Electric Bison

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When I think of character I think of Max Hebgen, the Montanan who died of pneumonia contracted on the job when he was 45 years old. By then he had designed our early integrated, carbon-free, hydro-electric system and put it into service. He even reached into this own pocket to keep an electricity company going through hard times, because he knew its importance to our young state. He was the first...

Con Kelley had been a boy in Walkerville, Montana. More significantly, he had a solid knowledge of The Butte Hill. During the years he attended law school, he mapped the mines and orebodies of Butte. After his mentor, John D. Ryan died, Kelley waited through the rest of the Great Depression before stepping into the position of Chairman of the Board for The Anaconda Company (The Company). That move...

We have identified 242 Montanans who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. From available information 77 of them could have fought in any of the battle’s four stages: defending against the initial attack, which involved at least 67 indicated by Blue-in place, Green-rapid reinforcing, Pink-KIA, and Orange-captured dots on the attached map, holding out inside the Siege of Bastogne, which involved at le...

A furious Hitler ordered his generals to capture Bastogne, eliminating this “thorn in the side” and symbol of American defense before proceeding again to the Meuse. At the same time Patton had just reached Bastogne. He was determined to expand the Bastogne pocket and retake its German strongpoints and road networks as a prelude to pushing the Germans back to the Siegfried Line. His Third Army woul...

After the two U.S. Armies finally joined at Houffalize on January 16, Hitler authorized a gradual German withdrawal. The Ardennes Offensive had failed and he needed to counter the Russian spring offensive that had started January 12. In the British House of Commons on January 18 Prime Minister Winston Churchill told his countrymen: “I have seen it suggested that the terrific battle which has been...

The other fight along this German high-water mark occurred 20 miles southeast of Dinant, a Meuse River crossing. Here, the U.S. 7th Corps under General Collins, consisting of the heavy 2nd Armored Division and most of the 84th Infantry Division, faced the German 2nd Panzer Division, the Panzer Lehr Division, and part of the 9th SS Panzer Division sent to help near Rochefort. The 2nd Panzer Divisio...

The German bulge in the American lines was now over 40 miles deep and 60 miles wide, but consisted of two smaller salients. The first, in the central area of the Bulge overran St. Vith and skirted north of Houffalize to create a six mile-wide German advance line at its furthest point between Marche and Hotten on the Ourthe River, 30 miles short of the Meuse River at Huy. To its south another salie...

The Chaplain who wrote the famous war prayer for General Patton was from Montana. Colonel James H. O’Neill, who had been for many years attached to the Helena Roman Catholic Diocese as Vice President of Carroll College, wrote the prayer on Patton’s order, asking for dry weather to assist a breakthrough: “Grant us fair weather for battle.” The date of the prayer was December 14, 1944. Two days late...

Bastogne was important because of the vital junction of seven roads and two railroads. Successful defense of Bastogne came against great odds. The difficulty was in being able to ultimately control a cluster of five municipalities: Bastogne proper, Longvilly, Noville, Villers and Wardin. General Middleton, Commander of the U.S. 18th Corps, made the initial decision to hold onto Bastogne, the key c...

Along the southernmost final attack line for the offensive running down to Echternach lay a picturesque, castled German border with Luxembourg which became known as the “southern shoulder” of the Bulge. This craggy terrain favored the deployment of infantry over tanks. The Germans had few tanks here, a factor the would cost them. Under General Brandenberger, three German Volksgrenadier Divisions a...

The southernmost route contributing to Dietrich’s Sixth SS Panzer Army’s attack led to the Ambleve River system flowing away from the German border through Stavelot, Belgium. This route seemed ready-made for flinging a deeply penetrating spear through the thinly stretched U.S. defensive line. Chosen to execute the task, Joachim Peiper, once personal adjutant to SS Chief Himmler, gave his name to t...

Now that we have covered Manteuffel’s attack against the U.S 106th Infantry Division sector in front of St. Vith, using Lucht’s Corps, we turn to his attack against the U.S. 28th Infantry (“Keystone”) Division sector a bit south, beginning at the intersection of the Belgium, German and Luxembourg border to Gemund. Here, in an area of forested hills and low mountains, Manteuffel faced more difficul...

Saint Vith, much like the next place picked to dig a line in hopes of stopping a forest fire, must be seen in its unique context. Because the place is a crossroads town, the divisions in General Lucht’s 66th Corps of Manteuffel’s Fifth Panzer Army fully intended to capture and control those intersections. Not only a town was at stake, but the timetable for the German offensive. In this sector the...

Seven miles south of Hofen, near the German villages of Hollerath and Hellenthal, lay two additional pre-designated attack routes, or “Rollbahns” A and B, for the German assault to open the northern shoulder. These routes were directed against the Twin Villages of Krinkelt-Rocherath, three miles across the border into Belgium through the Krinkelt Forest, or “Krinkerwald.” Secondary German attacks...

On December 19, General Dietrich shifted the 12th SS Panzer Division south to attack Dom Butgenbach in order to avoid the Elsenborn defenses and open Rollbahn C, the main road from Bullengen to Malmedy in the west. This was to be another significant battle. Dom Butgenbach sat astride the Malmedy route and was by now occupied by the veteran U.S. 1st Infantry Division’s 26th Infantry Regiment. The s...

Credit must go to U.S. Fifth Corps Commander, General Leonard Gerow, who was in charge of the northern sector. On day one of the surprise offensive when everyone was reeling, he and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division Commander, General Walter Robertson quickly came up with the defensive plan based on Elsenborn Ridge high ground, getting the 99th and 2nd Infantry Divisions up there quickly into prepare...

It is time to examine in detail the eleven critical junctures of the battle, starting with the most northern fight along the original line of attack, Hofen the northern hinge. The first essential fight involved a dangerous avenue over and around Elsenborn Ridge, along the extreme northern shoulder of the German offensive. The attackers placed priority on swinging open the northern shoulder of defe...