The siege of Bastogne took place in atrocious conditions: the american troops were completely encircled by a huge german army, and had to face them 1 against 5 ; these same troops severely lacked winter gear and medical supplies ; it was the worst winter in recent memory in the region, and the weather had temporarily prevented any airborne supplies. Following the decision of the commander of the XL VII Panzer Corps, general von Lüttwitz, to encircle the city of Bastogne from the south and the southwest, and the execution of this order, during the night of the 20 to 21 december, the 7 roads leading to the city were totally blocked by the german troops at noon the 21st, thus effectively creating a situation of siege. However, a young nurse named Augusta Chiwy had had the time to enter the city before its lockdown. The young woman, born in Belgian Congo from a black mother and a white veterinarian father from Bastogne, where she lived since she was 9, had become nurse in 1943 despite the racism plaguing Belgium at that time. She was working in a hospital in Leuven, at 90 miles from Bastognes. She had joined her father in Bastogne from Christmas and had arrived on the 20th. The next day, nurse Renée Lemaire volunteered to one of the makeshift hospitals in the city. This hospital, ran by doctor John Prior, was already receiving lots of terribly wounded American soldiers. Lemaire told Prior about the presence of Chiwy in town. Prior didn’t hesitate and went straight to the Chiwy family, who were hiding in their basement like the other civilians, and asked for Augusta’s help, which he immediately accepted. Some soldiers had objections about being treated by a black nurse, to which Prior answered that they could also join the frozen corpses outside. Chiwy showed remarkable courage, taking care of the worst cases, and going outside to retrieve wounded soldiers under intense enemy fire. On December 24h, while Prior, some of his aids, and Chiwy were sharing a quick glass of champagne, to mark the date, in an adjacent building, a bomb exploded in the apartment transformed into a hospital, killing 20 wounded soldiers, and nurse Renée Lemaire. Augusta Chiwy made strong efforts to compensate Lemaire’s death until the end of the siege. It is only 65 years after that her story became known. Historian Martin King, specialized in the Battle of the Bulge, was able to trace her tracks and she shared her story with him. She was then made Knight in the Order of the Crown by the Belgian Minister of Defense, and received the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service by the Us Army in 2011.  

The Kampfgruppe Peiper was a ferocious armored unit notably composed of 5,000 SS Panzer Grenadiers, 40 new Mark V Panther tanks, 40 Mark IV Panzer tanks, 15 Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyers, 42 King Tiger tanks, 5 anti-aircraft half tracks, as well as its infantry troops. Its leader was Waffen SS Joachim Peiper, officer from the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. This unit is responsible for the Malmedy Massacre (the town closest to the location of the massacre), which took place on December 17th 1944, at the Baugnez crossroads, in Belgium. Peiper’s avant-garde opened fire on an American convoy composed of roughly 30 vehicles crossing the zone. It was quickly immobilized as the Americans were totally defenseless against the armored unit. The American soldiers surrendered, and were grouped in a farmer’s field, where the German soldiers opened fire on them, for an uncertain reason (the German and American reports do not coincide). A lot of unarmed soldiers were killed, and in the chaos that ensued, some managed to escape. After a merciless hunt, a total of 84 American soldiers were dead, and 43 had managed to reach Malmedy. This war crime, as well as the rest of the abuses perpetrated by the Kampfgruppe Peiper, who had already and had kept committing war crimes in the Bulge, were judged by the military court of Dachau in 1946.The Malmedy Massacre is the only one of this magnitude perpetrated on the American troops in Europe during the conflict. Photo n°1: Kampfgruppe Peiper advancing on Malmedy. Credit: United States Army in World War II. European Theater of Operations. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge Cole, H. 1964, p. 262. Photo n°22: Memorial in Baugnez, near Malmedy. Each black stone inserted into the wall is engraved with the name of a victim. Credit: American Legion.

The day following the start of the Battle of the Bulge, in the evening of the 17th December, general Eisenhower decides to send the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions (who were until this point in SHAEF reserve in Reims) in the Bulge to reinforce the American troops. Because the 82nd had been in reserve longer, it was better re-equipped, and moved out first, while the 101st left in the afternoon of the 18th. The terrible weather oscillating between drizzle and sleet, prevented any parachute jump, so the men boarded transport trucks to get to where they were assigned. The 82nd was dispatched in the northern face of the Bulge, near Elsenborn Ridge, to block the Joachim Peiper’s dangerous advance towards Werbomont. The 101st was headed towards Bastognes. the entirety of the division was inside the city in the morning of the 20th, a particularly providential timing, in retrospect!

Did you know that in addition to the historical first american airborne assault in Oran, another unique event took place during Operation Torch, which is the only real naval battle between the United States and France? It is the battle of Casablanca. If the French forces of Vichy greeted the American paratroopers with heavy fire (with their DCA and their Dewoitine planes) in Oran, the French army’s naval defense system was violently attacked by the American army in Morrocco’s economical capital, late during the night of November 8th. General Patton and his 35 000 soldiers was in charge of this assault, which was justified by the threat represented by the French fleet, composed of the Jean Bart battleship (although it was not finished constructing yet, it could open fire at the enemy), numerous cruisers, as well as the Richelieu battleship, which was stationed in Dakar. During the night, aircraft carrier Ranger, battleship Massachusetts, cruisers, destroyers and submarines approached the coast of the city, while infantry troops landed on the beaches. At sunrise, without warning, the United States attacked. Casablanca’s French fleet tried to resist against admiral Hewitt’s fleet, which was superior in number and in technology. The fight ended at the beginning of the afternoon. There had been heavy French casualties, notably multiple submarines, cruiseships, and destroyers. The day of the 9th was relatively calm but drenched in confusion and apprehension. In Algeria, the operations had succeeded, so Eisenhower started pressuring Patton, who wasn’t making as much progress: despite the encirclement, Casablanca was resisting. On the 10th, the French marine, supported by the Senegalese riflemen, fought the American soldiers. Two French avisos escaped a fatal destiny against the Augusta heavy cruiser. Around 4pm, while the surrender agreement had been signed but was not yet communicated, the American forces kept attacking the Jean Bart. Casablanca finally capitulated after 3 days of furious fights, which could have been avoided if the United States had prepared their operations better, considering that a great part of the French forces in the zone was keen to join the Allies.

On November 8th 1942, Operation Torch, which would become the first deployment of American paratroopers on the field, namely the 2nd Battalion, 509th PIR, in Tafaraoui, near Oran, in Algeria, started. General Eisenhower was in charge of the operation in itself. General Mark Clark was tasked to plan it to the best he could, and he worked on it with his airborne counsellor, a certain William P. Yarborough, who was one of the pioneers of the American airborne, and who had designed the jump boots, the badge and the M41 paratrooper uniform. In the night of the 7th, 556 paratroopers led by Lieutenant-colonel Edson Raff left for the longest combat flight of the history of American airborne troops: 39 C47 took off, without escort, from England, to cover the 2500km separating them from Algeria, crossing Spain, a country supposed to be neutral at the time. Their objective: seize the Tafaraoui and La Sénia airfields, near Oran. At the time, North Africa was still under Vichy’s control, and the Americans had no clear idea as to how the French troops would react. Above Spain, a violent wind separated the formation. At dawn, the planes scattered from Morocco to Oran. While the front planes began descending upon La Senia airfield, they were spotted and shot at by the DCA. Running out of fuel, 24 C47 crash landed on salted lake Sebkhra, near Oran, before being captured. Three C47 were shot by French combat planes ; four paratroopers and two pilots perished. Only 6 planes, including Edson Raff’s, managed to drop their paratroopers, south of Oran, after spotting an american armoured column headed to Sebkhra. Among the remaining planes, one landed in Gibraltar, on empty ; four landed in Spanish Sahara, where their crew and the paratroopers were made prisoners for 3 months ; three planes landed in Fez, Morocco, and were taken prisoners aswell, by Vichy forces this time ; finally, the last plane landed in the Atlas massif, in the desert, in front of a French fort held by the Foreign Legion, in Ksar es Souk. The operation’s results were obviously quite mixed. Despite the very light casualties and the effective taking of the airfields, it was not a military triumph for the airborne troops, who would still have to prove their utility during the next operations.

The day is october 23rd. On this day in 1943, a group of French SAS paratroopers of the Free France, led by lieutenant Pierre Marienne, made history: as part of a jump meant to test some material and jump techniques, they broke the world record for the fastest group jump. The 20 paratrooper stick jumped from its C47 plane in 7 seconds and 5 tenth, a record which is still unparalleled to this day! Furthermore, on this photo of the group (taken on the day of the record), there is a particular man named Emile Bouétard. Following France’s defeat, this breton caporal had managed to reach Great-Britain, and enrolled in the FNFL in January 1943. However, him and one of his comrades, having learned of the search for volunteers for paratrooper units, ultimately decided to enrol as such, and signed on February 25th. After October 43’s record and the end of his training, he was parachuted during D-Day with lieutenant Marienne, as part of Operation Dingson, near the Plumelec mill, in Morbihan. Once they hit the ground, while some of the members of the stick searched for the material dropped after them, Bouétard and the radio team stayed put. They were then sighted by a Wehrmacht detachment composed of Ukrainian, Russian and Georgian soldiers ; Bouétard was wounded then effectively killed, at 00h40, while his 3 comrades were taken prisoners, making him the first French man to be killed during D-Day. Several monuments were constructed in his honor, in Plumelec, and also in Pleudihen-sur-Rance, his birthplace.

In 1940, Ally troops (french, british and belgian) engaged in an attempt to resist the german invasion of France, known as the Blitzkrieg, fought a ferocious battle in the city of Dunkerque. However, a dangerous turnaround happened during the battle, where the troops were cut off of their rear guard by the german army. This is why, on May 26th 1940, Winston Churchill ordered the evacuation of the troops from Dunkerque. While the troops, essentially French soldiers, would stay behind to hold off the germans, fighting bravely to protect their comrades’ boarding, the rest would be transported to England. On the 1st day, only 7500 men were evacuated, but at the end of the 9th, on June 4th, 198 229 british soldiers and 139 997 french, totalling 338 226 soldiers, had been evacuated, thanks to a colossal fleet composed of 850 ships, obviously gathered in urgency. This operation, who started as a fateful turning point for the allies, ened up as a success, because 85% of the soldiers had been saved, at the expense of the 50 000 casualties. This rescue operation was codenamed Dynamo, for the naval HQ’s room housing the dynamo located under the castle of Douvres, where the british vice-amiral Bertram Ramsay planned the operation, in accordance with Churchill. On this day, we wish you a great Assumption week-end, and have a thought for the bravery of the french soldiers who stayed behind to fight