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Gold Remains a Good long-term Investment Whether the dollar goes up or down, gold is still going to be a good investment because we have virtually all the important central bankers focused on growth and not inflation. Gold is a dynamic metal....

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Request for Identication - Crashed Plane 1945 I need the following answers : (Body) German or British ? (Plane) German or British ? I have studied the photos for more than an hour and I am still wondering because the Cockpit looks like an AAF P-38's...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Another Wartime photos set and like the one before it's a really good one. Joe Summers Pontoon bridge over the Rhine River. Note signs : (left) seems to be a "one way - Red Ball Express",...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 And here is the next set Wartime photos of the 17th Airborne Division. My Dad took a photo of the same concrete bunker from a distance. It had a Russian star on top of it when he took the photo....

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Well, these new photos are fields photos and request from me some researches. This is exactly what I like to do, so it will take a little more time as usual to be posted. And once again thanks to Cindy...

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The Battle of the Bulge (3)

Category : Battle of the Bulge, The Bulge (CMH)

Chapter 3 – Troops and Terrain & The Order of the Battle

After-The-Battle-Of-The-Bulge-Belgium

During the long-drawn debate over the extent of the counteroffensive, the objective, and the attack form to be employed, the order of battle for Wacht am Rhein took form. This also led to differences of opinion and interpretation.
- How should the armies be aligned ?
- What forces, missions, and zones should be assigned to each particular army ?
- How many divisions, armored and infantry, would be available for use in the attack ?
The answers to these and like questions turned on the Solution adopted and the maneuver employed but will be set forth independently in an attempt to bring some order out of the confused interplay between Hitler, Jodl, Rundstedt, and Model.
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The Battle of the Bulge (2)

Category : Battle of the Bulge, The Bulge (CMH)

CHAPTER II
Planning the Counteroffensive

Details of the Plan

About 25 September Generalorberst Alfred Jodl was ordered to begin a detailed analysis of the Hitlerian concept, the only function now left to the great General Staff. Some latitude remained to the individual staff officers and those favored few in the high echelon of command who retained access to the Führer in kneading and shaping the very general outline handed down by Hitler into an operations plan. The outline as it now had taken shape contained these major points :

  • (a) the attack should be launched sometime between 20 and 30 November;
  • (b) it should be made through the Ardenne in the Monschau – Echternach sector;
  • (c) the initial object would be the seizure of bridgeheads over the Meuse River between Liège and Namur;
  • (d) thereafter, Antwerp would be the objective;
  • (e) a battle to annihilate the British and Canadians would ultimately be fought north of the line Antwerp, Liège, Bastogne (1);
  • (f) a minimum of thirty divisions would be available, ten of which would be armored;
  • (g) support would be given by an unprecedented concentration of artillery and rocket projector units;
  • (h) operational control would be vested in four armies and two panzer armies abreast in the lead, two armies composed largely of infantry divisions to cover the flanks;
  • (i) the Luftwaffe would be prepared to support the operation;
  • (j) all planning would aim at securing tactical surprise and speed;(k) secrecy would be maintained at all costs and only a very limited number of individuals would be made privy to the plan.

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