European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The a. 848 Ewe Bathen graveyard caretaker Gerhard Stenten with a Marker of unknown German soldiers at Recone Belgium. The Shade of elms Oaks and evergreens the German soldiers who fell that Winter still lie in the soil where they died. A Vav " each year a few dozen teen agers from a Berlin school go to the cemetery to Wash the Moss off the Ash coloured crosses. They work for three Days. The first Day they Are not very enthused about the project. They notice names. They notice dates. And then they realize that the soldiers Ages Are almost their Ages. Of Vav. A " the German War dead totalling 6,807, Are buried on the area about the size of four soccer Fields the oldest is 52, the youngest 18. Radioman Werner Alscher feb. 15,1923, to Jan 15,1945, like Many others in the cemetery is buried with unidentified soldiers his Cross Marker is also marked twice with the German words Ein Deutscher Soldat a German Soldier. The German youths threw away their identification when they saw that the americans were going to take them prisoners caretaker Gerhard Stenten said this past summer. They did it so the americans would not think they were in the is nazi elite troops. The truth was that they were Stenten said if Only for a few  Effi Bathen he belgians called it a siberian cold that last world War Winter of 1944-45. Some said 10 degrees below Zero. Others said 10 degrees below that. For some 3,000 German and 2,700 american soldiers who battled for Bastogne in the Battle of the bulge it stayed eternally colder still. Two Winter Frozen Fields on the Northern Edge of Bastogne near the belgian Village of Recone be came the provisional collecting burial site when the bullets stopped. Within three years the fallen americans were moved. Some were returned to the United states at their families request. Others lie in american Ceme teries at Neuville in Condron or Henri Chapelle also in Belgium. Across the Way the breezes of the Forest of ardennes blow Over the Graves of their enemies. Under to remember. Visit to a memorial is a visit with Mem ories for some. For others like Robert Harrison a recent Stop at a st. Vith memorial in the belgian ardennes was a visit with Mem ories lost. I had t thought about it in years said Harrison a furniture Salesman from Ardsley n.y., a town of 4,000 just North of Yonkers. Unlike Many others who fought in world War ii he did not keep Contact with veterans groups. Maybe it was because he was part of the bloody fight to hold st. Vith in the Battle of the bulge. Maybe it was because he wanted to forget. It was just an Accident that his unit faced the full fury of the december 44 offensive he said. They put us in the softest  he was with the 106th in div the greenest unit on the Western front. He was just off the boat in Normandy 10 Days before. He spent three Days trav Eling and six Days in the ardennes. This summer he pulled his uniform out of a Box for the first time in 50 years. It was under a copy of the stars and stripes with a headline saying that the. 106th was going Hoine. He bawled like a baby. Remembering. And for the first time in their 45-year marriage he told his wife Beatrice about what happened. On his trip to st. Vith Harrison said he never thought he would see the ardennes again. Only millionaires go to Europe he said he used to think. Things change. He and wife Beatrice made friends with a dutch family when their daughter became an Exchange student they wound up going to Europe a half dozen times but this was the first time Back to st. Vith. Effi Bathen Germany s nonsensical plan by eoreav1s staff writer the German military historian Horst Rhode Calls his country s attack of dec.16,1944, irrational and a result of Hitler obsession with his god sent Mission to save Germany at the time. Hitler had Long ceased to listen to his generals who advised against the attack Rhode said at his Home in Wase Weiler Germany. He thought he was the great est general and strategist  Hitler s goal was to reach Antwerp Belgium Rhode said. Field marshals Gerd von run Stedt and Walther Model resisted Hitler s plan and wanted the so called Small solution retake Aachen Germany which had been captured by the allies a few Days earlier. It seemed the most Horst Rhode logical plan because Aachen represented a bulge in the German defense lines Rhode said. It May have been possible with existing German resources and would have trapped several american divisions. Hitler rejected the idea. He wanted the Miracle. He wanted to take  Hitler Rhode said interpreted his survival of the july 20,1944, assassination attempt Asa confirmation that divine Providence had chosen him to Lead German to either Victory or destruction. Hitler s logic for the Battle of the bulge Rhode said was that the allies were temporarily weakened and that there was a difference in opinion Over strategy Between . Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and British Field marshal Bernard Montgomery. He believed that should he reach Antwerp the americans would leave the european theater due to increased pressures from the americans at Home Olio were getting tired of War and that the British would also withdraw from the continent under the pressure of the v2 bombings in England. But that was All figments of Hitler s imagination As the course of the War soon  7 Antwerp was some 300 Miles from the German front but the germans had fuel for Only 60 Miles. Everyone was aware of that fact but Hitler s plan was for advancing forces to capture the fuel they needed from the allies Rhode said. An attack based upon such imponderables As the weather and upon captured fuel is not a realistic plan at All and the High command was Well aware of  during the Battle the germans were Able to capture some fuel bit they never advanced More than 100 Miles at the most. _ in addition Rhode said by the end of 1944 the Fate of Germany had been sealed in the East German forces were Defeated in the summer of 1944. The red army was in Hungary and threatened to Cut off the Balkans and trap the German army there. It was one of the rare times that Hitler broke with his strategy of no Retreat and allowed the armies on the Balkans to get out before being captured Rhode said. Rhode said historians argue about How much Germany s military leadership pushed Hitler. I personally believe they did too Little to prevent this nonsensical plan Rhode said. I say nonsensical because it wasted innumerable lives on both sides and made the problems in the East even greater. One Only has to remember the terrible scenes of fleeing refugees from the East because the Heere Grupe Kurland and East Prussia were Cut off All because the military resources were brought West to fight in the  december 11,1994 sunday Page 9