War correspondents at the front lines report heavy fighting in the Hurtgen forest after the Allies successfully pushed out of Bastogne. Campaign 180 has been running for more than 30 days already and the Axis are putting up fierce defenses. And of course the AIR WAR is more intense than it's ever been. The skies over battle towns are full of aircraft fighting it out!
Captured Map Reveals Allied Plans
Axis forces are being pushed east under relentless Allied attacks. Having broken out of Bastogne the Allies have begun a push through the Hurtgen forest. But the Axis captured the Allied attack plans and as a result have shifted tactics and halted the Hurtgen advance for now...
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Remembering the Real War!
In the spirit of “Remembering the Greatest Generation” below is the beginning of a series of historical recaps of what occurred 81 years ago.
Germany had conquered Poland in September 1939, and as of mid February, had not begun its push against the West, events thus being dubbed “The Phony War.” Ground action may not have started yet, but the Naval War was in full swing. In February 1940, the German tanker Altmark was returning to Germany with 299 British merchant sailors on board. These were prisoners of war who had been picked up from ships sunk by the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. Norway was, however, a neutral party. With pressure from the British mounting, Norwegian authorities actually boarded the Altmark on 3 occasions. Since the transporting of prisoners was not considered an illegal act, these boardings were perfunctory in nature, and each time took the German Captain’s word for it that they were not aboard his ship. With neutrality maintained, Altmark was then sent on its way, Norwegian officials believing they had placated Royal Navy questions.
Events would show, however, that such was NOT the case. RAF search planes discovered the Altmarks presence, and a small fleet of destroyers were sent to intercept. HMS Cossack aggressively pursued the freighter deep into a Norwegian fjord, much to the displeasure of the Norwegian authorities, who ordered their small navy to block the British ship, going so far as to actually aim their torpedo tubes at the Cossack. First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill (he had not yet become the Prime Minister) sent the following instructions: “Unless Norwegian torpedo-boat undertakes to convoy Altmark to Bergen with a joint Anglo-Norwegian guard on board, and a joint escort, you should board Altmark, liberate the prisoners, and take possession of the ship pending further instructions. If Norwegian torpedo-boat interferes, you should warn her to stand off. If she fires upon you, you should not reply unless attack is serious, in which case you should defend yourself, using no more force than is necessary, and ceasing fire when she desists. Suggest to Norwegian destroyer that honor is served by submitting to superior force.” It was proposed to the Norwegians that a joint escort of the Altmark might work, however the offer was refused, the Norwegian reiterating that their earlier searches of Altmark had found nothing.
With the British intent on boarding the Altmark, the action began to heat up as the Altmark tried to flee, running aground during the process. The British then boarded her at 22:20 on 16 February, and– after some hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets – overwhelmed the ship's crew and went down to the hold. One of the released prisoners stated that the first they knew of the operation was when they heard the shout "any Englishmen here?" from the boarding party. When the prisoners shouted back "yes! We are all British!", the response was "well, the Navy's here!" which brought cheers. The end result? Seven German sailors were killed and eleven wounded; six seriously, and of course, the sailors were returned to England.
The Norwegians were, of course, upset that their neutrality was violated, but this was short-lived as events would prove this a moot point as the Germans invaded Norway, along with Denmark, on 9 April 1940 and the Axis push to the west was underway.
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