Deflating the Bulge
An interview with World War n veteran Arthur Fox
By Chris S. Hodge David Brandt February 24,2007
Table of Contents
Interviewee Release Form page 2
Table of Contents page 3
Statement of Purpose page 4
Biography page 5
Contextualization page 6
Interview Trmiscription page 15
Interview Analysis page 32
Audio Indexing Log page 38
Works Consulted page 39 Statement of Purpose
The purpose ofthe Oral History Project is to better understand the views ofthe
American soldiers who were involved in the Battle ofthe Bulge and World War II. The
interview of Arthur Fox allows the reader to comprehend the intensity and importance of the Battle of The Bulge. The memories mid stories shared by Mr. Fox are an incredible
insight to the events and battles the soldiers ofthe United States army witnessed. Biographv
Arthur J. Fox was bom in Brooklyn, New York on September 19, 1923 to Arthur
J. Fox and Mary L. Fox. Fox lived in New York for most of his childhood. He went to
school at Manhattan College in New York City, where he enlisted in the United States
Army as an engineer. He courageously participated in World Wm II and more
specifically, the Battle ofthe Bulge, as an engineer and an infantry soldier. He returned to
Mmihattan College after the war mid continued his studies as a civil engineer.
Throughout Fox's life, he has been a dedicated and important figure in his
occupations. For forty years. Fox was a engineering news mid record mticle author for
McGraw Hill Company and for twelve years he was the managing director for Round
Table construction company. Today, Fox resides in Potomac, Maryland with his wife
Lorraine and often visits his three grand children when he is not busy volunteering or traveling. Contextualiz ation
"NUTS" was the American general Anthony McAuliffe's response when the
Germans asked for his platoon's surrender. This phrase would be the attitude that helped
motivate the American soldiers while they deflated the bulge. The Battle ofthe Bulge
was one of the final mid most crucial attacks that Adolf Hitler made on the United States
front line. This battle was the height of Hitler's attacks, where he poured his best soldiers, tanks, and planning for what would be the end of a fascist leader or the start of Hitler's
new reign Therefore, in order to understand the perspective of someone who participated
in the Battle ofthe Bulge, it is important to first examine the importmice ofthe battle, the
views of each side, and the effect the war had on the soldiers fighting it.
Hitler's attempt for domination originated when he signed the "Pact of Steel" treaty in May 22, 1939. This treaty between Hitler, and Italy's Dictator, Benito
Mussoloni, was the primmy action t^en to conquer all of Europe. Adolf Hitler's main
point of view was that Germany was a weak country that could only be salvaged through
war. This idea of war would later be known as World Wm II. Germmiy had been crushed
during World War I. The morale ofthe citizens and industrial value ofthe country were
in ruins. Hitler saw this weakness in the Germmi people mid used it as his advantage to
gain their support as a leader. Hitler promised the German citizens that he would make
Germany strong once again and that he would do this by gaining more and more power
and territories through warfare. These ideas of gaining large sums of power were ideas
inspired by the Italian dictator, Mussoloni. Benito Mussoloni was a fascist dictator who
agreed with Hitler's desire to create a larger empire by annexing smaller border countries. 7
While viewing Hitler's advancement on countries such as Austria, Great Britain
and France chose the best action they thought appropriate. This decision was to allow
Germany to minex such countries as Austria, in hopes that Germany would be satisfied
with its new territory. The Allied powers did not receive the results they had hoped.
Hitler continued to expand his nation by breaking the borders of Czechoslovakia. This
reach for more land led the Allied powers into making the "Munich Agreement" which
allowed Hitler to rule part of Czechoslovakia. These futile attempts to stop Hitler's
expansion only gave Hitler more of what he wanted. The Allied Powers saw Hitler's vast
desire as a threat that could only be realized through war. The Allied powers consisting
of Great Britain and France declared war on Germany when Hitler invaded Poland on
September 1, 1939 (Ambrose). Hitler's goal of having Germany become an incredible
world power was now being threatened.
This threat called for serious action by the Axis powers. Hitler found Japan to be a
suitable addition for his forces. Japmi was a positive candidate for Hitler's ideas because
Japan was currently fighting for the same ideas that Germany was. Japmi felt as if they
were not being treated fairly by other world powers. The Japanese prime minister and
emperor agreed that force was the necessary action in gaining respect from other
countries. The reason Japan felt they were not obtaining the proper respect was that they
were dependent on other countries. Japan was a country with an incredible population but
a limited supply of Imid and raw materials. This limiting supply crippled Japan's ability to grow and become a great independent power. Japan decided to end their reliance on
other countries by taking what they needed to become independent. When Japmi attacked
and annexed China, the United States saw this invasion as a threat to the European and American continent. The United States stopped all trade with Japan and China, which
further limited Japan's supply of raw materials. This infuriated the Prime Minister who
decided that if Japan did not attack the United States and restore the shipments of
materials, Japan would become a third class nation (Kershaw).
Hitler understood Japan's frustration with the United States and took advantage of their anger to create the Second World War. Germany and Italy agreed to support an
attack on the United States if the Japanese would initiate it. On December 7, 1941, the
Japanese attacked the naval base in Pearl Hmbor, Hawaii. This attack on Pearl Hmbor
was expected at some point but not obvious to the Americans of when and where it would
be. Therefore the Japanese attack was very effective because the United States did not
have time to mobilize troops for a counter attack or even a defense. Many ships, plmies,
and submmines had been destroyed in the attack along with the country's morale. Japmi
and the other Axis powers officially declared war on the United States throughout the
following few days. The United States was outraged by this sudden attack by the
Japanese and declaration of war from the Germans and Italians.
"Remember Pearl Harbor!" are the words that ran through the streets ofthe
United States. These words represented the desire for revenge that Americans held. The
American people wanted to support their country in any way possible. Millions of men
enlisted in the war departments, some even lying about their age so that they could fight
for their country's honor. The attack of Pearl Harbor weakened the United States for only
a short period of time and then made the men eager with revenge and victory over the
Axis powers. 9
The United States became a wm nation joining on January 1, 1942 (Ambrose 1)
but the preparation and organization of developing such a large mmy in a small period of time would be a challenge for the United States. Young men felt the obligation and
desire to fight in the name of their country. They enlisted by the millions, giving the
Armed forces a total number of 10.4million enlisted soldiers in 1945 (Ambrose 14). This
new army was made up of every kind of man, from fmniers to engineer students, who all
had the same idea that would win the wm. In order to win the war, all aspects of
manufacturing were manipulated by the United States Government so as to benefit the
fighting cause. Tire compmiies created and produced a new type of synthetic rubber that
did not rely on a natural source of rubber. This allowed the United States to create thousands of tires for the military vehicles that would be used across the seas. United
States' car companies also changed their operations. Instead of feeding the civilian's
needs for new cars, the companies built military vehicles such as tanks and jeeps. All
other government time and funding was given to training the massive amounts of men for the heavy combat they would face in the adverse weather conditions in Europe. The
United States also set up a program called the Naval Reserves, which sent Navy officers to the Pacific Ocean. The American soldiers and US culture was heavily submerged into the focus of war and in this focus they would see their future accomplishments.
The Allied powers had a steady grasp on the war for the next few years leading up to the unexpected battle or series of battles that would surprise mid cripple the Allied
forces and the United States Army. The Battle ofthe Bulge was a surprise attack
organized in secret by Adolf Hitler in late 1944 (Ambrose 62). Hitler had stationed his troops along the Siegfried Line in the Aachen Area, which was west of Bastonge 10
(Goldstein 38). Hitler had strategically chosen this placement of German troops because
it was the weakest sector in the American line. Hassel von Mmiteuffel was one ofthe few
men who Hitler decided to inform about the attack. Hitler used him as an aid to find the
area with the least American patrol. Manteuffel was successful in searching the lines and
found the part ofthe forest that was being patrolled by the 28 division (Goldstein 39).
This division was assembled of new soldiers with little to no fighting experience and a
small mnount of training. General George Patton positioned them in this area in order to
patrol the area but more to get an understanding of being at the front. These soldiers were told that there was nothing there; they were told it was the "Ghost Front" but they had no
idea ofthe immense operation being pieced together by Hitler (Goldstein).
Hitler had hoped for this opportunity for some time before it was given to him,
but when it arrived he was prepared. He had set aside the best soldiers who went through
his training camps to create what has been known as the "SS". The "SS" was an elite
group of handsome, young, and healthy Nazi soldiers. These soldiers were unknown to
all Allied forces that gave the Axis Powers the ability for a surprise attack on the
Adrennes Forest. The Allied Powers were oblivious to all German mobilization and
believed that Germany and the Axis Powers were too weak to fight a substantial battle.
The Allied Forces had assumed the Germmi army to be nearly defeated and low on troops
and supplies. On December 16, 1944, Hitler had successfully mobilized 410,000 soldiers,
2,600 Imge artillery weapons, and 1,400 Imge military vehicles into an mea that was 110
kilometer long (Dupuy 35). This battle or series of battles had the importance of being the
battle that decided the war's fate. 11
The Battle of The Bulge began on December 16, 1944 (Kershaw 77). The
Germans were sent to attack at 5:30 AM, just as the American soldiers ofthe 28
division were waking. They were heavily bombarded with enemy fire that caught the
Americans off guard. The pmiic mid the confusion ofthis sudden attack created hysteria
among the soldiers. All but one battalion leaders had been killed in the first German
attack, which left the new soldiers to think for their own. The United States divisions
began to retreat eastwmd out ofthe Adrennes Forest towards support (Kershaw). The
United States army was so unorganized that in the time ofthe retreat, wounded soldiers
who were unable to walk were left for dead. This was an unfamilim phenomenon in
American warfare since wounded soldiers were considered high priorities for removal
from the front. This retreat only emphasized how enormous the Germmi attack was
(Winters).
The German attack was not entirely successful, up to this point, due to strategic
planning but also by luck. Hitler had created this attack plan based on the expectation of
bad weather. Bad weather allowed Hitler to mobilize thousands of troops without the
United States' knowledge. It also was beneficial to Hitler because the bad weather
stopped all US aircraft movement. The air force was the limiting factor ofthe United
States army. The air force enabled information to be recorded through observation planes
and also was able to defeat mid attack front lines accurately mid constmitly. Hitler knew that if the weather cleared, there would be little hope for his attack succeeding. But the
weather did not clem for the next week and Hitler pushed his army forward past Bastogne towards Paris. 12
The city of Bastogne in Belgium was passed and surrounded by German forces as they continued their march westward towmds Paris. Bastogne had been an Allied military
base which the German army saw as insignificant in impeding their cause. Word passed throughout the Allied troops and in the United States that Bastogne was a symbol of
American strength and resistance. This boost in morale angered Hitler enough to distract
him from his real goal. Hitler ordered Bastogne to be forced to surrender or destroyed.
On December second, a group of German soldiers came into the quarters of General
McAuliffe asking for his surrender. He misunderstood the Germans and agreed to honor their surrender. When the confusion was sorted out mid it was clear to the General that he
was being asked to surrender, he replied with only one word, "Nuts!" (Winters 179). This
simple statement broke the Germmis' patience who destroyed Bastogne on December 22,
1944. There were 4,000 soldiers killed and mound 30,000 who were wounded or captured
in Batogne (Dupuy). The Allied disappointment in Bastogne's defeat was short lived due to the following day's clearing weather allowing the bomber and supply aircraft to fly.
The Bulge that the Germans had created was now restricted by defensive north
and south American troops who were stopping any further expansion that the "SS" army
may have attempted. The decision of what to do to secure the bulge was one of great
importance. The two decisions that were reached were to surround the bulge, cutting it
away from the German support or the idea of slowly pushing the bulge back to the
originating point ofthe Adrennes Forest. The latter was chosen. This plan of attack to
"push" was a slow and costly maneuver. The Germans push forward in creating the bulge
had separated the two allied armies from each other. The push plan was created in order to rejoin these two mniies as to create a strong front that could withstand Germmi assault. 13
if miother large attack were to erupt. The Allied push was very difficult for the soldiers
because Hitler refused to allow his soldiers to retreat until Janumy 8, 1945 (Dupuy). The
German soldiers were in horrible shape. They had been stretched beyond belief and
attacked heavily in the previous few days. Retreat was inevitable for any Germmi force
survival.
As the Germans retreated back east, the United States army enlisted thousands of
new soldiers who were never properly trained for battle. The American generals
understood that the main factor in pushing the Germans back was the infantry. They
lowered all restrictions and stmidmds to enter the Armed Forces in order to fulfill their
demand for foot soldiers. The lack of training that these new soldiers received resulted in
immediate injury or death. The men had no experience or knowledge of their situation
and were killed by the thousands. The United States army reported that they had lost
2,000 men a day for a series of months during the "push" (American Experience). The
dying soldiers were serving a purpose and allowed the two Allied armies to join in
Hufalise, Belgium on Janumy 16, 1945 (Dupuy). It would t^e the Allied army another two weeks to regain the 10 miles that distmiced them from the original front. This series
of battles known as the Battle ofthe Bulge determined the success ofthe Axis Powers
and secured the fate ofthe Nazi party.
For a few more months, the war against Hitler and his support from the Axis
powers continued leading the Allied Forces into Germany to defeat the last ofthe fascist
pmties. The war ended with the German and Axis powers surrender and the suicide of
Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler knew that the war was impractical but decided to ruin whole
nations mid countries in order to fulfill his dream of being a world conqueror. Germany 14 was broken into four sectors to reduce later wars and the other Axis powers were disassembled and remained under watch. The end of World War II also resulted in hostile violence between powers for a few years after.
The United States helped end the world scare of communism and fascist based pmties who were threatening the independence of many countries. Without the devotion ofthe American soldier who volunteered himself for his freedom of democracy, the
Second World War may have ended in different terms, resulting in dictatorships. The men ofthe American mmy were the main factor in the outcome ofthe war mid suffered greatly for what they have given for the democratic countries ofthe world. 15
Interview Transcription
Interviewee: Arthur J. Fox Interviewer: Chris S. Hodge Location: The home of Arthur Fox, Potomac, Maryland Date: February 3,2007
Chris Hodge: I am Chris Hodge and I am here today in Potomac Maryland at the home
of Arthur Fox conducting an Oral History on the Battle ofthe Bulge and I will start with
a few questions.
CH: What was it like growing up during the depression?
Arthur Fox: This greatest generation that Tom Brokoff knighted us as, a bunch of
depression babies. We all grew up in the depression and it was harder for some thmi
others. Um, my father had ajob all way through. Um, most/ many fathers did not. I have to laugh a little bit when I think back because of her emlier marriage my mothers first
husband died, she had a little bit of an inheritance apparently because all through the
depression we had a live in maid. Who wore a uniform mid served us dinner at the table
every night.
CH: Yea.
AF: And this was most unusual. This was in a house in Queen's village on Long Islmid that had three bedrooms mid one bath. And the maid's room was the little kitchenette off the kitchen mid except for the Thursdays she had off, we had Mary Mooney taking cme 10
of our household for the whole school year in Queens Village and for the summer up in
Cop^e Falls New York, where we had a summer house. It was the depression but we
didn't suffer. My older sister got off to college before the depression ended, before the
war stmted and my younger sister and I were going to college too. So it was a struggle
but ah, we knew what it was like to get through a week on four or five dollars including
five-cent subway fairs mid nickel beers. We got ten-cent beers mostly but we knew where to find a nickel beer.
CH: And why did you enlist in the army instead of remaining in college?
AF: "Laughter"... There wasn't a choice... December seventh 1941,1 was at a tea dance
on a Sunday afternoon at the college, mid see we were day hops at college. We didn't
board there, most of my friends mid I, we commuted from an hour and a half away, in my
case. By buses mid subways.
CH: And was that hard with the depression and the money shortage?
AF: Well that was because we didn't have money to go away to college, so we went to the local college where we could live home, but fortunately I got lucked into going to a
magnificent school, Manhattan college, which stood me in good stays with an unusual
career. But um, we leamed that we were at wm on December 19, 1941 and at the end of
December 42 we decided what we were gonna do about that. Because the draft laws were
pulling people out of college. I decided to go into the mmy enlisted reserve in December 17
42. And that let me stay in college until May mid finish the third year of my civil
engineering.
CH: Is that why you chose the mmy over the navy?
AF: No, why did I chose the army? I don't know the miswer "laughter", I keep saying that the smart guys in my class all went to the navy because they wound up finishing their
fourth year of college and getting their degrees from Manhattan while in uniform. And then becoming officers mid going off to the Pacific as officers, um a couple of us went
into the army. I don't know why but you look back and say whats the difference you cant
change it. I had a different experience then they had, as we will talk about it here, but a
you had to enlist in the reserves at that point in order to remain in college for another few
months and to finish the third year. Soon as we finished the third yem we were
immediately uniformed as army or navy and even marines, some of my classmates went
into the marines. Why did they do that.
CH: Yea, what was your position in the United States army during World War II?
AF: We were all, we were all privates, taken in as privates mid sent to a basic training.
My basic training was at fort Belvo Virginia which was the engineer school and still is.
Um, mmiy of us were engineering students, having finished three years of engineering in
college. Well the army did something that was a little logical for the army and so they
sent us into the engineer basic training. At some point you get your first stripe and 18
become a private first class. I spent some time in a progrmn called the mmy specialized training program, astp, they had all the officers they needed but they had all of us college
kids. So they sent us back to college in uniform. And let us study a little bit more, then I
went to the university of Florida in term six ofthe six term program in civil engineering
and picked up a credit or two there that were useful to me in graduating eventually. But
after D-day and the invasion of Europe, they needed bodies and they needed to get these
young guys out ofthe colleges mid put them back in the infmitry. So I was put in the
infantry division. And talked my way into the engineering battalion and by the time we
were finished training and ready to go over seas, I was a "T5", which meant I had two
stripes with a T under it. Technician so called. Um my skill was a draftsmen and I was a
draftsmen in the unit in the battalion. Which meant I was gonna be the guy who drew a
situation map every night of what we had seen that day that we needed to report. So, I,
while I was overseas I was promoted to a sergemit, I went from a draftsmen to being one
ofthe two reconosince sergeants in the unit. But I was still a full sergeant when I got out I
never went beyond that. I was able to t^e an honorary discharge and no further
connection, no further obligation, no business going back for Korea. Which some of my
friends had to do.
CH: And did you do any engineering or engineering type things when you were in the
war?
AF: In basic training at Fort Belvoe, we built bridges mid we took them down. We put up
buildings and we took them down. One ofthe best things you could do in that hottest 19
summer, I remember in 1943, was to get out into Acatink creek with al your clothes on
where it was nice mid cool in the water.
CH: Yea I bet. (both laughing).
AF: Where we would put up a bridge and some of them steel bailey bridges, the largest
piece of which was an eight man lift totally by hand, no tools, we'd build bailey bridges
and the sergeant would say "okay your on your own time take it down".
CH: On your own time?
AF: And we'd put it back on shore, that was our days work for that day. Skills we had
acquired in college, well I had studied drafting and used my drafting skill for that time that I was doing drafting. For each day's report on the situation Id draw a map.
CH: And before enlisting, what did you know about the wm and the current foreign
issues?
AF: Well we watched the war pretty closely, because they mentioned Pearl Harbor day
and it hit us like a ton of bricks when we were sophomores in college so, we watched one
or two of our fellows move out and decided to enlist for opportunities to go to officer training programs. But most of our class held together mid as I mentioned enlisted in the
naval reserve or in my case the army reserve mid most of us finished three years there at 20
Mmihattan [College]. And the lucky guys who went in the navy were in Colombia or
Brown finished there senior year, got there civil engineering degrees before they went
into uniform, or becmne midshipmen. They were midshipmen perhaps when they were in
school but there were officers.
CH: While you were serving in Europe did you participate in any first hand action, in
fighting and killing?
AF: Yea, I was in the Engineer Combat Battalion, the 312 engineers ofthe 87 infmitry
division, and the 87 infantry division went over on a troop ship and landed in England.
Where we acquired all of our trucks and equipment heavy weapons and what not. And we
got on LST's, Landing ship tanks, fairies that took us across to l^aralin, France. And we
drove across France which General Patton had already driven across with his tanks mid
we stopped in Mets, Eastern France ._ And it was in Mets where we were first
committed, that is our infantry guys were facing Germans. We were there when the Battle
ofthe Bulge happened. The Germmis broke out ofthe Ardennes and took this last gasp
effort to push the Americans back into the English channel which was an impossibility
for them. But they did a lot of damage, they overran whole divisions that haddent even
unpacked their stuff. And there were Americans who were just killed or imprisoned, taken as prisoners. Because the Bulge happened as a complete surprise mid we were
south of it. We were in the Saw Valley, we went in on Christmas, on Christmas Eve. We
moved north into Belgium, and New Years Eve I remember being on a lovely little
Belgium town then we went forward through Basttogne, which had an historic value That 21
had been clemed by someone ahead of us. But somewhere out beyond Bastogne, We
were, our division was facing Germmis. Now in our job we, every day we were in the so
called intelligence unit ofthe battalions and the group of us in two jeeps couple of
drivers, a couple of sergeants an officer. We'd drive mound the whole area that was our
front. The front might be five miles wide or ten miles wide. There'd be a division to the
left of us and a division to the right of us and we'd drive around behind our foot soldiers.
The guys who would be actually doing it out there. We would come back a mile or two
miles or three miles into the relative comfort of sleeping in tents warmed by our wood
stove, and we would write our reports of what weve seen that day that needed to be told to the troops behind us and to the left mid right of us. And there were places where
artillery was going over head, and it wasn't until later in the war, I don't know if you
want to get to that so quickly, but when the war was practically over our division was
moving so fast that we didn't know where the front was. They would get on the tops of tanks mid ride, if they found some resistance they would get off and wipe it out, and ride
some more. Then we would have to go and patrol all these roads and map them mid show
whether the bridges were safe and such. It was. In that situation it was I nearly had to call
it quits because. They just missed a whole town of Germans and we ran into it with just two jeeps.
CH: Wow, just with two Jeeps.
AF: We got out, we gave them a couple of jeeps (laughs). But there were (counting) six
of us there. We made a successful retreat out of what was a lot of gunfire. 22
CH: Did your military training prepme you for the death that you faced and witnessed?
AF: The, Ive been, I guess it was later in my life when I was married to an Irish family,
when I went to all the wakes ofthe dead people. But before World Wm III had seen one
or two old relatives that had past away, and the first thing you see, the first thing I saw
was a German in a grayish uniform laying on the side ofthe road dead. And you just
kinda get used to that. Didn't see until pretty late in the game, our own guys brought in
dead. But we got so used to seeing dead bodies on the side ofthe road that, the ambush
we ran into, when the war was almost over. We went, in two jeeps, speeding by these two
Germans we thought were lying there dead, but they were there to wmn the town that we
were coming, (both laugh). They were frozen scared in their ditch and didn't move, we
went flying by them thinking they were dead. So we got so used to seeing dead Germmis that it wasn't an emotional thing at all. It was more emotional to see one alive and well
(laughs). Them walking as a prisoner or however, that's the only way we saw them, as
prisoners.
CH: Did you ever take any prisoners yourself or with your group?
AF: No, We just saw it happening but they'd line a whole bunch of them up and take their weapons away from them and m^e them put their hands on their heads and march them off and bring them back, or whatever there'd be someone in the rear that was in
charge of handling that kind of problem wha'd they do with the prisoners. 23
CH: Do you know what they did with them?
AF: They put them in prisons, they had places where they hold them, holding areas. They
didn't have the prisons that the Germans had. That were established for that purpose, they
were probably just big tent cities with tents around them. And a mess hall, and when we
were still training they had places in South Carolina and Fort Jackson you were quite apt to see a prisoners of war wearing fatigues, work clothes with a P on the back, but they're
out there raking or cutting the lawn or something like that mid they were all Hitler types
you know, husky bronze, blonde haired guys who were eating better than they've ever
eatin' in their lives, in the mess halls, mid that was your first impression ofthe Germmis,
was seeing the Germmi prisoners who were working on maintenance in Fort Jackson in
North Carolina, or South Carolina, I'm sorry.
CH: Did that change your view on them, being able to see them before the wm?
AF: No, it just made you think, you got it made. You can almost + was a famous
cartoonist + had these two famous characters who were named billy and joe and they
were pictured in long overcoats and beards and steel helmets mid they would, be a typical Billy and Joe cartoon theyd be looking down at some guy building a cortoroy
room, an engineer soldier putting down logs to get through the muddy areas and they'd
say at least your learning a trade, (laughs). Or I could see a Billy and Joe looking at a 24
couple of Germans dishing out food in a mess hall to the American soldiers saying you
guys have got it made. They were finished with the wm, they were out of it.
CH: Yea they're safe.
AF: We had not yet gotten into it.
CH: At any point did you ever disagree with the cause in which the U.S. was fighting
for?
AF: No, there was never any doubt, with the happening of WWII, We were attacked at
Pearl Harbor mid the British and French had already been attacked in Europe wed been trying to help them, somewhat. And the Americans were attacked that was it. The whole
country went to wm.
CH: Whats your opinion on the significance ofthe Battle ofthe Bulge?
AF: It was a last gasp effort on the part ofthe German Army, they obviously thought they
were gonna succeed accomplish more thmi they did. To that point, in Europe General
Patton had been there and a hero with his tank divisions pushing back the Germans
pushing them back and pushing them back. Things slowed down with all the snow and
cold, that was the coldest winter lots of snow. And the Germans built up this tremendous
force back in the Ardennes forested areas facing the city of Bastogne. And when they 25
came out of there they just overran us for a period but they couldn't go to far, they ran out
of gas too. There were times when we rmi out of gas, where we rmi out of gas we
couldn't keep going but they were, the bulge was deflated in a period of weeks. With
some pretty serious fighting particularly around Bastogne.
CH: Did it surprise you the amount of reserve forces Hitler had, all the fresh troops?
AF: No, we didn't really know what he had, didn't concem ourselves with the geo
politics, the politics ofthe wm. We just had our days work to do and got through each
day, thankfully and moved forwmd to successfully getting to the next day. We saw the
U.S. force more than we saw any Germmi force it was overhead. Planes were going,
American plmies and rarly did we see a German plane, I think near the end ofthe war they had a some missile plane that would go over head that we'd here that we knew was them but it wasn't headed for us it was headed for England or wherever.
CH: And during your time in Europe was there miy contact between you and an enemy
soldier, and how did your views chmige when you did encounter this?
AF: That gets me to that story. New Years eve, Christmas Eve we were taken off the
lines and brought back and the town we were in there was a hospital and it was
abandoned. We were all put in a building with the windows all blown out, but there was a
chapel on the campus and I read that there was gonna be a midnight mass on Christmas
Eve, so I went, maybe with someone else in the old combat boots and big long overcoat and steel helmet. Which you wore in that cold weather was an overcoat and under that a
zip up and under that a sweater and under that long Johns. +(unrelated) ._
Anyway that's how I looked when I went to midnight mass, and I remember going down the aisle when I went to get communion mid there was a German army officer all dressed
up mid resplintedered and his uniform with his medals ribbons, he was obviously a
prisoner being treated in a hospital there it was kind of a strange feeling, I wondered what
he was praying for while I knew what I was praying for. But beyond that we had dealt
with German civilians at arms length but there would be some kidding around sometime
when the guys would find some good looking girl to talk to and try there Germmi if they
had any of French if they had any, but I got along best in Belgium because my high
school French was pretty fresh and I was trying my French in France mid the people there
had no patience they didn't want to be bothered with you. But in Belgium it was often a
second language for them too, we would be able to try and converse with the Belgiums
and our language it was kind of fun.
CH: Did you ever feel during the wm that the Allied powers and The United States
wouldn't come out the victors?
AF: Oh no, there was never miy doubt it was just a matter of time. It was a wm in the
classic sense, it was a matter of occupying space. Moving the enemy. We kept moving
back and moving them back till they had no place to go and they had to quit. Meanwhile
he was being moved on the eastern front by the Russians. So there wasn't miy questions the Germans were just gonna have to lose. Just a matter of time. And cause I was home 27
on leave and had been assigned to a division that was gonna go to Japan. And in
Hattersburg Mississippi, The 95 infmitry but I was home on about thirty days leave for the summer of 1945 when the news came over the radio one day I was in a restaurant
with my girlfriend and the news came over the radio that the Japanese had surrendered.
We went a couple of blocks into time squme mid were part of that huge mad scene in time square, and I was still in uniform of course and it was like New yems eve in times
square with service men and people came out ofthe office buildings and restaurants mid
what not and was a mad scene celebrating the fact that J day had come. Cause VE day I
was in Europe and there wasn't much celebration. We drank a little wine I suppose but
you know we didn't gather mid have a party, we drmik a lot of wine. We liberated wine
cellars along the way along Mozzel and the Rhine, Germany. We traded it with the cooks,
wed gather the bottles of wine in the day and get back mid give a bottle of champagne for
sour jelly or something.
CH: Were you hungry a lot during your service?
AF: Hungry, No. you leamed to eat what they gave you. We ate in the field. When we first got there in Metz we were in a building in fmni country. And I remember being in a
house ofthe bam, the houses were connected to the bams in that part ofthe world. But I think one ofthe generals decided that we gotta get better control ofthese people mid get them out in the field. So we cmi see where they all are. So from then on we were in tense
and that memit that when it was chow time you had a little mess kit mid cup and you went through the line and the guy put food in your, mid when it was breakfast time they would. and on a rare occasion they would have real eggs instead of powdered eggs and they
would always make pancakes mid they would put a pancake in your mess kit, it was a tin thing bout this big aluminum, panc^e and a fried egg on top of that mid syrup all over that and that was your breakfast with a cup of some coffee. And you just ate there or took
it into your tent if you had someplace to take shelter under and stmid and use the hood of
your jeep as a dining table, I remember seeing the hood of a jeep used as mi alter for
mass. And a priest would come by occasionally and say mass up in the field, I can
remember one time there was this priest taking out his equipment and setting it up on the
hood of a jeep and a bunch of guys gathering around for mass.
CH: How did the war affect your life when you returned home?
AF: It wasn't bad. The GI bill was a blessing for the nation, not just for the individuals
who had the advantage of it. But it pushed the nation forward immensely by educating a
whole generation of people forward by educating necessmily people who hadn't gone through college. All the core engineers and doctors or whatever else we need were given
education through the GI bill. And it made it possible for me to go back and earn
65dollars a month by going to college the college paid for. The 65 became 90 when I got
married before graduation, then they put a limit on what you could earn. If you eamed
more than two hundred dollars then they wouldn't give you your 90.1 was working at the
college teaching engineering drawing and descriptive geometry and the college paid me
one hundred and ten dollars a month. So the 90 plus the one hundred and ten, I was able to keep it all. It was two hundred bucks and tax free and my wife was making fifty dollars 29
a week maybe being a secretarial type worker. We got married and lived happily ever
after. Got a 69 dollar a month apartment in the tennis apartment with a doorman and an
elevator operator. How did it affect your life? Immensely, would you have done it over?
Probably not (laughs). Given the choice you wouldn't want to risk that again to go through all the bad parts of it. Having done it has more to do with shaping our lives even
more than the depression probably the war and what we came into after the war, and it
shaped our lives.
CH: Do you have any regrets about engaging in the war or did you have regrets?
AF: No not at all, you know your wish would end. No no regrets there were times when I
was in one outfit and wished I was in miother outfit and I'd made the change. No, no
regrets.
CH: Sounds good. During your time overseas did you form miy opinions about your
generals such as General Patton?
AF: We used to read "stars and stripes" the army newspaper it told us what was going on
and that was about all we knew. That was published by GI's, enlisted men, Andy Roony,
(Laughs). And journalists like him had their stmt on "stars and stripes". We didn't know the generals they were somewhere back there doing there thing and we just had to hope they were doing it right. One day I was in Luxemburg, the city of Luxemburg which was tucked in there somewhere in between + Germmiy and France. And we were living in 30
a country club in the outskirts of Luxemburg in the attic sleeping on the floor. In a
building that had been a country club. One day we get to go into the city to see a movie in the movie hall, movie house and we would rmely get to see movies we never saw any
USO people, we never got any donuts, some people did but I don't remember getting them. We didn't get showers for that matter for weeks at a time. But in Luxemburg I
remember seeing Veronica Lake in a movie and then on the street suddenly a couple of jeeps went by mid I was looking at the back ofthe head of George Patton. He had shiny
helmet and the stars on his combat jacket and that was George Patton. I loved the movie
(laughs). But he was a great General, no question about that, he got in trouble being memi to a wounded soldier or whatever that situation was got him some bad press but he was a
powerful general who moved the forces across France with a great force with his tanks.
CH: How did the outcome ofthe war make you feel after dedicating so much passion
and effort to the cause? Did you feel happy and relived that the war was over?
AF: Well how did the outcome make me feel? Joyous we knew when it ended in
Germany because we were there and we were relaxed, we were brought back they had
camps, big tent cities with cigarette names. We went to camp "Lucky strike" and it was
somewhere nem Paris because they put us all in trucks and took us into Paris one
morning and poured us back onto the trucks that night mid took us back to camp "Lucky
strike" and then to . It was the fourth of July when we left , the French port in
a ship that was gonna t^e us to Hampton Bay, Virginia. And we were pretty happy to be
out of it all but we were also realizing that it was still going on in Germmiy and we 31
realized that you were discharged with a point system, you accumulated points for the
months you were in service and the number of points were changed by the number of
battles you had fought in and that kind of thing. We knew how many points we had and
how mmiy they were needing to get out so it looked like we were gonna go to Japan. So it
ended in Japmi, I went back, that was in August of 1945,1 went back to cmnp Shelby and joined the guys with the 95 division who were gonna go to Japan, but my time came up
and my points were enough to get out. And I think I finished on Thanksgiving day of
1945. Got a troop train that took me home. Got out of uniform in November did a little
work in the post office during Christmas and cattied a little bit and started college in
January.
CH: Did you go back to Manhattan College?
AF: yea,
CH: Do you have anything else you would like to talk about that we didn't cover?
AF: No, you covered a lot Chris, you had some good questions.
CH: Well, thank you. 32
Interview Analysis
History has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of
years, starting with the traditional use of verbal story telling to the more current textual
history that surrounds our culture today. Before humans had the ability to record and
write memories mid past experiences they were shared through stories. These stories may
not be as precise mid accurate as the written event but do have an added emotion and
insight to the actual event. This is something that is scarcely offered in historical texts.
The oral history of Arthur Fox gives the listener a feeling of participation and emotional
insight ofthe Battle ofthe Bulge and the events of World War II. The understanding of the occurrences ofthe Battle ofthe Bulge demonstrated through Mr. Fox's personal
reflections has accurately confirmed the benefits of an oral history project. The oral
history project is a collection of personal thoughts and memories from an active
pmticipant in a crucial time period of history. The project is crucial for the true
understanding ofthe thoughts mid opinions ofthe participants that can not be properly
determined in a textual source written by secondary source. The oral history of Arthur
Fox in the Battle ofthe Bulge is a valuable insight ofthe happenings of World War II.
The American Century Oral History Project is a valuable source of firsthand
historical information that ca:n be compared to no other. The project is a source that
includes a textual remembrance ofthe event or events as well as mi audio recording of a
pmticipant's memories. This combination of historical documents allows the reader to
have a deeper more clear perspective ofthe event/s The majority of United States
students mid teachers me accustomed to the use of textual books that are only summaries 33
of facts. These sources are usually not firsthand and also are not able to link the readers
feeling and emotion ofthe event to his or her current life. The oral history project is a
very beneficial and cumulative source because it is a collaboration of books, websites,
emotions, and personal memories. The time mid effort spent on a oral history project
becomes a dedication to history and the event studied. The oral history project is a
cumulative source that captures the reader's emotion and attention.
In Arthur Fox's interview, many facts were revealed that are both new and
surprising but there were also mmiy supportive facts that agreed with various other
sources. Mr. Fox spoke of his own experiences in World Wm II, but his main focus was
on the benefits ofthe war and the importance ofthe Battle of The Bulge. Throughout the
interview, he would remember stories of how the war was a great cause mid was very
beneficial to the U.S. soldiers but would rarely mention the war as a hard time or a time
of pain and suffering. It seemed that the war treated the American soldiers well in
comparison to other more devastating wars. Mr. Fox mentions the amount of nationalism that the United States felt towards going to wm and supporting the cause against
Communism mid Nazism. The american soldiers and people had no doubt that the Allied
Powers would win the wm.
"It was a war in the classic sense, it was a matter of occupying space. Moving the
enemy. We kept moving back and moving them back till they had no place to go
and they had to quit. Meanwhile he was being moved on the eastern front by the
Russians. So there wasn't any questions the Germmis were just gonna have to
lose. Just a matter of time. And cause I was home on leave mid had been assigned
to a division that was gonna go to Japan. And in Hattersburg Mississippi, The 95 34
infantry but I was home on about thirty days leave for the summer of 1945 when
the news cmne over the radio one day I was in a restaurmit with my girlfriend and
the news cmne over the radio that the Japanese had surrendered. We went a
couple of blocks into time square and were part of that huge mad scene in time
square, mid I was still in uniform of course mid it was like New years eve in times
square with service men and people came out ofthe office buildings and
restaurmits and what not and was a mad scene celebrating the fact that J day had
come... "(Hodge 13-14).
Mr. Fox speaks ofthe love the people have for the American cause by celebrating the victories that the Army creates.
The war was a cause in which no one in America disagreed with and the thought of supporting the Axis Powers seemed incredibly ridiculous to the Americmi people. This confidence that people held in their nation's army is known to be one ofthe army's largest strengths because the people at home were fighting with the soldiers in spirit.
Another surprising aspect ofthe war that I was not able to find in textual sources was that the war was a very positive event. Mr. Fox mentioned how it helped the success of so many people;
"It wasn't bad. The GI bill was a blessing for the nation, not just for the
individuals who had the advantage of it. But it pushed the nation forward
immensely by educating a whole generation of people forward by educating
necessarily people who hadn't gone through college. All the core engineers and
doctors or whatever else we need were given education through the GI bill.
.. .How did it affect your life? Immensely, would you have done it over? Probably 35
not (laughs). Given the choice you wouldn't want to risk that again to go through
all the bad parts of it. Having done it has more to do with shaping our lives even
more than the depression probably the war and what we came into after the war,
and it shaped our lives" (Hodge 14).
The wm allowed people to return to school mid get paid to do so. This insured that the
nation would not become a poorly educated mass of veteran soldiers. The wm and the
G.I. Bill also found mmiy ways for soldiers and people associated with the war to get jobs that paid a large amount. The United States was benefiting from the war as a whole not
only the soldiers. With all the soldiers becoming well educated and skillful, the future of the U.S. would be filled with meaning instead of idleness. World War II was the focus that the United States needed to end the depression and become successful union.
Mr. Fox also mentioned that the Battle ofthe Bulge was not as immense to the
soldiers as it is to historical viewers.
"No, we didn't really know what he had, didn't concem ourselves with the geo
politics, the politics ofthe wm. We just had our days work to do and got through
each day, thankfully mid moved forward to successfully getting to the next day.
We saw the U.S. force more than we saw any Germmi force it was overhead.
Planes were going, American planes and rarly did we see a German plane, I think
near the end ofthe war they had a some missile plane that would go over head
that we'd here that we knew was them but it wasn't headed for us it was headed
for England or wherever" (Hodge 11).
With the lack of communication and the utter confusion in the Ardennes forest, it was
nearly impossible for the Americmi soldiers to communicate with others. This caused the 30
Bulge to seem smaller than it really was because the soldiers had no way to tell how big it
really was. This may have been beneficial to the Allied soldier's cause because if the
soldiers new the size of Hitler's Panzer army. The allied soldiers may have become
discouraged and may not have been able to defeat the Germans mid deflate the Bulge. In
Mr. Fox's interview. Many new ideas were made apparent to me and many old facts were
reinforced with emotion and firsthand experience.
The interview of Arthur Fox was significant to the understmiding ofthe life of mi
American soldier and the happenings ofthe Battle ofthe Bulge. Mr. Fox is an American
who lived through three incredibly important time periods in American history. He lived through the great depression. World War II, and the time of rejuvenation after the war.
"Remember Pearl Hmbor!" are the words that rmi through the streets ofthe
United States. These words represented the desire for revenge that Americans
held. The American people wanted to support their country in any way possible.
Millions of men enlisted in the wm departments, some even lying about their age
so that they could fight for their countries honor. The attack of Pearl Harbor
weakened the United States for only a short period of time and then made the men
eager with revenge and victory over the Axis powers" (Hodge 5). People in the
United States were very dedicated to the war and were persistent with the idea of
regaining strength and defeating the foreign enemy.
Arthur Fox is an appropriate cmididate for the oral history project relating to the
Battle of The Bulge because Mr. Fox was one ofthe young men represented in the above
pmagraph. Arthur Fox had the conviction and dedication to the support ofthe America
and revenge through war. This interview has become a very solid piece of history but as 37
any other source of information has minor errors, so does the oral history of Mr. Fox. The
interview was successful in capturing the true emotional feelings that could not be seen in
reading a book. This was my main goal, to capture the emotion. Though the interview
focused on the Battle ofthe Bulge it was nicely combined with the events of World War
II in general. The interview did not focus enough around one subject. If allowed more time the questions may have been more thorough. The questions may also have been
increased in number to properly analyze all the main events in the Battle ofthe Bulge.
During the interview there were a few small technical difficulties such as the Ipod turning
off, the loud clicking noise that was magnified through the stand the Ipod sat on, and
interfering back round noise. These minor problems did not affect the outcome ofthe
project but caused some frustration during playback and trmiscribing. The oral history
interview was an incredibly constructive source of knowledge and memories that allow the reader to engage in the emotions ofthe time instead of only the facts.
Through completing the oral history interview and project, I have leamed that the
use of oral history has been with humans for thousands of years and is the most accurate
in depicting all types of information such as fact, emotion, and personal experience. The
oral history project is a incredible source of information. This project is one that reaches
far beyond the information attainable in textual sources. 38
Audio Indexing log
0-5 minutes : Great Depression, before war, enlisting.
5-10 minutes Position in army
10-15 minutes Battle ofthe Bulge, Confusion of Battle
15- 20 minutes German Soldiers
20- 25 minutes Significance of Bulge, experience with
German Soldier.
25- 30 minutes : War memory. Celebrate end ofthe war
30-35 minutes Life After Wm for soldiers
3 5-end minutes Famous encounters. Feeling about the end ofthe wm. 39
Works Consulted
Dupuy, Trevor N. Hitler's Last Gamble. New York. HarperCollins, 1994.
Ambrose, Stephen E. The Good Fight. New York. Ambrose-Tubbs,Inc.200
Kershaw, Alex. The Longest Winter. Cambridge, MA. Da Capo Press, 2004
Goldstein, Donald; Dillon, Katherine; Wenger Michael, Nuts! The Battle ofthe Bulge. D.C. Prange Enterprises. 1994.
Wilson, Richard. Beyond Band of Brothers. New York. Berkley Publishing Group. 2006.
Battle of The Bulge. American Experience, WGBH, Boston Video.
American Offensive Flmes on Wide Front. The Washington Post {IKll- 1954).Washington, D.C: Nov 11, 1944 pg. 2 . "www.hn.bigchalk.com"
U.S. 3d Army Gains 13 Miles As Germmis Pull Back. The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C: Dec 29, 1944 pg. 2 "www.hn.bigchalk.com"