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DECEMBER 20, 1944

BATTLE OF THE BULGE, DAY 5

At this point, the reserve forces (the 82nd and the 101st and the headquarters of the XVIII Airborne) are in sector and in their fighting positions. For the first time ever, the XVIII Airborne Corps is operating in combat.

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DECEMBER 22, 1944: NUTS!

As a practical matter, the fight was over.

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When describing the 101st Airborne Division and the remnants of the 60th and 28th Divisions in Bastogne, many historians will tell you that the Americans were surrounded.

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That is accurate but it is insufficiently descriptive. "Surrounded" does not really come close to representing the odds stacked up against our Paratroopers by mid-day on Friday.

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A group of 18,000 Paratroopers, including approximately 2,000 untrained replacement troops who had never seen combat, were facing 45,000 fighters from the Fifth Panzer Army’s XLVII Panzer Corps with the newest Tiger tanks.

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The Paratroopers were led by an acting commander.

They were low on ammunition, and their medical detachment was destroyed earlier that morning.

The Tiger tanks severed the last open road south out of Bastogne, completing a full encirclement of our boys.

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Back to the Battle of the Bulge.

He's late.

Thursday, December 28, 1944, ~ 2:30 PM.

Delayed by fog and snowbanks, Eisenhower's command train pulls into a rail siding in the Belgian town of Hasselt three hours behind schedule.

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Ike is there to meet with Monty.

Ike needs to get the bellicose Brit on board with this plan [we're calling it the "middle option" plan] we showed you yesterday.

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Monty is good with the plan, but he believes it's too early to counterattack.

Monty makes his case: intel suggests another (final) impending German attack, so we should build up our defenses & wait rather than attack.

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Monty recommends a strategy of patience. He wants more divisions, he wants to set conditions before a strike. Wait for the moment to present itself, then pour it on.

[if you get the point of this GIF, we appreciate you]

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Ike counters: If we remain stagnant, we may lose our gains. If we lose momentum, we allow the Panzers to slink back over the West Wall and this war might go on for years.

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BATTLE OF THE BULGE DAY 3: DECEMBER 18, 1944

Battling Bastards of Bastogne

~2:15 AM, Major General Matthew Ridgway, unaware of the fighting in Ardennes, and sleeping in his HQ, is awakened by a call from Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges, commander of First Army.

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Hodges, calling from the town of Spa in Belgium, tells Ridgway that the Germans are smashing through the Ardennes & the XVIII Airborne Corps had been released from theater reserve and assigned to First Army to help push back the offensive.

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Until just recently, with the creation of the 18th Airborne Corps, there was no traditional "reserve" in the European Theater. Now, the 18th was the reserve.

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Ridgway sends the 101st and 82nd into the teeth of the ferocious German attack.

Here’s Jim Gavin, 82nd commander, who would push east to Werbomont, Belgium.

The 101st would drive into the wood chipper outside of Bastogne, Belgium.

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The 101st, in particular, was in no shape to go back into the fight.

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By Jan 13, 1945, the Allies entered the final (and most historically overlooked) phase of the Battle of the Bulge

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By midday 75 years ago, all final Allied offensive actions were in motion.

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So, to set the table, let's remember who is who here.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

In the South, Patton's 3rd Army is still slowly making its way northeast to Houffalize (remember, they've been making progress that way since Jan 3rd).

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In the North, you've got
Robert Hasbrouck (commander of 7th Armored Division)

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In the North, you've also got Leland Hobbs who commanded the 30th Infantry Division. Hobbs and Hasbrouck reported to...

Yesterday we announced the launch of The Doomsday Clock, an original 18th Airborne Corps podcast series telling the incredible story of the Corps' Cold War history.

Today we're going to tell you more about some of the guests who will appear on the program.

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Of course, we'll have John Lewis Gaddis, the dean of Cold War historians about the start and end of American confrontation with the Soviets (Episode 16: April 27).

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We'll also have the great H.W. Brands to talk about the Korean War and the stare down between Truman and MacArthur (Episode 7: February 23).

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Podcast king Dan Carlin joins us for a deep, dark journey into the philosophy of the Soviet Union (Episode 9: March 9).

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You know Sir Max Hastings as the great historian, but long before that he was a war reporter. That's him on the right in Vietnam in 1968.

He joins us to talk about American escalation in the Vietnam War (Episode 10: March 16).

In 1997, the Clinton administration created the "1033" program, whereby the Pentagon gave away its "surplus" equipment to local law enforcement agencies, leading to the nationwide militarization of America's cops.

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In the decades since, 1033 became a $5B industry: beltway bandits lobby their pals in the DoD to place massive orders for weapons and materiel which are immediately declared "surplus" and transfered to undertrained cops

Opponents of this program hypothesized that it would obey Checkhov's Law: "A machine-gun in the police armory in Act One will go off by Act Three. And then again, and again, and again."

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They were right.

Empirical studies show that cops who get milspec penis surrogates through 1033 murder the fuck out of the people who pay their

But 1033's defenders insisted (without any evidence) that turning Deputy Dawg into a USMC Fallujah Street Patrol Cosplayer seriously improved the quality of US policing.

They were wrong.

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The #OMFV industry day last week provided some clarity and a few new angles on the requirement. A few highlights and thoughts below

(Image an old NGCV concept art, not from recent industry day)

Unsurprising desire to prioritise survivability, stated as #1 priority. At this stage specifics are unclear, but for contemporary ATGM/KE you need APS, ERA & some rather fancy composites. Even then overmatch will be tough in conjunction with mobility/transportability aspirations

Firepower requirements to engage infantry up to tanks, and helicopters. So an ATGM essential, and high elevation cannon. Given need for unmanend turret (see further down), could mean high profile turret, or loss of swept volume inside vehicle to allow that big 50 mm to elevate

The OM is back in OMFV. Clear statement that

"The OMFV should allow commanders to choose between manned or remote operation based on the tactical situation."

Not a small request, will be interesting seeing how contractors answer it. I note that it is 9th of 10 reqs for priority

"Each OMFV vehicle will be crewed by no more than two Soldiers who will be positioned in the hull. Squad members can perform crew duties prior to dismounting the OMFV but the vehicles must remain operational after dismounting."

So an unmanned turret and single commander/gunner

The recent act of terrorism against the Hazaras has raised questions. Which terrorist groups carried out the attack? Is the state appeasing terrorists or fighting them?

In this thread, I would give a factual account of what has happened in the last two decades in Balochistan.

In 1998, Riaz Basra who was then a member of Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) arrived in Baluchistan along with six fighters; Zahid Multani, Saifullah, Najmus Saqib, Bashir and two others. Riaz Basra met Farooq Bangalzai of Baloch Liberation Army and Habibullah Zehri.

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The meeting was followed by the formation of Lashkar e Jhangvi's Balochistan wing under the command of Zahid Multani. Riaz Basra returned to Jhang while Zahid Multani was given the task of training a force for Lashkar e Jhangvi (LeJ) Balochistan.

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The first sectarian attack by LeJ in Baluchistan was carried out six days prior to the coup in Oct 1999 when the provincial education minister Sardar Nisar Ali Hazara was attacked along with his driver and bodyguard at point-blank range. Though the minister survived but...

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..it marked the beginning of a targeted killing spree against Hazaras. When General Musharraf came to power, he banned five organizations under the Anti Terrorism Act of 1997, Lashkar e Tayeba (LeT), Jash e Muhammad (JeM), Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), TNSM and TJP.

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Suppose WWIII has already started, how would we notice?
My (grand) parents saw the German tanks and troops pass by their door. The Vietnamese and Iraqis knew when the bombs fell that the Americans were nearby. But bombs and weapons have long ceased to be the most important ...

....weapons in modern warfare. Information, communication and people on the street are the new powerful weapons. Big Tech is a weapon. A weapon of an invisible opponent.
Over the past 20 years, we have become accustomed to quick information and were no longer dependent ....

...on the legacy media for our opinion. My late father watched the National news (NOS) until his last days, a medium he relied on since its existence for his vision of the world. With the advent of the internet, I took a big red pill.

Where social media have contributed to a better opinion formation, it has been clear since Snowden that they are weapons. To be used by an invisible opponent. With a drag net, all information about you and everyone is collected.