Duty, Honor, and the Unlikely Heroes Who Helped Win the Battle of the Bulge

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

The Battle of the Bulge commenced on the morning of December 16, 1944. The Allies were ill-prepared for this last, desperate offensive from the Germans, and the campaign might have succeeded if a few things hadn’t gotten in their way, including a single, green, 18-man platoon who refused to give up their ground to the Nazis. Alex Kershaw shares the story of these men in his book, The Longest Winter, and with us today on the show. He first explains the background of the Battle of the Bulge and how an Intelligence and Reconnaissance unit that had never seen combat ended up in the thick of it. And he describes the platoon’s 20-year-old leader, Lyle Bouk, who was determined to carry out his orders and hold their position despite being massively outmanned and outgunned, and how his men fought until they were down to their last rounds. Alex then shares how what Bouk thought was a total failure — being captured as POWs after just a day of combat — turned out to have been an effort that significantly influenced the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge, and how an unlikely platoon of heroes who initially went unrecognized for their valor became the most decorated American platoon of WWII. You’ll find such an inspiring lesson in this show about living up to your duty and holding the line.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness
0:10.4	Podcast the Battle of the Bulge commenced on the morning of December 16, 1944.
0:16.3	The Allies were ill-prepared for this last desperate offensive from the Germans, and the
0:20.2	campaign might have succeeded and a few things hadn't gotten in their way,
0:24.0	including a single green A.T. Man platoon, who refused to give up their ground to the Nazis.
0:30.0	Alex Kershaw shares the story of these men in his book The Longest Winter and with us today on the show.
0:35.2	He first explains the background of the Battle of the Bulge and how an intelligence and reconnaissance unit that had never seen combat
0:41.2	ended up in the thick of it.
0:43.0	And he describes the platoon's 20-year-old leader,
0:44.9	Lyle Bauk, who was determined to carry out his orders
0:47.4	and hold a position despite being massively outmanned
0:50.0	and out-gunned, and how his men fought
0:52.0	until they were down to their last rounds.
0:54.2	Alex then shares how what Balc thought was a total failure, being captured as POWs after just a day
0:58.6	of combat, turned out to have been an effort that significantly influenced the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge,
1:04.0	and how an unlikely platoon of heroes who initially went unrecognized for their valor became the most
1:08.4	decorated American platoon of World War II. You'll find such an inspiring lesson in the show about living up to your
1:13.8	duty and holding the line. After the show is over check at our show notes at AIM.
1:18.0	I.S. slash Battle of the Bulge. All right, Alex Kershaw, welcome back to the show.
1:35.0	Great to be with you.
1:37.0	So we're coming up on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.
1:42.0	I'll be next year, and you wrote a book two decades ago
	...

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