Not a Moment to Lose… Battle of the Bulge, Ardennes, December 1944

[Mini Me]

Nice bit of research and a good break down of events. Thanks for sharing this Tim. :thumb2:

[rtfoe]

Hi Tim,
You're right about not snowing in the early part of the campaign so it'll be muddy and cold then. When did the snow start falling? They always get it wrong in movies.

Cheers,
Wabble

[minitnkr]

Great blog as usual.

[Jim R]

A very interesting project Tim. You've clearly done plenty of research. It may not have snow but everything is filthy dirty with mud!

[Mini Me]

Hi Tim,
You're right about not snowing in the early part of the campaign so it'll be muddy and cold then. When did the snow start falling? They always get it wrong in movies.

Cheers,
Wabble

There is some patchy snow on the ground in places.......3:19 into the video shows a building on the other side of the road and beyond it you can see the results of a previous snowfall, also in the foreground on the camera side of the road is also snow covered.
Should make for a very contrasty and interesting bit of weather conditions for the dio. :thumb2:

[rtfoe]

There is some patchy snow on the ground in places.......3:19 into the video shows a building on the other side of the road and beyond it you can see the results of a previous snowfall, also in the foreground on the camera side of the road is also snow covered.
Should make for a very contrasty and interesting bit of weather conditions for the dio. :thumb2:

B/W film footage is sometimes quite hard to distinguish the landscape. In the past I always thought the Western Plains were very desert like in cowboy movies as the grass were tan.:rolling:

Cheers,
Wabble

[Guest]

When did the snow start falling? They always get it wrong in movies.

That’s because they didn’t bother to read this

For these 5 days, 23 to 27 December, the weather had favored the Americans, in the air and on the ground. Superior numerically in tanks, the Americans benefited more than the Germans from the sure footing the big freeze provided for armor. However, on 28 December, the sky was overcast with low stratus clouds. This was followed a day later by arctic air from Scandinavia, which produced heavy snows, blizzards, and greatly reduced visibility at ground level. Vehicular movement was slow, the riflemen exhausted themselves wading through the drifts, and the wounded (those in a state of shock) died if left in the snow for half an hour or more. This was the state of the weather when, on 3 January, the Allies began their final counterattack.

[scottie3158]

Hello stranger, good to see you back with another great build.

[TIM FORSTER]

Snow or no snow?

The whole snow / no snow thing is probably incapable of resolution. We all know that in hilly areas - especially those high above sea level - the climate can be pretty local. Also, if snow has already fallen some days before, patches can linger on hill sides and in crevices where the sunlight cannot reach. I'm often up in the Peak District near Buxton and Bakewell and I've seen that happen many times.

Having said that, if you look at the other famous German newsreel clips from around the same time it's clear that it wasn't snowing during the early stages of the advance and it's hard to see much evidence of recent snowfall. Even where it might be visible, it is impossible to accurately verify the timing and location.

The images from Poteau don't show any snow and the footage below (which actually made it back to Germany and was shown in a newsreel at the time) also shows no signs of the white stuff. They include the well-known sequence of Kamfgruppe Peiper advancing into Stoumont - an attack which began during the morning of the 19th.

But, then again, look at this rather grim image taken in Honsfeld (on the way to Malmedy and the sight of the infamous massacre), which shows elements of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 9 stripping boots from the bodies of killed GIs. Honsfield was captured on the morning of the 17th December, with Malmedy being overrun later the same day.

For obvious reasons these images did not make it into the German cinemas at the time. Not only do they suggest that these Americans had been summarily executed - they also show the rather parlous state of the attacker's equipment at an early stage of the campaign.



For obvious reasons this shot must have been taken soon after the battle and, as we can see, there are clumps of snow at the side of the road, on the outbuilding in the background (but not the main roofs of the houses) and, it seems, over the fields in the distance.

Honsfield is about 15 kms northeast of Kaiserbarracke, but it may be further above sea level for all I know. Either way, it seems that there had been recent snow fall in some parts of the area of advance even if the snow would not return in any meaningful way for some days ahead.

So I may allow myself to include some snow after all...

[Mini Me]

As you should.....it is quite evident that it was there in abundance in certain locals, so why not, I'm quite certain it would only add to the overall effect and conclude for certain that the temperatures were well below a comfortable level. :thumb2:

[Andy the Sheep]

Hoping to be somehow useful, I made some researches in my library and found these pics
and it confirms that the paratroopers on that Konigstiger had lost their way to their unit (9th FJ regiment) and were attached to the 501 heavy panzer battalion.
The source is this one

It's not a first class piece of historic literature as it seems mainly aimed at laundering the image of the Waffen SS, but, being written by former members of LSSAH, I think it is a reliable source for names and places.

[Mini Me]

Not heard of that ref. before Andy.......good to be able to connect names to places. Thanks for the info. :thumb2: :thumb2:

[TIM FORSTER]

Thanks so much guys, that is invaluable info.

Looking for the right building

So this next bit was fun - even if a bit slow. I went onto Google Maps Streetview and followed a few routes away from the Kaiserbarracke crossroads in the direction of German advance.

All the time I was looking for buildings that a) looked like traditional farm houses and b) looked old.

Here is a selection of what I found:











I was not trying to find a specific building to replicate, but a type: i.e. a typical farmhouse that would look authentic for the place and the time. Of course, all of these buildings will have changed over the intervening 70 or so years (although Google images are often several years old) - but you can still see that they are OLD.

Among some of the common features I noticed was the combination of a barn (with a large arched doorway) alongside the farmhouse itself. Of course, this is a classic look for rural buildings in many parts of Europe, including where I live in the UK.

This immediately brought on a rush of nostalgia and made me think of the classic Verlinden ruined barn that I had built as a teenager back in the 80s…



I guess this makes sense, since Francois Verlinden was Belgian and would have based his diorama construction sets (DCS) on structures that he was familiar with.

On many of the buildings I found on Google Maps I also saw a distinctive sloping element to the roof at the gable ends. This helps to break up the outline and gives them a much more ‘rural’ look, although I’m not sure what practical purpose it served.

So this gave me a few ideas about how my building should look.

Another image helped me to understand the method of construction. You will notice here that the stone courses might appear random, but every now and then they are roughly levelled with a line of smaller stones. The stones at the corners are also better ‘dressed’ to help keep the structure square. So it's not quite as random as it may first appear...



So having found my inspiration the work is about to begin…

[adt70hk]

Good to see you back Tim. Looking forward to seeing another masterclass. Was lucky enough to see your previous dio in person at one of the MAFVA nationals a couple of years ago!

ATB.

Andrew

[Scratchbuilder]

Hello Tim, good to see you back on the bench.
Building - pics 3 & 4 look about right, the other two look far to 'new' build.
Enjoyed the history lead up to your build and like JR, chair drawn up ready for a build lesson.
Mike.