Word: rundstedts
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...last summer. Could the Germans get out? It was well to remember that last summer, when the Wehrmacht was less ably commanded than it is now, the Germans who had seemed hopelessly bottled in the Falaise trap were able to extricate five divisions of armor almost intact. If Rundstedt was content with the delay and damage already wrought against his foes in the west, he might be able to pull back to the West Wall without serious loss...
...Rundstedt set up his attack like a chessmaster. Good guesswork or good forecasting told him the Rhine Valley would be covered with weather the first two weeks of December. Under such a blanket he moved divisions with a minimum chance of Allied air observation. His G-2 never functioned better...
...night of Dec. 1.5 Rundstedt's guns began to hammer with deadly precision at the U.S. positions on the Belgium-Luxembourg front. His attack was swift and sure. Spearheaded by the 1st SS Panzer-the Adolf Hitler Division-his point rammed two U.S. divisions on the northern flank, overran a third like a tidal wave...
...this desperate push Rundstedt threw away the rule book. There were reports that hundreds of U.S. prisoners were stripped and shot for their clothing and identification tags. In any event the leading elements of the German columns were in many cases American jeeps loaded with German troops in U.S. uniforms and equipment complete to dog tags. German tanks and trucks were marked with American stars. The deception was highly successful and forced U.S. Military Police to make time-consuming checks of all vehicles using the roads in northern France and Belgium. American slang and American lore became the one sure...
...first three days of the breakthrough the weather was still a German ally. Then it deserted Rundstedt. From the fourth day until last week the Ninth Air Force had some clear hours every day to press home its attack on German motor columns and supply trains...