If the germans would of caught bastonge?

if the germans would of caught Bastonge would the germans have lasted longer i think there would of been no way the germans would of won?
what do u think?

 

If the germans would have got bastonge that would have drug the war out a few months longer but they would have lost

 

A little fact many people fail to realize is that while the crossroads of Bastogne was one of the main objectives of the initial advance of 5th Panzer Army, when it was found to be too heavily defended the 26th VG division was left "guarding" it more or less while the advance westward simply ploughed on. Only after the spearhead was defeated did Hitler order assaults on Bastogne to take full form (with, among others, the movement of the remains of 12st SS to the area); the taking of the city and its roads would facilitate retreat. This and the prestige of it was the reason for the "real" part of the siege of Bastogne. In other words, taking the city would only have sped up the German withdrawal which means a little stiffer resistance later on, but since the Allies failed to trap any German units in the counteroffensive the difference would have been slight.

 

Roel beat me to it.

 

not a sausage!!

 

no fuel dumps there either

oh well

 

I don't think it could make war longer, only US army would have to fight about a week longer.

 

Capture of Bastogne was from the start seen as necessary for securing left flank of advance. 26.VG Divizion was tasked with its capture together with some help from Panzer Lehr div.
5. FJ Division securing extreme left flank was inadequatly equiped with mechanization ( NO panzers and only few StuGs) and advanced to slowly. That ment that it didn't neutralize Bastogne ( cutting it off from south). Therefore US reenforcments arrived just in time to stop the advance of Panzer Lehr toward Bastogne and 26.VG Div. was tasked to capture Bastogne by itself as primary job of Panzer Lehr was to push forward Dinant. Not a job for infantry division without armoured back up.
When 26.VG Div. failed, potentialy dangerous situation developed as Bastogne was nerve centre for communications in the area and would be almost ideal staging piont for US counter offensive.

Capture of Bastogne would probably shorten the war. German comunications and supplies shortage would probably result in another Falaise. British units to the North-West were simply too strong to be encircled and together with US forces to the South would trap German forces. For these reasons German forces could never reach Antwerpen.
That would mean that germans would loose some of the best remaining units and equipment and would be considerably weakend. Similar thing happened few months later when Models army group was encircled and destroyed.
As a result crossing of the Rhein would be made easyer.

 

The 5th FJ really did manage to complete the encirclement of Bastonge through cutting the southern roads, though. 4th Armoured then had to break through this division, which caused 3 to 4 days delay in the relief of the 101st. I think you are referring to the fact that the 101st was allowed to sneak into Bastogne and set up a perimeter around the city before the Germans reached it; however, this was largely due to the heroic actions of 10th Armoured.

 

The German 26th did not do such a great job

 

Concerning 5.FJ Div I didn't refer only for stoping 101.st but also 10th armoured which reinforced Bastogne at the beggining. According to plan they should cut trough south of Bastogne and cut it from rest of US forces on the first day. While 26.VG.Div should take the town at the same time. Both were considerably slowed by tanacious resistance from small US formations stationed in towns and villages on the main route of advance.
That gave Americans time to bring in first reinforcements ( 10th armoured) and to organise resistance.

It's a simple fact that German high command uderestimated will to fight of units that were attacked directly and of possible reinforcements and cetanly did't count on rapid reaction of US forces.

About 26.VG Div. this was renamed battle hardened 26.ID that was reinforced with untraind men and was practically without any armoured component. They came upon remmanents of various destroyed US formations, remmanents of 10th armoured Div. and 101st Div. In those circumstances they didn't fare that badly.

 

The location of 28th Infantry's 109th and 110th regiment in the area directly east of Bastogne was crucial in those early days, and they did most of the delaying that eventually cost 47th Tank Corps and 7th Army their objectives. 26th VG can be said to have performed rather badly against the 28th on the first days, being unable to break the American infantry around Clervaux despite massive numerical superiority.

 

This has nothing to do with the topic of this thread but has anyone else besides me wondered why a native English speaker would use a phrase like "caught Bastogne "?
I have never heard that word used like that before. Surely caught can mean captured in some contexts but not when referring to a town.
This has bugged me since I first saw it.

Anyway..nevermind..go about your business...go back to your homes peaceably and there won't be trouble :kill:

 

Duck and cover?

Maybe the word is used here as a synonym for "siezed" which can AFAIK be used in relation to cities or locations.

 

Yes, but not commonly in English...
Ooops, we're in yet another fine language mess!

 

"would of" ? - I'm sorry, can't help myself either

 

I think that if they captured Bastogne, it would have lasted maybe 2 weeks. They would have more fuel, yes, but remember the secret to their initial success in their plan was catching the Americans by suprise. Once the Americans mobilised, the Germans were not much of a threat Imho.

Tomba

 

Read the post I made above; the point I was making is that the Germans would have captured Bastogne only as a means of easing their retreat from the wester part of the Bulge, and therefore it would not be in their interest to hold it for any longer than was necessary for troops west of the crossroads to retreat eastwards through the city. I doubt they would have been able to hold out for more than one week against the concentrated efforts of 3rd Army (which, in the event, were less than concentrated) but it would have sufficed to give the historical result of no units being captured during the Allied counterattack.

 

Rgr that. Maybe it would have lead to earlier surrender if a large group of the Germans surrendered in the city should they have captured it. Who knows...

Tomba

 

thanks 4 responding guys