![]() I was a good sleeper! So I slept through in that whole damn place while the Germans were overrunning our positions. So when the Germans attacked, nobody told me and I didn’t know it. I’d already come back through that opening and the barbed wire up the trail and got in my little hut. By that time, I wasn’t down there in front of our lines. Well, the time was midnight to four o’clock in the morning. On the day of the German attack, where were you and can you share with us your experience, what was going through your mind at that time? The battle lasted from December 16th, 1944 to late January 1945. German forces attacked a weak sector of the American line, forming a ‘bulge’ on the western front. Some of the photos in this article, reflecting upon the violent nature of the Second World War, also depict injured or dead soldiers. ***Warning – the following article describes violent events including combat and death. This is the second part of his story, describing his personal experiences during the battle. In the midst of this horrific bloodshed was the 19-year-old Herb Sheaner. It was the costliest battle in American history, with nearly 90,000 Americans killed, wounded, or captured. After their initial attack, American reinforcements poured into the forest and a two-month-long battle ensued. The region was lightly defended by American troops, and the Germans would amass nearly 400,000 men for the offensive. ![]() The Battle of the Bulge, or the Ardennes Offensive, was a massive German attack in the forested, snowy Ardennes forest. Sheaner discussed his high school and college years, and his initial service in the Army before the Battle of the Bulge. This article is the second chapter of a three-part series on the experiences of a WW2 veteran and former Jesuit Track and Field Head Coach Herb Sheaner.
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