have general history, interesting individual accounts and amazing pictures.

There are amazing accounts of bravery and tremendous history lessons in the story of the Battle of the Bulge. If you haven't seen the mini-series "Band of Brothers" a couple of the episodes have a tremendous portrayal of siege of Bastogne through the accounts of E Company of the 101st Airborne Division. The set is the best 12 hours of television I have ever seen and would be another great gift idea. The CNN story above references a new book "The Longest Winter" by Alex Kershaw. I might have to check that one out as well.

Mitch also raises two other great points: The movie "Battle of the Bulge" was perhaps the worst WWII movie ever made (In my opinion it's close between that and Kelly's Heros), and Mitch opines on how Joe Biden would have reacted as the German's counterstrike pounded allied forces. Fortunately, the word quagmire had not entered the U.S. Congressional lexicon, yet. Read the rest.