Panzer Killers - 3rd Armor in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) 

I recommend Blogger's book Death Ground very. Good too 😅

Gen Bolger's first book Dragons at War is well worth a read. It's an account of his battalion's experience at the National Training Centre in the early 80s. As a series of observed and recorded 'force on force' exercises, it's a battle history from both sides and the 'dead'. One event is straight out if Duffer's Drift...

Outstanding. "Minnesota cold" puts the Ardennes weather in perspective. My uncle was a USCG XO on the Eastwind, a new combat capable icebreaker in 1944, captured an icebound German weather ship off Iceland which was keeping the German's intelligence people informed of those important weather fronts which aided the staff planners in timing the initial assaults in unflyable weather. Losing that weather ship had its effect on German planners. There's a really nice side to that action. The captain of the weather ship chose to surrender to save his crew, but he told my uncle that he needed some time to "put things in order" before he COULD surrender. Somehow he was able to communicate that what he meant, that he needed to disarm the SS contingent whose orders were to blow up the ship, fight to the death. The crew was successful at that necessary detail. Nobody killed. Navy Cross to him and his Chief Petty Officer who was a German American and was fluent. That ship was sailed into New London and recommissioned as a U.S. weather ship in 2 weeks. Lotta moving parts in "combined arms."😅

I have a picture of Victor in front of a 1/2 track with a Thompson,,I believe he was on a quad 50 vehicle,command b Task Force Richardson

I'll have to check to see which unit my father was with. He was a half-track (sergeant so vehicle commander?). He may well have known your grand dad. I'm living in Germany 20-30 miles from the 3rd Armored assault path to Cologne. Everyone talks about Patton's 3rd Army, 1stg Army, 3rd Amored Div. stands out as the equal or better. Got it: 36th Armored Infantry Reg., 3rd Btn, I Co. I'm pretty sure Combat Command B

My great uncle Joe Bowie was 36th AIR. He died on July 11 in Saint Lô.

@@ashleymeggan I appreciate his service! So many amazing young men died fighting to free Europe and the world from evil! Much respect! 🙏✝️🇺🇸🕊️

You're very welcome. It's shows like today's that I hope will lead to more people becoming Patrons and members

Most GIs of Italian Campaign disliked Clark. He should have cutoff the German 10th Army instead marching into a undefended Rome.

I will have Daniel Bolger back, definitely

well said. I completely agree.

Thank you Mark. Yes General Bolger was brilliant

Thanks, will do!

That's some high praise there. General Bolger was certainly very very good

Clark has strong competition in that regard, look up General Bragg who Fort Bragg is named after (both of them California and North Carolina)).

Clark still took Salerno,Naples and Rome while monty was stuck in the heel appropriately. Not great but not grate either

Johnny No Wiki or your bloated backside,this is a respectable site don't shyt it up as you're prone to do.Burns some Brits and I'll let you count the GI units - you'll need you fingers and toes From the History of the US army Naples-Foggia 9 September 1943-21 January 1944 The Fifth Army comprised the British 10 Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Sir Richard L. McCreery, and the U.S. VI Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ernest J. Dawley. The invasion force's assault echelon consisted of two British divisions (the 46th and 56th) from 10 Corps, but because of a shortage of landing craft, only one division from VI Corps participated: the U.S. 36th Infantry Division, a Texas National Guard unit commanded by Maj. Gen. Fred L. Walker. Three U.S. Ranger battalions, commanded by Lt. Col. William 0. Darby, and the 2d and 41st British Commandos were also in the assault element. Two regimental combat teams from the U.S. 45th Division, an Arizona National Guard unit commanded by Maj. Gen. Troy Middleton, served as a seaborne reserve. Clark expected to meet some 39,000 enemy troops on D-day and about 100,000 three days later after German reinforcements rushed to Salerno. He hoped to land 125,000 Allied troops. The British 10 Corps on the left was to land its two divisions abreast south of Salerno. The U.S. Rangers and the British Commandos were to land at beaches west of Salerno and secure the left flank by seizing key passes through the mountainous Sorrento peninsula between Naples and Salerno. Control of the passes would permit a rapid exit from the Salerno plain and protect the beachhead from German counterattacks from the north Once the British 10 Corps was reinforced by the British 7th Armoured Division beginning on D plus 5, McCreery's corps would swing north and advance toward Naples. On the right, after the U.S. 36th Infantry Division was ashore, the U.S. 45th Infantry Division and other American units were to follow as soon as possible. The U.S. 34th Infantry Division, a North Dakota National Guard unit commanded by Maj. Gen. Charles Ryder, the U.S. 3d Infantry Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott, and the U.S. 1st Armored Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ernest N. Harmon, would come ashore through Naples, which Clark believed would be in Allied hands by D plus 13, or 23 September. The U.S. 82d Airborne Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Matthew Ridgway, was to be held in reserve on Sicily. Plans to drop the 82d as a diversion along the Volturno River, sixty miles north of Salerno, and on Rome, had been canceled. Eventually Clark's Fifth Army would link up with Montgomery's British Eighth Army advancing from BAYTOWN.

Sorry johnny they showed up just like 3x as many GIs,but i respect them - can't say the same for you

Burns your neither funny or accurate so quit crapping up the comments like you've done with your personal life

Thanks for the comment, but just checking. You do realise Dan was a Lieutenant General and this was literally his job right? You are absolutely right when you say there are lots of people saying all sorts of things on RU-vid, but as i say, Dan has qualifications to talk about doctrine we can only dream of

​@@WW2TV Of course he does, hence the slight disappointment. Most of the evidence mentioned is firsthand accounts. Firsthand is great for impressions, which works well for his discussion on the personalities of the generals, but that is not the main topic of this lecture. Primary sources can't be the only thing behind your thesis. Compare this to your guest on the D-Day obstacles. Plenty of actual reports and official documents cited and corroborated with the firsthand accounts and "myths" to see what was real and not. Practically, the guest's thesis/discussion is reversed. "Unkillable tanks" didn't suddenly appear, and the Allies had to create "combined arms" to counter it. The Allies had the doctrines down pretty well by landing in Normandy. When some of these heavy tanks appeared (not that often), our well balanced doctrine and emphasis on mobility was more than enough to handle them. For example, he mentioned not having many 76mm guns. But what was the actual number in the ETO? What was the estimated number of Panthers in the ETO? How many estimated KO via tank, or bazooka or artillery? I though it interesting he mentioned Fury, as the perseverance of tropes led to the inaccuracies portrayed in the film. But this lecture has those tropes! No, I am not an expert on this. I am nobody. I only note there is a lot of content out there, and the conclusions are different and are thought out more convincingly. That's all I can personally do really, listen to it all and see what stand out.

o7

Thanks for sharing

Deeds not Words..the 36thAIR motto

Thats very interesting. My father was in the second battalion HQ company of the 36th armored infantry regiment. I have the personnel directory of the 3rd Armored. I see A Norbert E. Kruczkowski, PFC. His home address was on Cambell Ave., Chicago. This person was in the same exact unit as my Dad, Charles Pawlak Corporal. Could this have been your father in law?

o7

Just tour any Civil War battle site and compare the Union and Confederate cannons. The South valued cavalry and infantry.; the North artillery.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad you liked it!

Hi William, check out Tank Destroyer week ru-vid.com/group/PLDG3XyxGI5lBrtQ9o0kTkpBHE35dna9oT And while you are there, don't forget to subscribe please

He was very important!

Wonderful!

Indeed. And he's clearly no biased American. Excellent to see an American historian rightly praise Montgomery and rightly criticise Hodges etc.

He wouldn't agree with your spin/slander why don't you repeat to him how "Monty was the greatest allied general" or whatever that happy horseshit is.After he is done reaching for a bucket you'd get a much different answer

@@bigwoody4704 Can we keep the exchanges polite please. In terms of the Ardennes General Bolger did indeed praise Monty and criticise Hodges

@@WW2TV Bolger said Monty was moved over in Bradley's absense.Yes but these two have denigrated the GIs before..They have done so on many boards and they start out slow then it's a shitfest after they get their foot in door.Burns/Lyndon have stated unabated that Monty saved the GIs arses - their words.I'd link that for you but your board won't allow it .You may have read already where I said stop shyting the board up - might want warn the Angels...ya we'll go with that on the other side of the isle

You're welcom

To be fair, the overwhelming vast majority of German equipment was not finicky and unreliable. Even with armour, over 80% of what the Germans built were not the big cats. 80% were lighter than the Sherman, and quite reliable. Even the Tiger did not have a terrible operational average overall, for a heavy tank (65%-70% according to Tom Jentz in Germanys Tiger Tank) and could be repaired and overhauled by the front line battalion workshops. The reliability dwindled very low in 1945 but that also applied to the more simplistic Stugs and Panzer IVs. All German armour types suffered a low operational rate in 1945 when Germany ran out of spare parts and recovery and repair personnel and vehicles etc.

@@johnburns4017 My basic point was that one of the great advantages the US had over the Wehrmacht and Imperial Japan was the fact that field serviceability for US equipment dictated by the contracts the US War Department made before WWII paid dividends. In the Pacific campaign the only fully fit dry dock on the Pacific Ocean was Bremerton, Washington. The rest we had were stretched between Norfolk, Virginia to Long Island Sound. The topic of this video was US Armored in WWII. When the Stuart came into service with the 8th Army they called it the Honey. The P-51 Mustang first came into service with the RAF and by D-Day it had very many squadrons equipped with them. Do you not think they loved that aircraft? Not that American equipment was the best and the most technologically advanced always, but robustness and serviceability is always a huge plus. That was my point.

What I meant by fully fit dry dock was warship construction dry docks. Many times in the Pacific War the only dry dock able to repair a capital ship, heavy cruiser and up, that was heavily damaged below the water line was either in Bremerton, WA or on the US east coast. A significant fact considering how effective the Japanese long lance torpedoes were.

RIP Bill

Partly true

Wow, thanks!

The Stolberg area probably

Disagree about McNair, he was one of the few who fully understood combined arms

My thoughts exactly

The 75 was an excellent HE, but poor AT gun. US doctrine then didn’t promote tank vs tank, emphasizing dedicated AT guns for the job. That’s why the British armored platoons used only one Firefly for AT eventualities, retaining the 75 for the journeyman work. Also, US doctrine was, in mobile combat, “hold ‘em by the nose and kick ‘em in the pants”, according also to my dad, an Army vet of that time.

​@@rinathecat6199 That assumption is incorrect lad

Oh? Can you explain yourself?@@gotanon9659

One of the best yes

Welcome aboard Daniel

I am the daughter to my fathger Lee Garrett in a tanker as a tanker who was tanker tor the whole 3rd.

You two were phenomenal. A lot of times you try to draw your guests out, they don't respond. You two should do a weekly show.

Well, it would be boring if we all had the same views

@@WW2TV most definitely. Thanks again for all the amazing talks you host. Easily the best WWII channel for good researched content out there 🤝🏻. Thinking of trying to write my own book over the next years about US combat engineers formations. Gotta put my degrees to good use.

Yep, that's exactly what we do here. There are other 900 videos of the same format on the channel. What else were you expecting?

Mostly in TD battalions