Appendix A — Table of Equivalent Ranks
Appendix B — Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross
All pertinent Army records have been scrutinized in an effort to include in the following list the names of every soldier who received the DSC for his part in the operations recounted in this volume. Inasmuch as no complete listing of DSC awards is maintained in any single Army file, it is possible that some names may inadvertently have been omitted.
Lt. Col. Creighton W. Abrams
Lt. Col. Paul Bandy
Sgt. James L. Bayliss
Sgt. William J. Bennett
Pfc. J. O. Bird
Lt. Col. Barry D. Browne
Sgt. John Bueno
Cpl. Adam F. Burko
Pfc. Angelo Cestoni
Lt. Col. Steve A. Chappuis
Capt. John J. Christy
Capt. A. J. Cissna
Lt. Col. Derrill M. Daniel
Pvt. Albert A. Darago
Sgt. T. J. Dawson
Pfc. Daniel Del Grippo
Pvt. C. W. Dillingham
Sgt. Eddie Dolenc
Capt. Leland R. Dunham
Sgt. B. R. Eastburn
Capt. Paul F. Gaynor
Pfc. Jack Gebert
1st Lt. Charles R. Gniot
Capt. John W. Hall
Sgt. Lawrence L. Hatfield
1st Lt. Edgar C. Heist
Lt. Col. John M. Hightower
Pfc. S. E. Hull
2d Lt. Michael Hritsik
1st Lt. G. W. Jackman
Pvt. J. W. Jones
Lt. Col. R. W. Kinney
Capt. Frank Kutak
1st Lt. George D. Lamm
Pfc. O. M. Laughlin
Capt. James H. Leach
Pfc. John Leinen
2d Lt. Samuel Leo
2d Lt. S. D. Llewellyn
Sgt. H. L. Luther
Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe
Pfc. W. J. McKenzie
2d Lt. W. D. Markin
Capt. Gabriel R. Martinez
Pfc. A. G. Means
Pfc. Edwin W. Metz
Pvt. Bernard Michin
1st Lt. A. L. Mills
Pfc. Richard Mills
1st Lt. Jesse Morrow
Sgt. Oscar M. Mullins
1st Lt. Kenneth R. Nelson
Pfc. N. A. Osterberg
1st Lt. R. A. Parker
2d Lt. G. F. Pennington
Sgt. T. E. Piersall
Lt. Col. Lemuel E. Pope
Pvt. R. L. Presser
2d Lt. Frederick Rau
Sgt. Woodrow W. Reeves
Sgt. George P. Rimmer
Maj. Gen. Walter M. Robertson
Lt. Col. James C. Rosborough
Pfc. F. S. Rose
Pfc. W. S. Rush
Sgt. I. R. Schwartz
Private Seamon
Sgt. M. N. Shay
Pfc. R. D. Smith
Capt. Robert W. Smith
T/Sgt. Russell N. Snoad
Cpl. C. E. Statler
Capt. Vaughn Swift
1st Lt. R. H. Thompson
Lt. Col. Paul V. Tuttle, Jr.
T/Sgt. John Van Der Kamp
Pfc. Gilbert Van Every
Sgt. J. W. Waldron
S/Sgt. William Walsh
2d Lt. R. L. Westbrook
2d Lt. John A. Whitehill
Sgt. William J. Widener
1st Sgt. Gervis Willis
Cpl. Edward S. Withee
Pfc. T. J. Zimmerer
Bibliographical Note
Two historically valuable books dealing specifically with the Ardennes Campaign are: Robert E. Merriam's Dark December (New York: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1947) and John Toland's Battle: The Story of the Bulge (New York: Random House, 1959). Merriam's work subsequently was reprinted in a paperback edition under the title The Battle of the Bulge (New York: Ballantine Books, 1957). These two interesting and useful books show quite different approaches to the story. Merriam, while in the U.S. Army, participated in the task of organizing materials for a future Army history of the Ardennes Campaign and subsequently made use of these documents in his own work. Toland, who wrote his volume on the basis of extensive interviews with veterans of the campaign, stresses the human interest aspects of the battle.
There is a surprising dearth of published memoir literature from officers in a position of command during this operation. In part this lacuna is filled by the very large body of unit histories compiled by the American divisions, regiments, and even battalions, which fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Extensive collection of unit histories will be found in the New York Public Library, the Army Library (Washington, D.C.), and the Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army.
The bulk of the American documents used as source material in the present volume, as well as microfilm of the pertinent German documents, are in the keeping of the National Archives, or in the Office of the Chief of Military History. Much of the source material is in the form of reports made during or after battle by approximately 1,600 Army units in the European Theater of Operations. The story of this monumental effort in research and acquisition has been written by Royce L. Thompson, in his History of the Historical Section, ETO (May 1947), a manuscript in OCMH files. The American combat interviews, on which the author has drawn so freely, can be found listed in a manuscript Catalogue of Combat Interviews maintained by OCMH.
Most of the historical manuscripts prepared by German officers who took part in the Ardennes Campaign are catalogued in the Guide to Foreign Military Studies, 1945-54, published by Headquarters, U.S. Army, Europe, Historical Division, in 1954. Since this publication, there have been a few additions to the German manuscript collection and these are catalogued by OCMH. The history of the early attempts to trace German officers who served in the Ardennes, transfer them from prison cells, and elicit their cooperation as historians makes fascinating reading. Brig. Gen. S. L. A. Marshall has given a brief sketch of this venture in his introduction to The Fatal Decisions, edited by Seymour Freidin and William Richardson (New York: William Sloane Associates, 1956). A full and dramatic account of the attempt to obtain German cooperation has been written by one of the main actors in this little-known episode, then Maj. Kenneth W. Hechler. His manuscript is entitled The Enemy Side of the Hill: The 1945 Background on the Interrogation of German Commanders (Historical Division, Special Staff, U.S. Army, 30 July 1949). Finally, any student who delves deeply into the U.S. Army operations in western Europe during World War II must come inevitably to the Order of Battle of the United States Army, World War II, European Theater of Operations: Divisions, prepared under the direction of Capt. Robert J. Greenwald and Chief Warrant Officer Meyer M. Cahn in the Office of the Theater Historian, ETO (Paris, 1945).
A-2—Intelligence officer or section of an air staff
AAA—Antiaircraft artillery
AAR—After action report
Abwehr-Schlacht Im West—Defensive Battle in the West
AIB—Armored infantry battalion
Anlage—Appendix or annex
Ann.—Annex
AT—Antitank
Aufmarschanweisung—Revised outline plan
AW—Aircraft warning; automatic weapons
BAR—Browning automatic rifle
Bn—Battalion
CATOR—Combined Air Transport Operations Room
CCA—Combat Command A
CCB—Combat Command B
CCR—Combat Command Reserve
Chasseurs Ardenais—Belgian military unit
Christrose—One of several code names for the Ardennes offensive
CIC—Counter Intelligence Corps
C-in-C—Commander in Chief
CO—Commanding officer
Cp—Command post
DAGGER—Ninth Army operation intended to clear the Germans from the west bank of the Roer River once the dams were destroyed.
Div—Division
DSC—Distinguished Service Cross
Engr—Engineer
Ersatzheer—Replacement Army
ETO—European Theater of Operations
FA—Field Artillery
Feldherr—Great general
Festung—Fortress
Feuerwalze—Rolling barrage
Flak—Fliegerabwehrkanone (antiaircraft artillery gun)
Fremde Heere Ost—OKH Intelligence Section East
Frontsoldat—Front-line fighter
Führer Reserve—Central officers' reserve
Fusilier battalion—Separate infantry battalion performing both reconnaissance and support in German division
FUSA—First United States Army
G-2—Intelligence section of divisional or higher staff
G-3—Operations section of divisional or higher staff
G-4—Supply section of divisional or higher staff
Greif—German deception operation in support of the Ardennes counteroffensive
Herbstnebel—Autumn Fog (Army Group B plan)
I and R—Intelligence and Reconnaissance
Inf—Infantry
Interv—Interview
Jabo—German slang for jagd-bomber (fighter-bomber)
Jnl—Journal
Kampfgruppe—German combat group of variable size
K-Tag—12 December
KTB—Kriegstagebuch (war diary)
L-Tag—13 December
Martin—Code name applied to operations plan drawn up by OB WEST for Wacht am Rhein for submission to conference at headquarters Army Group B on 27 October 1944
Nebelwerfer—Multiple rocket projector
Null Tag—D-day (16 December)
Oberquartermeister—General staff officer at headquarters of an army (in charge of supply and administration)
OB WEST—Oberbefehlshaber West (Commander in Chief West or his headquarters)
OKH—Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High Command)
OKL—Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (Luftwaffe High Command)
OKW—Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command)
OMAHA Beach—Normandy beach assaulted by troops of U.S. V Corps, 6 June 1944
Ord—Ordnance
O-Tag—D-day (16 December)
Panzerfaust—Recoilless German antitank rocket, hand-carried
POL—Petrol (gasoline), oil, and lubricants
POW—Prisoner of war
RCT—Regimental combat team
Regts—Regiments
Reichsautobahnen—The German superhighway system
Reichsbahn—German state railroads
S-2—Intelligence officer or section of regimental or lower staff
S-3—Operations officer or section of regimental or lower staff
Sec—Section
SHAEF—Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force
SHAPE—Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers, Europe
SS—Schutzstaffel (Elite guard)
TAC—Tactical Air Command
TC—Troop carrier
TD—Tank destroyer
T/E—Tables of equipment
T/O&E—Tables of organization and equipment
TOT—Time on target, a method of timing artillery fire from various points to fall on a given target simultaneously
TUSA—Third United States Army
VHF—Very high frequency
V-Leute—German agents
Volksdeutsche—Citizens of a country other than Germany who were considered Germans racially
Volkssturm—A people's militia, partially organized in one of the last steps of German mobilization for total war
Wacht am Rhein—Watch on the Rhine (Ardennes code name)
Waffen-SS—A mechanized Army-type force originally made up of volunteers from Nazi party organizations
Wehrmacht—German Armed Forces
WFSt—Wehrmachtführungsstab (Armed Forces Operations Staff)
Werfer—Rocket projector
(-)—Understrength