The Fightin' 589th
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The Battalion received its baptism of enemy fire in the "Battle of the Bulge", the last great offensive of the German Army on any front, inspired by Adolph Hitler and designed by his Chief of Staff, General Jodl, to advance through Belgium to Antwerp, driving a wedge between the British 21st Army Group and the American Armies to the south. The victorious Germans could then force the surrender of the British Armies and negotiate an armistice with the Americans that would permit them to turn all of their forces to the east and defeat Russia. To Hitler's distorted mind, this result seemed not only possible, but attainable. And there was a period of about thirty days when the Allies were not certain of the outcome. This massive engagement was called the Battle of the Bulge because the attack by three German armies against a very thinly held sector of the American eastern front created a bulge covering hundreds of square kilometers of the sovereign territory of four nations (Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France) that had been overrun by the Allies in late 1944, and that had been envisioned by the American armies as the launching pad for a final drive to end the War. The Battle was finally won by the Allies early in February, 1945, but it was initiated by the Germans on December 16, 1944, a very cold, overcast day that emulated a long series of days that had afflicted western Germany and eastern France in late 1944 (and were to continue to do so). The advance of German forces on that date and the succeeding three days led to the worst single-day catastrophe from the standpoint of casualties in the entire military history of the United States, a day upon which the 106th Infantry Division suffered more than 8,500 casualties (the exact number will never be known) or over 60% of its total strength. And the vast majority of these losses occurred in the relatively small triangle between Bleialf and Auw, Germany, and Schönberg, Belgium, and in an area that did not exceed three square kilometers (approximately two square miles).
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About the Book
You will read about how young civilian men and boys, in a democracy in time of war, are molded into fighting units and are hardened and inured to the raw brutalities of combat. There will be narratives of personal experiences of American soldiers during "The Battle of the Bulge" that are incredible but true, and unadulterated by the passage of time. The authors, some fourteen in number, are not trying to impress their readers; they are relating the experiences that they will never forget, of men and boys facing death every minute of every hour throughout the battle. What they relate is told to you not for your entertainment, but for only one reason: that those who read about, and thereby realize and personally experience the monstrous dehumanization that is warfare in our times, will do everything in their power to prevent another such disaster from occurring on this earth.
About the Author
The principal authors of this brief history of one unbelievably staunch and valiant fighting unit of young American civilians, recently turned soldiers by circumstances beyond their control, are the commander and one of the chief staff officers of that unit. The 589th Field Artillery Battalion, an organic unit of the 106th Infantry Division, not only prevented the invasion of its gun positions by the first onslaught of overwhelming German Forces during the first day of the "Battle of the Bulge", but for many days turned back the attack of full Divisions through one of the main crossroads in Belgium essential to their capturing Antreipt and accomplishing their mission. Both of the leaders of that divinely inspired battalion who collaborated in writing this book were, and unbelievably still are, lawyers practicing in the Deep South.