Battle of Bulge

The Battle of the Bule was a german offensive that occured during the end of WWII in the forests of the Ardennes mountain region. This offensive battle wa splanned with the highest level of secrecy and the Germans at the end, were left defeated. Their armies had suffered extraordinary damage, this battle was the turning point in the war. After this battle the Germans became more afraid of the ruthlessness from the American soldiers who even after being shot would keep coming at them with no stop. American resistance played a key part in this battle, and afterwards the war was changed forever, because America soon came in favor of the upper hand. During the Battle of the Bulge, many troops and batallions played significant parts driving out the German forces faster than could have been thought, and one of these companies contained Ronald N. McArthur. McArthur was the first gunner in his section of machine gunners. He was part of the 45th Division Heavy Weapons Company belonging to Patch’s 7th Army. His troop was set up on high trails n opposit sides in the wood, along with machne guns, and 30 caliber machinery, they also had a number of tanks by their side. Throughout the day while waiting in the brush jumping at every cracked twig ir sudden fall of snow, they were hit in mid-evening when they were hit by an enemy artillery troop.  

Pictures (in order): Merry Chritmas Hitler, Forces hiding in the snow drifts, A lost soul after the battle, Identifying the dead and deceased, An American Soldier waiting in the Snow, and a Soldier waiting for the battle. 

Shrapnel was flying everywhere along with viciously shredded trees, branches, and shrubbery. McArthur at one point told his assistant to man the gun at all costs so he could go forward about 300 feet and cut some logs that had fallen from the shells so that they could be placed over his troops hidden foxhole. When he was cutting the fifth log, a German sniper that had hidden in front of a tank that was near the logs and who had stayed behind after his troop was driven out, shot out and hit McArthur clear across the face. He stumbled and collapsed in the snow that was over a foot deep; luckily the bullet was soft-nosed and left shrapnel in his face, mouth, and cheek, and it did not mortally wound him. But it still had created substantial damage, it went through one cheek and exited out of the other side taking almost all of his teeth and gums. He felt numb, and thought that his tongue was gone until he checked to see what was left and found it in his mouth intact. He had a slash on his face from beneath his eye all the way to his right ear. With the odds on McArthur’s side, the medic that was standing nearby came and patched him up with medical powder and bandages. His jeep came by shortly after and he and another GI was evacuated to aid stations and hospitals before he finally made it back home to the United States. He not only helped drive out the Germans from his section of the forces, but survived a bullet to the face and gave many men the spirit and pick me up that was needed after fighting in the snow without provisisons, boots, or adequate shelter. If the battle of the bulge had been fought in another location, could the Americans still have obtained the ace needed to turn the war if they had fought somewhere else than where they originally did?  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bulge/sfeature/sf_dispatch_rnm.html