Chain of Command - Bloody Bucket

The Two Fat Lardies have, this week, published another "Pint Sized" campaign for their Chain of Command rules. You can buy it here for the cost of a pint ... go on!

Bloody Bucket was the nickname acquired by the US 28th Infantry Division on account of its unit insignia - which looks remarkably like a red Heinz label. But I digress. The campaign booklet covers the epic defence by the US 110th Infantry Regiment (part of the 28th Infantry Division) of the villages of Holzthum and Consthum between 16th and 18th December 1944 at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge.

As these villages are an easy 45 minute drive from home, I decided to wander up there to have a look at the lay of the land.

Richard's Terrain notes state:

"Firstly, the country is hilly with most areas of habitation being on the high ground where they are surrounded by agricultural land on the plateaus before the ground falls away into wooded valleys interspersed with small streams.

The faming country here is open, with a limited number of hedges other than to delineate gardens, and almost no requirement for drainage ditches as the ground is self-draining being elevated. As a result the Germans will often have to cover open ground to reach the US positions."

And he's spot on. Turning off towards Holzthum at the Um Schinker roundabout - there is no remaining trace of the Café Schincker mentiond in the booklet, and central to scenario 1 - you are struck by the open terrain. You feel like you are on the roof of the world, with the green Ardennes in the distance. 

Approaching Holzthum from Um Schinker

In front of you the plateau is rolling farmland. 

South from the road, towards Consthum

Fields to the south of Holzthum

You can't always see very far to your front, but there are few obstacles other than the occasional hedgerow and building - but there are probably many more houses today than there were in 1944. 

The road from Consthum to Hozthum

Road from Consthum to Holzthum - open fields to the north

Entering Consthum, from Holtzthum

Some older buildings in Holzthum

You quickly realise that you are on an island rather than a roof, with the ground falling away steeply on either side into thickly wooded valleys.

There are many memorials up and down this part of the country, and Consthum is no exception:

My final stop was a visit to the American Military Cemetery at Hamm, on the outskirts of the city of Luxembourg. This is where many of the American war dead from the battle of the Bulge were finally laid to rest - those that weren't returned home for burial anyway. 

Curiously there are no graves listed for any of the 110th US Infantry Regiment who died on the 16th, 17th or 18th of December 1944, although there are three listed as "in an unknown grave" for the 16th and 17th. The earliest dated burials relating to the Battle of the Bulge have dates of death on the 20th. I can only assume that this is the military bureaucracy's way; you're not dead until your dog tags get back to Regimental HQ or higher. So I will leave it to Pvt Bernard A. Good and PFC Everette T. Burns to sign off on this post. I don't know exactly where or when they died, but it was surely close to where the action in Bloody Bucket took place. 

May they for ever rest in peace.