Tommies in the Ardennes - The Battle of the Bulge 

An under discussed subject explored today! If you have enjoyed this show, please don't forget to click like, leave a comment for other viewers and if you have not done so already please SUSBSCRIBE so you don't miss our next streams. You can also become a member of this channel and support me financially here ru-vid.com/show-UCUC1nmJGHmiKtlkpA6SJMeA. Links to any books discussed, WW2TV merchandise, our social media pages and other WW2TV shows to watch can all be found in the full RU-vid description. Lastly, my own book Angels of Mercy is always available online - more info here www.ddayhistorian.com/angels-of-mercy.html

This was an outstanding presentation. Jonathan's detailed research and passion for history really comes through. The British involvement in the Battle of the Bulge is overlooked and discounted in the US and needs to be corrected.

The history underground Channel sent me here

From the American point of view the first part of the battle we got steamrolled and the rest was just a miserable experience reminiscent of the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War. It was that bad for the American psyche. We won but we also lost a hell of a lot.

Very very informative show today! Boy did I learn a lot! Definitely one to rewatch! Thanks Woody and Jonathan!

Couldn't watch live unfortunately. Learned lots of new stuff. Jonathan is very passionate and very driven. Great show, thanks Paul and Jonathan. Like the rest of thius community, I'll be waiting for his book.

There is one constant in the Military throughout history no matter what country you're from " Hurry up and wait" Great session Thank you Johnathon for putting a light on really the only British unit that saw action in the Ardennes battle. I has always wondered what happen further north of the northern shoulder. My understanding from an old acquaintance who was a professor of history in Belgium that the whole area from north to south was and still in some places difficult to travel under winter conditions.

Thanks for talking about the weather. I'm 66 years old and have worked outside all of my life. I often thought of those men in the war, and the fact that they fought and slogged and slept without thinsleate, no Goretex, just leather and wool, and a sleeping bag with down. Down is great as long as it is dry. Wool will keep one warm even if it is wet. Thanks for this piece!

Prof mark Felton did a doco on the British Northern Flank ages ago where Monty stopped the germans as well

Excellent listen. We hardly ever hear about the British role in the Ardennes. Though comparatively small, its a story that needs telling. I totally get you with the American jibes about the British being slow. The truth is, the Americans were no quicker. The Hurtgen Forest and Lorraine were the biggest and slowest failures of autumn 1944, while even in Normandy, St Lo was taken just as much behind schedule as Caen. Yet all these seem to be swept under the carpet and instead fingers are pointed at Market Garden and Caen. Such hypocrisy. Cheers. Loving the channel.

Very interesting presentation. Glad to hear more of other forces involved in this battle. Thank you Jonathan and Paul!!

My dad was with ordnance company on Guadalcanal. Albeit after the island was declared “secure”. His unit suffered many of the same hardships as the grunts. For example.. spam, navy beans, cocoanuts, extreme heat and endless rain. No clean sheets for his men, nor him. Some 2 years in that slimy s**t hole. And they managed to supply the front line units until the Solomon Islands Campaign ended in late 45.

Much like when we (1/11 ACR) went from Fulda to Wildflecken… comfortable weather in Fulda to a 10-30 degrees ( estimated) colder in Wildflecken. Weather in Germany was very fickle

Thank you Paul and Johnathan for another unknown ( to me) subject. I’ve been learning a lot from your shows about Britain and Commonwealth forces. Keep it up guys! Amazing stuff.

Thank you Johnathan and all other WW2tv guests for sharing your hard work. Spread the WW2 historical wealth.

Some of the county roads ( trails really) in Germany so icy that a 60 ton M-1 could easily become a “Armored sled” if the drivers went a tick too fast. Frightening. 37:18

Marvelous presentation Johnathan. Another British action education for the benefit of all.

Absolutely brilliant by Jonathan and yourself. Showing the correct amount of light on the British experience effort and not overshadowing the obviously US efforts. Jonathan's book is something im very excited for, those 53rd Welsh Veterans will be proud for the efforts that Jonathan has done for showing the real history. Your channel is pushing a great conversation on WW2 topics that i never knew about.

Great presentation. From what I have read the US Army 12th Army Group went ballistic when Bradley was sidelined and Mongomery replaced him on the recommendation of Gen Walter Bedell Smith. Bradley threatened to resign over the Issue and Eisenhower was at odds with his own army. The solution was to down play British involvement, airbrushing them out of the battle. Even going as far as trying to get Monty fired after the battle. This would not fly and Bedell Smith talked Eisenhower down, Bradley got promoted and poor Monty was ordered to issue an apology for his post battle comments.

“Tribal Knowledge”. Sad these brave men didn’t write it down.

A friend once told me his grandad fought in the Battle of the Bulge, which surprised me as I thought it was an US battle. I remember him saying that his grandad abiding memory was of fog.. all kinds of tanks going in different directions and appearing randomly out of the mist (I think he was on an anti tank gun).

Excellent work. Fascinating and well researched. Wargamers have a lot to answer for - In the 60s and 70s toy soldiers used to come with stretcher bearers and occasionally someone carrying supplies but wargamers seem to think those are 'wasted' figures, that is the John Wayne version of war. Since retiring I pass my time making up toy soldier sets to give away to less well off folks and they have medics, cooks, stores and supply dumps, military police for the traffic management over bridges etc. Thus far (10 years in) the kids seem to enjoy all the detail but the parents are often surprised that it isn't all so simple. You should re-make The World at War as 200 2hour episodes, I'd watch it and I think the kids would as well.

For what its worth, just noted in my copy of the history of the 116th Panzer Division by Guderian, there are extracts from the diary of 116th adjutant Major Fritz Vogelgsang. For the evening of 5th January 1945 he writes: " In front of our left sector, the British 53rd Division now showed up, and the 'English' are unpleasantly tough". A testament to their impact, Id say.

Interesting to note the British care and concern for the lives of our fighting soldiers.

Sorry Paul missed a few of your live streams recently ie on the Battle of the Bulge etc, Been helping a friend who is getting back to health who has been very poorly. Interested in this one, just started watching this episode. My late father was called up to Royal Welsh Fusiliers ie I think 3rd Battalion in April 1940, before passing for the 6th Airborne Division in 1943. If I am right the 6th Airborne Division, which was there in the Bulge from about Christmas Day ish 1944 to February 1945. Bande massacre etc. Dad always said never felt so cold!! Don’t know have much action the 6th Airborne was involved with?

My grandfather was REME attached to the Highland Light Infantry, 71 brigade, 53 Welsh and was part of this. He talked about entering a farmhouse at New Year. It was full of drunk US soldiers who had drunk the alcohol based anti freeze from their vehicles and were throwing hand grenades around in a game of catch. The Brits left and later there were some casualties. I guess a few weeks of heavy fighting had made them fatalistic. I now live and work in Luxembourg, and my Belgian colleagues say that’s their grandparents made winter ponchos for the allied soldiers from their white bedsheets.

Wish I could have watched this live, as it was at this time my Uncle was killed while in the 7th RWF after originally landing in Normandy with the 8th Liverpool Irish. I would love to find out more about his journey, according to family history he was due to go on leave to be married only weeks before his death. Thanks again to both Jonathan and you Paul for presenting this very interesting and very poignant to me as this January 5th was the 77th anniversary of his death.

A great show by Jonathan last night. Very well presented. Also a big shout to Trent Telenko on mentioning about German shoebox mine detectors.

A great, fair & balanced presentation from Jon covering a topic we don't to hear too much about - other than Monty's OTT claims at the end. Yet another episode I've managed to catch up on.

Hi, my father was in 12th Devon’s, 6th Airborne, he said they never got the winter clothing. The photos of British troops in winter gear was the Ulsters I believe, and propaganda photos.

There certainly was a British involvement in the Ardennes Offensive (AKA the Battle of the Bulge), and they fought bravely for what they did. However, compared to America's contribution it was a very small contingent. Not to disparage their contribution, but it's understandable why it's overlooked. All history should be available, but for various reasons much IS overlooked.

Wow. I love the approach to history you guys have. Thanks

I can confirm that an inch of snow paralyzes the English (I'm from NE US but took a semester abroad in the UK not too long ago) you guys had less than an inch of snow and canceled everything

Thanks Paul and Jonathan for an excellent presentation and discussion.

Very much part of the global picture and how massively the western allies depended on one another.

Fascinating stuff, but please, Recce is pronounced “Rekkie”, not “Reckay”😉

Jus looked at Dads war records, he was in the 4th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, not 3rd as I stated below. Jonathan’s stream was brilliant. Thank you both

Just a thought, but what about doing a series on each major nation's small arms production and how that affected small unit combat doctrine for those countries in WWII. You go to war with the army you have and not the army you wished you had.

As a ex infantry soldier, in Afghanistan, we was sent out miles, no hot food, no showers no beers lack of sleep, whilst all the support units, lived in luxury and a very different tour clean beds hot food, safe on a big base. Combat units always have it tougher than everyone else. I got very angry at non combat units, as i view them as spoilt little brats

Jonathan Ware...an enthusiastic historian it is fair to say!! Excellent stuff..............

Really interesting details. It's not about who won the battle, it's all about the realities of the armies in the Ardennes, and they were grim.

Wonderful show. Thank you

I will give you this the information and interviews are excellent DON'T agree to everything on some conclusions yet it does make you think 🤔. Keep up the great work.

A bit late to the party but I always remember BD very fooking itchy

JD and the History Underground sent me here. Glad to see him working with you and now I have another great channel to view content from. Spent 5 years stationed in the UK from 1983 to 1989. Much respect for the UK and its long and honorable military history. The British fought and died like any other country in WWII. Monty's attitude at times did not help. Glad to be on board!

Old video by now, but very good and informative.

Refreshing to have a channel that gives a British perspective on WW2 rather than an American.

This was awesome. Thank you Jonathan!

just out of curiostiy would anyone know which British regiment fought the most battles in ww2 or was around from the start of the war and fought all the way through to Germany ?

Love the channel and the content is both emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

At first I was going to comment that you couldn't possibly have a 200% casualty rate but then I realized that he's talking about replacements coming in and being injured so the casualty rate can be over 100% if you have turnover two or three times.

I’d hate to try and keep up with Mr Ware when he’s feeling healthy. An interesting presentation. My career was in surgery and I can attest to how important an evidence based approach is to replacing biases and anecdotes with repeatable data and logical conclusions.

A very informative and enjoyable presentation. Sorry I missed this one live.

Another great presentation!

Superb show. Great guest.

You hit another home run! Your shows are always excellent but over the last month it seems the bar has been raised and the content has been phenomenal! Thank you, keep up the good work.

Outstanding. There always seems there's something I didn't know. Good show.

Impossible not to hang on every word ! An incredible presentation, one of the best, that is so laden with history. No soul -shattering bullet points. I learned so much. Wow!

Rather than the Americans and critics use the term burnt-out, I'd say we where veterans, throughout the war 💪🇬🇧

Would love to hear a true account of the 53rd without a desire to appease others. We are all historians. Let's look at the finer details. .. I am an American

Great to have British factuals on here as there is so much on the US. Map would have helped!

Postscript to my comment, having now seen the whole presentation. This is a fantastic channel and a great idea to have historians present their findings. Brilliant. However, I was surprised that Jonathan Wade was not introduced - who is he? - nor the details of his book. Next, I'd have appreciated some detail on his sources, as so much data is biased and in so many different ways. Then my earlier comment on the lack of a map now relates to the overall lack of context. I was surprised there was no detail of the overall strategy - how was the logistics organised - I assume there was a major role by the Royal Navy and possibly the RAF. What was the deployment of the various units - parachute troops were mentioned in passing as having snow gear but overall numbers, types of unit etc were not. Kit - same problem - how many tanks? What types? And so on! Johnathan was very clear on details of the ground but not the terrain or the wooded areas - I've just seen the cycling race Liege-Bastogne-Liege and it was a revelation! The early detail of the conditions did not just apply to the British - E H Carr in his book "What is History" tries to delineate the significant from the mundane. This is not easy but if we are interested in the role of British forces, we need to concentrate on the significant elements which were unique or at least very significant to that focus. I hope I'm not being too critical but earlier presentations of this battle by other historians did follow those significant attributes. Perhaps Johnathan's actual book addresses these? My best ANZAC wishes to all - from here in NZ. Neil

Remember British army stayed in the war long before the yanks got involved

Great show, I have picked up the slang, rece, arti and spang. Great detail, maps and pictures.

One of the important things about soldiers clothing is does it still keep you warm when wet? The other aspect is removal and carrying of this gear when marching. I dont think the great coat could be carried while marching. Some gear would go with the QMS.

Board? What board? Never read of this.

Great episode!

I’m sorry, but I could not make out 50 percent of what he said due to his accent.

Charles Whiting, now deceased, brought out a series of books on the seifrieg line/ battle of the bulge.He were an officer in the British army at the time of ww2. He wrote a book on the British involvement of the Bulge