The US airborne enters the Hurtgen Forest in Germany in the autumn of 1944 and are soon facing the coldest winter on record. Troops start freezing to death. The Germans discover the technique of air bursting their mortars with deadly effect, as American Arnold Whittaker found out: 'The first night I was caught in tree bursts... they would hit the trees and explode and then come down like hot ragged metal and hit you... a 19-year-old kid... after one day I'm a veteran.' Losses were high. Soldiers like 18-year-old Gil Nelson had never been in battle before. He arrived on the frontline straight from training. His memories are still vivid: 'So much mayhem, the sound, the... sight of blood, the death of people... the screams.' By now the Allies were up against a German counter-offensive at the Battle of the Bulge. Frank Camm, a US army officer, had to take out German bunkers. 'At first we'd take a flame-thrower if there were any infantry there to get them out the way... we'd have a soldier run down with a satchel charge of explosives, swing it against the door with the time fuse on it, run back around the corner and then it'd explode and when it would the back door would blow in and the concussion would be such it would knock out everybody that was inside. Recorded By World at War
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LearningTranscript
00:00Almost 70 years ago.
00:05These men were boys just out of school.
00:08In one fell swoop.
00:10You ceased being a boy and you became a man.
00:15So young to be caught up in the world's darkest hour.
00:20The last year of the Second World War.
00:25Now in old age, these...
00:30Precious few survivors are all around us.
00:34Hidden.
00:35In plain view.
00:38This is the last chance to hear what...
00:40What really happened first hand.
00:45German bodies, Canadian bodies, British bodies.
00:51The smell.
00:54The stench.
00:56That's war.
00:59That's war.
01:01From the landings on the D-Day beaches...
01:04...
01:05To fighting in the Battle of the Bulge in a...
01:10...freezing winter.
01:11And storming through Europe uncovering the true horrors of Nazi Germany.
01:15How can human people do that to other...
01:20How can they do it?
01:22How can they do it?
01:26It's their story in their words.
01:29Not the one written by...
01:30...generals and historians
01:35After all these years, I still need some metal.
01:40Where there's original film, we'll see where they fought.
01:45Where Archive doesn't exist, we'll use real bombs and weapons to illustrate what our veterans
01:49wear.
01:50I'm sorry.
01:51I'm sorry.
01:52I'm sorry.
01:54I'm sorry.
01:55I'm sorry.
01:56I'm sorry.
01:57I'm sorry.
01:58I'm sorry.
02:00This is the story of the final year of World War II in Europe.
02:05As told by the last war heroes.
02:10I'm sorry.
02:11I'm sorry.
02:13I've been to the last war.
02:40I spent most of my time in foxholes.
02:45December 1944 deep in the Ardennes.
02:50On the edge of the German border.
02:51Nineteen-year-old private Arnold Whittaker was dug into...
02:56his foxhole.
02:57To keep busy, we...
03:01We would improve on it.
03:03We'd make it wider and deeper and then...
03:06With our ingenuity, we'd always seem to find some kind of straw to...
03:11put in the bottom.
03:13We'd take our pictures of movie stars.
03:16I.e., Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth, and we'd find a stick and stick them...
03:21on the side walls.
03:22We'd dig a hole in there to put our canteen in there.
03:25And the irony of the whole thing, it was typically an idea...
03:30build size and depth for a casket.
03:35From Michigan, Arnold had never...
03:40left the United States.
03:42Soon after basic training, he was sent straight to...
03:45to the front line.
03:46To the front line.
03:50and see if you have some clues.
03:51Where did we find it?
03:52Pl bunsięcy Myers?
03:53Where is the
04:03King of Sedik noticed this?
04:06idorah is...
04:10Ok.
04:11Sawyo thick...
04:12leaves.
04:13Up.
04:18hit you. Many of the guys were injured by
04:23splinters. It hit them and explode and they come down like arrows.
04:28One blew my helmet.
04:33It blew my M1 away. I was a 19-year-old.
04:38I was a 19-year-old kid reaching around on hands and knees in the dark.
04:43Because without your helmet and without your M1, you're useless.
04:48You're nothing. You're just cannon fodder.
04:53I was a 19-year-old kid.
04:58I was a 19-year-old kid.
05:02I was a 19-year-old kid.
05:03Now, after one day, I'm a veteran.
05:08I was a 19-year-old kid.
05:11The allies had already fought.
05:13I was a 19-year-old kid across the beaches on D-Day.
05:17Survived.
05:18Survived.
05:20Slaved.
05:22To bloody street battles at Arnhem.
05:23Germans all the way back to their border.
05:28The front line now stretched from the tip of Holland.
05:33As far south as Switzerland.
05:35The General's new objective was to break through the entire...
05:38Siegfried Line.
05:40400 miles of heavily defended fortification.
05:43The final barrier into the heart of Germany itself.
05:47The fighting now...
05:48is concentrated in the densely forested region of the Ardennes.
05:53How to encompass the hill flag.
05:57Wherever you were here...
05:58We'll see you next time.
06:03Yeah.
06:08We knew the winter was coming.
06:11It starts with a very cold...
06:13blowing wind and just snowflakes just here and there.
06:18But the flakes aren't actually flakes, they're in little balls like pellets.
06:23It turned into the...
06:28coldest winter on record.
06:33Getting supplies through to the men was often impossible.
06:39We weren't properly equipped.
06:40We didn't have parkers.
06:41All we had was that damn heavy...
06:43the overcoat.
06:44And once that overcoat got wet, it weighed a ton.
06:47So then they said, well put your...
06:48plastic grain coat over it, you put your plastic grain coat over it,
06:51then you're like a zombie.
06:52You can't move your hand.
06:53Because it was so tough.
06:55But we were stealing.
06:58We liberated the white pockets from the Germans.
07:01When we captured Germans, we were...
07:03taking their pockets.
07:04Now we found out parkers and pile caps and everything had come up to the rear,
07:07but the...
07:08the guys in the rear kept them all.
07:09Those guys up in the line never got them.
07:12So needless to say...
07:13especially the 82nd, when they got relieved and went to the rear,
07:16they beat the hell out of the rear.
07:17People...
07:18everybody they saw wearing overshoes, galoshes or a parka, the air bones just...
07:23automatically beat the hell out of them.
07:28The temperature was so bad, our K-ra...
07:31The temperature was so bad, our K-ra...
07:33the water rations were frozen.
07:35So many times the little wooden spoons would break.
07:38So we liberated Sterling spoons and...
07:43carry them in our pockets.
07:44And then from a sanitation standpoint, like a dishwasher...
07:48we would always sanitize them by doing this and stick them in our pocket.
07:52It was filled with dirt.
07:53Well, it caught up with us.
07:55We ended up with the worst case of dysentery.
07:58And when you have dysentery, you don't say to...
08:03Mother Nature, let's postpone that for an ideal time to satisfy...
08:08you.
08:09If you had the goal and...
08:13and artillery shells were coming in.
08:14If you had the...
08:18do something with your pants or wet your pants...
08:21In other words, the decision was based on...
08:23life or death.
08:24.
08:29.
08:30.
08:31.
08:32.
08:33.
08:34.
08:35.
08:36.
08:37.
08:38.
08:39.
08:38.
08:39.
08:40.
08:41.
08:42.
08:43.
08:44.
08:45.
08:46.
08:47.
08:48.
08:49.
08:50You
08:55I don't know.
09:05You were absolutely shit scared most of the time.
09:10Air bursts cause multi, multi wounds in all.
09:15All sorts of places.
09:17You'd get limbs being...
09:20Ripped.
09:22Parts of limbs being ripped.
09:25Bored working in a munitions factory.
09:30At just 16, Bill Edwards lied about his age to join up.
09:35He was now a stretcher-bearer with the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.
09:40I remember one guy I knew...
09:45He knew quite well, and his entire back was skinless.
09:50From neck to waist.
09:53And he was in a lot of trouble.
09:55A lot of agony.
09:57And I gave him morphine.
10:00There was no chance of covering the wound.
10:02It was too big.
10:03I gave him morphine.
10:05And a couple of doses.
10:07And he was pleading with me to shoot him.
10:10So I had to say to him, sorry...
10:15Mate, that I haven't got a weapon.
10:17I can't do that.
10:18In any case, I couldn't do it because you're going to be...
10:20all right.
10:21And you're lying through your teeth.
10:22Because you knew he wasn't going to be all right.
10:25You're lying through your teeth.
10:26I know I didn't want to live my head.
10:28You're lying, I don't want to acknowledge you.
10:29I was ready to talk to him.
10:30I wanted to talk to him.
10:31So I was just a guy who looked at him, I don't like him.
10:33I don't know.
10:33I like him.
10:34I don't know.
10:35I like him.
10:35I was just a guy.
10:37I was fine with you.
10:38I was just a man who made a young man.
10:40I was like, uh...
10:41I'm an old man.
10:42I was a father.
10:43He was essentially a friend who he was a girl.
10:47So I, he was a kid who was not by a man.
10:49When I was one of my brothers and brothers, I was like, you know...
10:51I was like, you know...
10:52And I centraled the side of that machine gun along the receiver, I called.
10:57It Jive and Joan, and that was a little lady that I knew back then.
11:02Back in my high school days.
11:06Carl, with his machine gun.
11:07Had fought all the way from the Normandy beaches.
11:10With no airdrops,
11:12he was now bogged down in a freezing cold forest.
11:15We're in this hole, I've set up...
11:17And I had this kid as an assistant gunner.
11:22Word came that mail had come in.
11:26I told him,
11:27You stay here and I'll go back and get the mail.
11:29Well, this kid had a package.
11:31And by this time...
11:32Getting all the way from the stage.
11:34It was pretty beat up to begin with.
11:36You know, I had...
11:37All this mail and stuff heading back for the hole.
11:42Artillery concentration came in.
11:48And when it did, I hit the ground.
11:51And when I did that...
11:52The package came the rest of the way open in this pecan bar.
11:55They make them here in South...
11:57Georgia.
11:58They're very high calorie.
11:59They're just delicious.
12:00They came flipping.
12:02They came flipping out of it.
12:04And you see...
12:06You just...
12:07You just lose all sense of...
12:11...
12:12You just lose all sense of morality.
12:13Because I knew.
12:14My instinct told me.
12:16You just lose all sense of morality.
12:17Because I knew.
12:18My instinct told me.
12:18That that kid was dead.
12:21So I...
12:22I picked up that bar.
12:24And ate it.
12:26And sure enough, when I...
12:27I got back to the hole.
12:29He was dead.
12:32And I can't even remember.
12:36And I can't even remember.
12:37His name.
12:38I don't remember.
12:39His name.
12:40I don't remember.
12:43That's what combat does to you.
12:46You live like an animal.
12:47And you react like an animal.
12:48And...
12:50But...
12:51You know...
12:52You get over it.
12:53When you get back to civilization.
12:54And...
12:55You know...
12:56I used to...
12:58Wake up...
13:00In the night.
13:01And say...
13:02Here they come.
13:03Here they come.
13:04Here they come.
13:05You know...
13:06I'd catch my ship.
13:07But...
13:08I've sort of outgrown it by now.
13:10And...
13:11You never...
13:12Forget it.
13:13You don't want to do it again.
13:14But you just never forget it.
13:17You don't want to do it again.
13:19Fighting through the coldest winter in decades.
13:21The...
13:22Allies were still advancing towards the sea creed line from the west.
13:25And the Russians closing in.
13:27One from the east.
13:29Hitler's armies were losing on both fronts.
13:32Remarkably Hitler took one last gamble.
13:37And secretly amassed troops and armour behind his western front line.
13:43Then on December the 16th 1944.
13:46He launched a massive...
13:47counter-attack through the Ardennes.
13:49Pushing allied lines back into Belgium.
13:52This was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge.
13:58Instead of chasing a retreating army.
14:00Suddenly...
14:01Exhausted...
14:02Allied soldiers were up against Germany's most experienced and reinvigorated units.
14:07And...
14:08And...
14:09And...
14:10And...
14:11And...
14:12And...
14:13And...
14:14And...
14:15And...
14:16And...
14:17And...
14:18And...
14:19And...
14:20And...
14:21And...
14:22And...
14:23And...
14:24And...
14:25And...
14:26And...
14:27And...
14:28And...
14:29And...
14:30And...
14:31And...
14:32And...
14:33And...
14:34And...
14:35And...
14:36And...
14:37And...
14:38And...
14:39And...
14:40And...
14:41And...
14:42And...
14:43And...
14:44And...
14:45And...
14:46And...
14:47And...
14:48And...
14:49And...
14:50And...
14:51that the quartermaster wouldn't find him.
14:56We wouldn't find him until spring.
14:59So what we did, we took the M1 and...
15:01and put the bayonet on it and stuck it in the ground
15:04so it would stand up that...
15:06that high so the quartermaster would know
15:08that there's a dead GI there.
15:12Because after a while with enough snow,
15:14there weren't mounds.
15:16So...
15:17So...
15:31The counterattack had caught the Allies.
15:36The Germans were now racing to control the small market.
15:41It was a great town of Bastogne, with seven major highways passing through its centre.
15:46It was a vital crossroads.
15:51Allied generals knew the Germans had to be stopped.
15:54All leave was cancelled.
15:5922-year-old Lieutenant Frank Gregg of the 101st Airborne Division was on a three-day...
16:04A runner came down and he says the Colonel wants to...
16:09to see you right away.
16:10So I took off or up the road.
16:14I knew something was serious.
16:16And he says, we are moving out...
16:19As soon as we can load the trucks which are coming in now...
16:24And going to a town called Bastogne...
16:29Because we've got to get there before the Germans do.
16:34These are the men of the US 101st preparing to set off for Bastogne.
16:39With Easy Company was 20-year-old Ed Shames.
16:44So we got on trucks with the equipment...
16:49that we did not have.
16:50Nothing.
16:51We had almost nothing.
16:52I mean absolutely nothing.
16:54We had no overcoats.
16:56We had no overshoes.
16:57We had no...
16:58We had no...
16:59We had no gloves.
17:02I didn't know where we were going.
17:04What we were going to do there.
17:05We drove...
17:06We drove...
17:07We drove...
17:08We drove...
17:09We drove...
17:09We drove...
17:10All night.
17:11Up the French highway.
17:12The Belgian highway.
17:13We pulled...
17:14We pulled into a big barnyard.
17:16The commander says...
17:17We pulled into a big barnyard.
17:18The commander says...
17:19Get your troops off...
17:21And...
17:22Come daylight...
17:23I want you...
17:24To get up this road here.
17:28You run into the...
17:29The Germans...
17:30And...
17:31Stop them.
17:32I say...
17:33You...
17:34Yes sir.
17:35They were attacking with divisions.
17:37The Germans were.
17:39And I had...
17:40One rifle company...
17:41With about a hundred men.
17:44We went...
17:48We went...
17:49The minute we got there
17:54And our whole medical company that was on the tail end
17:59Of our command was cut off
18:02They were captured
18:03The whole command
18:04The whole medical union
18:09The Germans were all around, everywhere
18:12180,000
18:14Jumps
18:20And that's why we fought
18:23The Germans
18:24The German army began to close in on the troops defending Bastogne
18:29The German army began to close in on the troops defending Bastogne
18:32Refugees were killed
18:34Coming in to Bastogne
18:36From the way I was going
18:39And I knew what that meant
18:42The Germans weren't very far
18:44Behind
18:49And there come the Germans over the hill
18:52So we ran together
18:54On the side of this hill
18:57And
18:59I
19:00Deployed my men on both sides of the road
19:03The Germans
19:04The Germans deployed their men on both sides of the road
19:07And we
19:08Fired
19:09With each other
19:10For the rest of that
19:11Afternoon
19:14The Germans
19:19I don't know.
19:24Oh, it went from bad to worse.
19:29Oh, it went from bad to worse.
19:34Oh, it went from bad to worse.
19:39Oh, it went from bad to worse.
19:44Bastogne had now been under siege for...
19:49The weather prevented any possibility of air support...
19:54The 101st were surrounded...
19:59...and cut off.
20:04One of them dug into a foxhole with jiving Joan, his trusty machine gun.
20:09Was Private Carl Beck.
20:11We were 17 or 18 years old.
20:14And the thing that you feel, of course, is a little bit of...
20:19...fear, pretty much of the unknown.
20:24But the greatest fear, to me, and I'm sure I expressed this for my comrades...
20:29...the greatest fear for me was to let my friends down.
20:34We're a couple...
20:38We're a couple...
20:39...the commander was named Hilton.
20:41He said, Beck, get your machine gun to get up there and fire...
20:44...this is what we call a final protective line, an FPL.
20:48It's got a different...
20:49...name nowadays, forwarded to the battle area or something.
20:52The idea of an FPL is to...
20:54...get interlocking machine gun fire and let the...
20:57...infantry walk through it.
21:11I looked out to the next morning and the...
21:14...airman's hanging over the barbed wire fence, you know, trying to get...
21:19...get through.
21:20And that...
21:21...those guys next to me did a good job of...
21:24...stopping them.
21:25Oh, gosh.
21:26They must have killed...
21:27It must have been 25 people...
21:29...hanging over those fences the next morning.
21:34When we...
21:35When we...
21:36When we...
21:37When we...
21:39...killed these Germans...
21:40...there was no need to...
21:41...to do anything with them because they froze up like a block of ice.
21:44Hard as...
21:45...as...
21:46...as...
21:47...granted.
21:48And if we...
21:49...they...
21:49...they came up to us.
21:50We...
21:51...we dropped them right then right in front of our foxhole.
21:54We came...
21:55...we couldn't...
21:56...sure as hell wasn't gonna move them.
21:57So we used them as a table.
21:58What the hell are...
21:59...was something to sit down on.
22:00They were warmer than the damn snow.
22:04... as...
22:05...wait...
22:06...so...
22:07...no...
22:08...tept them.
22:09dropping to well below freezing and thick fog, the Americans were still unable to send
22:14in supplies.
22:19We were hurt, you're cold and
22:24hungry and wet, but you still go.
22:29And go, and go.
22:34And go, and go.
22:39Oh, it was brutal.
22:43We ran out of
22:44food and we were just about out of ammunition.
22:49When we got a break in the weather.
22:54And some C-47s came in and threw out some bundles.
23:00This is a great enemy.
23:02I gave a break in the air
23:04One of my squad leaders came to me.
23:09And said, Lieutenant, you have a package.
23:12And at that time, I.
23:14I had burlap on my feet and I had nothing, I had a pair of gloves that.
23:19It was taken off of a German soldier that had no fingers.
23:24And I had no hat, I had my helmet, of course.
23:29Had no scarf and certainly no coat.
23:32I said, my God.
23:34Somebody sent me a scarf or a hat or a pair of gloves.
23:38I couldn't wait.
23:39I couldn't wait for the package.
23:40And when he gave me the package, it was about two inches.
23:44And about eight inches long and I opened it up.
23:49And there was a fountain pen, just what I needed.
23:54And if you were one more person.
23:55I was in the middle of this tequila.
23:56I'm not.
23:57I'm not.
23:58I was in the middle of this class.
23:59I was in the middle of this class.
24:00I.
23:59Finally, on December the 26th, the US Third Army broke through to relieve
24:04Bastogne.
24:09Greatly outnumbered for a week, Ed, Frank and Carl had been part of the US Force
24:14who'd successfully held off the German Army.
24:19For those who fought at the siege of Bastogne, they never fell.
24:24As a result, they were rescued.
24:27We were glad to get relieved.
24:29Believe me.
24:31But rescued, we were not, because we were still full of fight.
24:34And to prove it, we moved on into the Bojack wood and took them on again.
24:39So, let's go.
24:40Let's go.
24:41Let's go.
24:42Let's go.
24:44A week into the Battle of the Bulge, the Allies were losing
24:49hundreds of men a day.
24:54So, let's go.
24:55Let's go.
24:56Let's go.
24:57Let's go.
24:58Let's go.
24:59Let's go.
25:00Let's go.
25:01Let's go.
25:02Let's go.
25:03Let's go.
25:04For those.
25:05Let's go.
25:07The
25:09We get newer replacements, get to know them.
25:14By their first name, two days later, they're dead.
25:18We're talking about 70 percent.
25:1970 percent turnover all the time.
25:20If we had an eight-man squad, which is supposed to be 20 percent.
25:24We thought that was a big deal.
25:27They just killed us all the time.
25:2918 years old.
25:34From Boston, USA, Bill Ryan saw many of these green troops join his unit.
25:39They sent in so many new replacements and they didn't know nothing.
25:44I can remember the first sergeant coming.
25:49They went around asking, hey, remember this guy that came in last night?
25:52You know what his name is?
25:53They didn't even know.
25:54They didn't know what his name was, crying out loud.
25:55That's how these casualties, the replacements were killed.
25:59They went real quick in the Battle of the Vulture.
26:00Because you've got to pick them up in the morning.
26:01Reports are signed and joined.
26:03And the first sergeant.
26:04He just pulled his hair out because he didn't even know the names of these guys.
26:09New to the front line, 19-year-old Gil Nelson was sent.
26:14He went out with his company and what he thought was a training exercise.
26:19Suddenly, the sergeant.
26:23Suddenly, the sergeant.
26:24Single rifle bullet went over my head.
26:27And the next thing, German...
26:29Machine guns.
26:34We had never heard a German machine gun before.
26:38We had...
26:39Lots of practice under American machine guns, which went...
26:44Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
26:46And...
26:46But there's absolutely no comparison.
26:49Between what the German machine gun sounds like and ours.
26:54It's like a string.
26:59Of Chinese firecrackers.
27:00They grab very rapid.
27:02And...
27:02And...
27:03They're...
27:03They're snapped.
27:04So...
27:04They're dead.
27:05They're dead.
27:06They're dead.
27:07Hello.
27:09The sound was deafening.
27:14It made me very, very frightened.
27:17There was so many...
27:19So many bullets going over our heads.
27:24So much mayhem.
27:29The sound, the sight of blood.
27:34The death of people, the screams.
27:39The sound, the sight of blood.
27:44Not long after arriving on the battlefield, many of Gil's troops...
27:49...were either killed or wounded.
27:50Not long after arriving on the battlefield.
27:50Not long after arriving on the battlefield.
27:54Baptism of fire was a major thing, and it forced me to...
27:59...think what life was all about.
28:04.
28:09.
28:11With so many inexperienced soldiers coming forward, the front lines
28:16descended into disarray.
28:21This was the flat line.
28:28This is an old man.
28:34And, again, I have the family and family member.
28:36Finally, I have such a few things.
28:38I'm not sure what to do with it.
28:40But that's a pretty big part of this.
28:42I'm just thinking about being a little y'all,
28:46except for everything else.
28:49And as that word got around that we're being infiltrated, any little sound that you heard, you just.
28:54Automatically assumed it was somebody sneaking up on you, so the nervousness in.
28:59Increased.
29:04No one could be trusted. Security was tightened. Passwords issued.
29:09Password that night.
29:14Was jingle bells. So I'm hollering, you know.
29:19I'm hollering, jingle bells, jingle bells, and then the shots come, you know, shots come.
29:24Over my head and I'm getting down and yelling all of them, for Christ's sake, get down.
29:29So I.
29:29Crawled a little bit forward and I knew it was British and I'm yelling, jingle bells, jingle bells.
29:34And then I'm thanks for Christ's sake.
29:38And finally.
29:39Some guy in a red beret got up from behind a truck or something rather and said.
29:44It's the bloody Canadians.
29:47So I made.
29:49Said to the six men I had with me, come on, follow me and we'll get up to the British lines.
29:54And there was an officer there from the 8th Battalion.
29:57He had a smile on his face and I said.
29:59For Christ's sake, what are you shooting at us for?
30:02And he said, you didn't give the right first password.
30:04And I said, it was, it was, it was changed.
30:09It was, jingle bells was yesterday.
30:12Today it's to a brook or something.
30:14It was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was
30:19With everyone on edge looking over their shoulders, stories spread of atrocities.
30:24Committed by German troops.
30:29Then on December the 17th...
30:34In the Belgian town of Malmedy, an SS Panzer Division took a whole American battery.
30:39Many were found lying in the snow, shot in the back of...
30:44Overhead.
30:48Now the rule...
30:49The rumor was that 800 was killed and then went down to about 80.
30:52To this day I don't think they really know how many...
30:54Because the bodies froze over and they had to wait until it thawed out to pick them all up.
30:58But the word spread to the...
30:59The infantry immediately that the SS had massacred these people in Malmedy.
31:04So the word went out unofficially, don't take any prisoners.
31:09If we were out on patrol to capture prisoners for interrogation...
31:12Yeah, we didn't kill them.
31:13But if they...
31:14They came in close and everything and they threw their rifle down and we shot them.
31:19Ed Shames remembers...
31:23Ed Shames remembers...
31:24When Easy Company captured a group of Germans.
31:29And we determined who was the leader of the group.
31:33We asked him to...
31:34to give us the information.
31:35We wanted to know where more of the Germans in Merck and you know...
31:39our farms were because that was necessary to save us.
31:44Skins, if you know what I mean.
31:49And...
31:49we said we will give him five seconds to answer the question.
31:54And if he didn't, we were going to blow his brains out.
31:57And in some cases...
31:59we blew his brains out.
32:00I said, you know, after that we had no...
32:04problem at all getting all the answers we wanted.
32:09At six...
32:14in 2016...
32:15Harley Reynolds left his family to join the army.
32:18He'd seen...
32:19action in the deserts of North Africa...
32:21and fought his way through Europe.
32:24With his company, Harley was now deep in the Hertgen forest.
32:29During the night...
32:33During the night...
32:34the Germans caught us by surprise...
32:37and...
32:38the Germans caught us by surprise...
32:39and...
32:39they had developed a flare gun...
32:41but instead of a flare...
32:43it shot a...
32:44it shot a grenade.
32:45Now this is close quarters...
32:47you're talking about...
32:4820...
32:49to 30 yards...
32:50but that was one wicked thing...
32:52and it's our first time to ever...
32:54run up against it.
32:59It sounded like...
33:01buses...
33:02or trucks...
33:03or something...
33:04and throwing...
33:05and throwing...
33:09or an explosion...
33:11or an explosion...
33:12to go off...
33:13that close...
33:14to you...
33:15it makes you like...
33:16a piece of jelly...
33:17it goes...
33:19through you...
33:20and you have to recover...
33:21for this...
33:22and everything has to settle...
33:23back into place.
33:24realign itself...
33:26before you can even move.
33:29and...
33:32and...
33:33they just...
33:34slaughtered us...
33:35slaughtered us...
33:38I was one...
33:39of 13 men...
33:40left...
33:41standing...
33:42from...
33:43the battalion...
33:44the rest of them...
33:48the rest of them...
33:49were either captured...
33:50wounded...
33:51or lay dead...
33:52in the forest snow.
33:54scared...
33:59or...
33:59or...
34:00afraid...
34:01that's not the word...
34:02for it.
34:04I wish I had a good...
34:08I wish I had a good...
34:09description of fear...
34:13it's...
34:14I don't know...
34:17I don't know...
34:18if I could describe it...
34:19that there's...
34:20a good fear...
34:21and bad fear...
34:22the good being...
34:23that you become numb...
34:24to where you're able...
34:26to...
34:27function.
34:29under these...
34:30uh...
34:33threats of...
34:34to death...
34:38having witnessed...
34:39the massacre...
34:40Harley was taken...
34:41off the front line.
34:45After two years of fighting...
34:46he was eventually...
34:47sent home.
34:49a tough...
34:50a tough...
34:53a tough...
34:54stopped the rise...
34:55where I could see...
34:56the house...
34:57and my dad...
34:58had finished...
34:59this house...
35:00he had started it...
35:01before I left home...
35:02and he had...
35:03finished this house...
35:05I could see it...
35:07and...
35:09when I spotted the house...
35:11there was one of my...
35:12sisters...
35:13that was on the...
35:14front...
35:14porch...
35:15and she saw me...
35:16top of that rise...
35:17and recognized me...
35:19immediately...
35:21and she let out...
35:22a scream...
35:23and I could hear...
35:24all the way back...
35:25in Virginia...
35:26even now...
35:27that Harley's home...
35:29did it...
35:34brother...
35:35n개...
35:36they were exposed to the...
35:37inversion and spindle...
35:38a few...
35:39in the middle of that...
35:40a few down...
35:41a few...
35:42to the馬...
35:43in네ang...
35:44a few...
35:45on...
35:46at eight...
35:471,2...
35:482...
35:49see...
35:50also...
35:51it became true...
35:52it had been소...
35:53the fullwife...
35:54that was said...
35:55something...
35:56that was so...
35:57done...
35:58very much faster...
35:39Did it.
35:44Did it.
35:49Did it.
35:54Did it.
35:56Did it.
35:58Did it.
36:00Did it.
36:02Did it.
36:03Did it.
36:05Did it.
36:07Did it.
36:08I'm running to meet me.
36:13I'm running to meet you.
36:18I'm running to meet you.
36:18And my father's first words were,
36:23I'm running to meet you.
36:28Maybe we can get a good night's sleep now.
36:33I'm running to meet you.
36:42I'm running to meet you.
36:48I'm running to meet you.
36:54lost in the Battle of the Bulge. Thousands moved forward, pushing the Germans
36:59back, foxhole by foxhole.
37:04Deep in a forest, dug in for the night with his regiment, was 19-year-old Clayton Byrd.
37:09from Tennessee.
37:14We woke up the next morning, and the normal tactic is to...
37:19check the people on your right, check the people on your left, to make sure they're still there.
37:24And we did both of those things, and there was nobody there, and we realized...
37:29that, all of a sudden, we were behind what...
37:34had suddenly become the German front line, all by ourselves, lonesome.
37:39Probably with a week... with a day's supply of food, water.
37:44and ammunition.
37:48We realized...
37:49that we were cut off...
37:52from any friendly force.
37:54No radio, no way of communicating.
37:59During the night, their division had been attacked, and forced to withdraw.
38:04In the confusion, Clayton was one of 26 men left behind.
38:09Forgotten by the others.
38:10Forgotten by the others.
38:13Each of our...
38:14Each of our families received telegrams from the War Department.
38:18That we would...
38:19would either have been...
38:21captured...
38:22annihilated...
38:24...or...
38:25...or, in any event...
38:26...no longer there.
38:29We...
38:29We were missing in action.
38:34We wondered, what do we do now?
38:39And we saw a number of American soldiers lashed.
38:44The trees, their bodies lashed to trees, and they were, had.
38:49They'd been abused, used as target practice, and we.
38:54We realized that would be our lot if we had surrendered to them.
38:59And we decided that.
39:04Because of that, we would fight to the last man.
39:09There's a sense of peace about it.
39:14We weren't having to make that decision again tomorrow.
39:17We decided to end it.
39:19We were going to do what was necessary.
39:24The next morning at daylight, a platoon of Germans stumbled into us, having no idea we were.
39:29There, we wiped them out.
39:32Then, when they knew we were there, they.
39:34They attacked us one day across a 500-yard area, flat country, which was.
39:39It was a stupid, tactical blunder.
39:42We mowed them down.
39:43Then, they tried to do this.
39:44We did the same thing at night and put up a flare just before they got to us so that they.
39:49We could see to wipe us out.
39:53Well, by mistake.
39:54They sent the flare up with them, still 7,500 yards or so out.
39:58And.
39:59We used the flare to mow them down.
40:04When they��ens down.
40:05They were.
40:05They believed they were going to do it.
40:07Oh.
40:08It's like, anahme.
40:09Steve Smalls 사랑, Dave, on your own list.
40:11And.
40:12How about a fire went down?
40:13It was made up my fire.
40:14Oh, what?
40:15He did it.
40:15It was made up!
40:16How about a fire went down?
40:17Didn't you wash me down on that floor, no?
40:20Oh.
40:21It was a clearnut.
40:22Okay.
40:23You've helped me find my again.
40:29I've been breathing.
40:31Oh bueno.
40:31About a happy hour.
40:32Was I slow.
40:32Oh.
40:34Finally advanced through the forest, Clayton and his men were discovered.
40:39We got credit for it.
40:44So upsetting the Germans, they didn't know where the front lines really were.
40:49Expecting front lines in our area.
40:54We had trusted each other and we knew if we were called.
40:59If we were all going to go down, we'd go down together.
41:04And I'm proud of that group of people.
41:14By the 28th of January 1945,
41:19the Allies had recaptured all the territory lost to the Germans.
41:23The Battle of the...
41:24The Battle of the Bulge was over.
41:26Now they could concentrate on breaking the Siegfried...
41:29Germany's final defence.
41:34The Battle of the Bulge
41:39Stretching nearly 400 miles, the troops faced tank traps...
41:44...and barbed wire, linked by a network of more than 18,000 heavily defended concrete...
41:49...bunkers.
41:54After fighting their way...
41:59...back from behind enemy lines, Clayton Byrd's company was sent to break through the...
42:04...kind of pillboxes.
42:09But it was a very difficult thing because what you wanted to do was to...
42:14...find some way to get firepower through that slot.
42:19That's what they used for shooting.
42:24The Battle of the Bulge
42:26The Battle of the Bulge
42:27The Battle of the Bulge
42:29At first we'd take a flamethrower.
42:32If there were any infantry there...
42:34...to get them out of the way.
42:37With the soldiers came and...
42:39...and engineers like Frank Kam...
42:41...experts in blowing up even the biggest concrete structures.
42:44We'd have a soldier run down with a 40-pound satchel charge of explosives.
42:49Swing it against the door with the time fuse on it.
42:52Run back around the corner and then...
42:54...didn't explode.
42:55And when it would, the back door would blow in...
42:58...and the...
42:59...concussion would be such it would knock out everybody that was inside.
43:04The Battle of the Bulge
43:06The Battle of the Bulge
43:07The Battle of the Bulge
43:09The Battle of the Bulge
43:12Then our men would run in...
43:14...and grab the place and that was it.
43:19When Clayton Bird's company was ordered to destroy four pillboxes...
43:23...something unexpected...
43:24...it happened.
43:26There was a white flag hanging up...
43:28...that...
43:29...opening.
43:30And we had conversation...
43:32...with the German.
43:33He said...
43:34...because if you will put on a display of force...
43:37...I will surrender.
43:39...the people in this pillbox.
43:42And what we did, we shot.
43:44...hundreds, thousands...
43:45...maybe thousands of rounds of ammunition...
43:47...up into the sky.
43:49And we really had a fireworks display.
43:54...well...
43:57...he...
43:58...gave a...
43:59...well...
44:00...when all that happened...
44:01...two of the other pillboxes...
44:04...they decided they would give up as well.
44:10The next morning...
44:11...the men in the fourth pillbox also surrendered.
44:14So...
44:16...we got four pillboxes...
44:17...without a...
44:18...single...
44:19...casualty.
44:20That's a...
44:21...hundred...
44:22...over...
44:23...120 people.
44:24...that came out...
44:25...as prisoners of war.
44:29Once the pillboxes were cleared...
44:31...the engineers filled them with explosives.
44:34...and blew them up.
44:39...and...
44:40...and...
44:41...and...
44:42...and...
44:43...and...
44:44...and...
44:45...and...
44:46...and...
44:47...and...
44:48...and...
44:49...
44:51...contact of Shaw...
44:52프� podrÃa...
44:53...and...
44:54...what...
44:55...seening...
44:56...at...
44:57...
45:11...
45:11...
45:12...
45:12...
45:13...
45:14...
45:15...
45:17...
45:17with the Silver Star.
45:22Having survived the horrors of his first combat, Gil Nelson eventually became a sergeant.
45:27Injured by mortified
45:32during the Siege of Bastogne,
45:34Private Karl Beck continued on into Germany with his
45:37beloved machine gun.
45:39Jiding Joan
45:42in the final chapter.
45:47The Allies crossed the River Rhine while desperate Germans tried to stop them.
45:52So you weren't killed by the artillery, you just drowned.
45:57Across Europe, the Allies discover the reality of Nazi Germany.
46:02What we could smell and see
46:07were rags all over the place.
46:11Rags.
46:12They were dead bodies.
46:13And the RAF fly in to bomb Berlin, the most
46:17heavily defended city in Europe.
46:20The wing commander is
46:22appointed to Berlin.
46:24And in one voice, 150
46:27voices would say,
46:29Oh!
46:32Oh!
46:33Oh!
46:34Oh!
46:35Oh!
46:36Oh!
46:37Oh!
46:38Oh!
46:40Oh!
46:41Oh!
46:42Oh!
46:43Oh!
46:45Oh!
46:46Oh!
46:47Oh!
46:48Oh!
46:50Oh!
46:51Oh!
46:52Oh!
46:53Oh!
46:55Oh!
46:57Oh!
46:58Oh!
46:59Oh!
47:01Oh!
47:02Oh!
47:03Oh!
47:07Oh!
47:08Oh!
47:09Oh!
47:10Oh!
47:11Oh!
47:12Oh!
47:13Oh!
47:14Oh!
47:15Oh!
47:16Oh!
47:17Oh!
47:18Oh!
47:19Oh!
47:20Oh!
47:21Oh!
47:22Oh!
47:23Oh!
47:24Oh!
47:25Oh!
47:26Oh!
47:27Oh!
47:28Oh!
47:29Oh!
47:30Oh!
47:31Oh!
47:32Oh!
47:33Oh!
47:34Oh!
47:35Oh!
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