Operation Annie - January 8, 1945

TRACK 1 1:40: Headlines 2:09: Front news: Change in the Ardennes Battle (Battle of the Bulge). The German tanks in the west are being mobilized towards better defense posts. The Americans have partially taken over the reinforcement routes and streets. There is a snowstorm in the Ardennes. German troops that were surrounded at Wingen were able to make it back to their own lines yesterday. The heavy battles south of Bitche are still ongoing. The German troops are now by in large retreating from the Ardennes in order to defend more maintainable lines. The Americans are pushing south from the north. The German troops have left heavy street blockades, explosives and minefields behind. The Americans are closing in on German supply lines which is likely the cause for the German retreat. Fights are still currently ongoing in the south of the Ardennes. 4 German convoys that have teamed up southeast of Bastogne ran into heavy artillery fire and retreated back into the woods. 5:48: Retelling of a battlefield scene (short story) 9:12: Saar Elsass front: German troops escaped the encirclement at Colmar. A tank troop, consisting of 30 tanks, ran over the French outposts at Witternheim. The subsequent infantry took over Friesenheim and Kogenheim, further West, Neunkirch was also taken over. North of Strasbourg the Germans are defending their bridge against the American attacks at Gansheim. Offendorf and Bettenhofen are under German control. At Drusenheim, german troops received tank reinforcement The 500 elite squads of the 6th SS Gebirgsjaeger division, who were surrounded for two days were able to make it back to German lines without major losses. South of Weissenburg, Ingolsheim, Niederseebach and Aasbach were sieged by German troops. Hoffen on the other hand, after five attacks, remains under American control. Further west in Hochwald the Americans were able to take over Lembach. 10:56: Holland: Heavy counterattacks by the English forced the Germans to evacuate their bridgehead at Maas. Efforts to defend the bridgehead at Waspik against the English attacks were successful. The Germans retreated to better defense positions in the safety of the dikes at first before then reengaging with artillery fire. 11:25: Luftkrieg: The supply lines towards the Westfront were once again exposed to American airstrikes yesterday. American air fighter divisions attacked shunting stations in Frankfurt am Main, Speyer and Koblenz. In flight above the Ardennes Belgium and Luxembourg were scattered with bombs. Landau and Weissenburg, behind the Elsass and Saar front, were also targeted. In total around a thousand aircrafts participated in the bombings. 12:28: inaudible 14:05: News for Wehrmacht and Civilians of the Rhineland area: Godesberg: The Reichs-commissioner for the German Winter-aid organization announced that the first 4 fund raisisngs of the War Winter-aid organization have so far accumulated more 230.000.000 Reichsmark, the people of the Reich are once again displaying the unity of the German Reich at this difficult hour. There has even been a donation from the faraway North America. A young Godesbergian grenadier who is being held a prisoner of war in Italy by the American troops wrote to his parents, asking them to donate 60 Reichsmark from his savings to the Winter-aid. Manderscheid: following report is especially interesting for people inhabiting the Eifel: German troops in the parts of the West are seizing far fire attacks in order to allow for a safer retreat for the other Gernan troops. 15:37: Baden-Baden in a case of illegal accumulation of capital, due to laws that try to regulate inflation, a butcher in Gernsbach was arrested for taking large sums of money out of the economy. A police search brought forth 9000 Reichsmark in small bank notes. The court was not satisfied with the defendant's excuse that the money was meant for the purchase of livestock and sentenced the defendant to 3 months of imprisonment. Berlin, in order to refute rumors about a merging of the Waffen SS and the Wehrmacht SS Standartenfuehrer Henschel gave out a statement that both organizations would remain independent. The fact that Wehrmacht members from simple soldiers to high ranking officers like Generalleutnant Blumentritt have without consent been ordered by the SS Leader to join the Wehrmacht does not contradict that. A big merging of SS and Wehrmacht is undesired because the Waffen SS takes a unique place in the Reich as a reservoir for elite-squads. Erkelenz: In the area of Geilenkirchen, the village Lindern was freed by Divisions of the 183rd Volksgrenadier Regiment on the 31st of December. For their own safety the civilians were evacuated into the forest 5 kilometers to the east. Due to issues with the supply lines, the Volksgrenadier regiment then confiscated supplies they found in the evacuated territory. For this act of complacency without higher orders, the Regiments commandeur of the 183 Volksgrenadier regiment has been expelled. 18:40: Eyewitness report about an Airstrike on the Trainstation of Erang at Trier by the Mosel: Around 10 AM I saw 10 planes out of the direction of the Weisshauswald, and as I presumed, American Jabos. They made a loop over the Biewertal and at poplars headed right to the Erang railway area. Appearantly they were targeting the Brueckentransport that was coming from nearby the panel factory, which they immediately targeted with their on-board weapons. It was a very clear day and the Jabos were likely able to see all the soldiers who tried to seek cover under the fruit trees of the Pfalz farmers. The Erang Flack that was well hidden on the other side of the railway area, which was buried along the street of Pfalze to Biewer, did its best to deter the Jabos and was able to take one of them down. Around 12:30 PM however, four consecutive rounds of planes came flying in from the same direction. The first 10 unloading their bombs on the railway area of the Erang trainstation, some of them fell on the Taubenberg, those were likely meant for the tunnel entrance there. The second wave started where the first one stopped, at the Trainstation in Erang, almost all of the bombs were highly explosive except for the many incendiary bombs. The road leading up to the trainstation and the Trier houses from Goergen onwards will never forget this attack. I think all the houses up on the Leih were shaking this time. The third wave continued where the second one left off. The entire freight yard was sown with highly explosive bombs. This time the panel factor received some heavy strikes. One bomb that was apparently meant for the Pfalzler Bridge, went down right in the Mosel and killed a fisherman. Some other bombs went down on the other side of the Mosel in Nells Laendchen where the administrative buildings of the army catering authority trier are. Maybe they were meant to go down there. The Eranger Flack had been unlucky, multiple hits on the Flack were the reason they could not respond the fire. The entire trainstation from Erang to Pfalzl looked devastated. There was one bomb after the other, the teared up train tracks were standing up everywhere. Around 10 minutes later there was a fourth wave. This one discharged its highly explosive bombs right into the trainstation. This fourth wave also fired incendiary bombs at the troop transport near the panel factory. Out of all the times, now was the time the soldiers didn’t run into the open field and were surprised by the attack. Multiple Vehicles were burning, one of them burned out all the way and approximately 7 soldiers burned to death. A large number of them were severely injured. The Erang trainstation workers can be glad they had the rock galleries right next to the trainstation, otherwise there would have been more killed than the last time. 24:00: inaudible (music) TRACK 2 0:05: News for the Wehrmacht and civilians of the Rheinland area: We are happy to announce that accidents on the front, which were related to material defects have become less frequent. Nonetheless, some accidents still happen. German troops fired into the fogs and hit the 25th tank grenadier regiment, multiple grenadiers were injured. A similar accident happened with the 134th infantry division, multiple infantry grenades exploded in our own rows. According to military experts, these accidents are likely due to the absence of additional charges in the cartridges, hence sabotage investigations are now taking place. 1:03: Berlin: To complete the information provided in yesterday’s broadcast about a contagious disease brought on by the enemy in the attacked zones, we would like to remind you of the order put out by the Generalbevollmaechtigten of the Fuehrer for Health, Karl Brandt who states, that the hosts of evacuated families shall immediately seek medical attention if their guests show even mild signs of illness. Disregard of this order will be strictly punished. 1:40: Rockenhausen: Reichsminister Ley as the leader of the Arbeitsfront held a speech at an event for the westfaehlian Volkssturm about Germany’s political and military situation and thanking the nation for their dutiful commitment in such hard times. As an example of this commitment he introduce a one armed Volks-sturm member who’s skill in the maneuvering of a Panzerfaust would be a great example for any German soldier. 2:16: Penicillin, a new cure. During a decision offensive on the Adendum front, German soldiers were able to take important supplies from enemy troops, one of them being a cure that is entirely new to us: Penicillin- about which’s uses are now to become known. It is used by Anglo-Americans for infection prevention and is used for the treatment of wounds in order to undertake operations without additional disinfection measures. Its pain inhibiting properties make it a great sedative, making it useful for even hard cases of nervous shocks. Sexually transmitted disease can be cured within a few days and testing laboratories are now looking into their ability to provide this miracle cure to the Wehrmacht. 3:55: the outposts of Bastogne: No matter whether the German troops will be able to control Bastogne or not, it is clear that the history of the fight about this main artery of American troops in the Ardennes offensive will once be written. lyrical piece about the hospital and medical personal of Bastogne 8:55: music 10:19: German Headlines: German evacuation in the western Ardennes, areas in the west in danger of American troops in the north. German tanks are reinforcing the bridgeheads left of the Rhine. German tanks approaching Erstein 18km off of Strasbourg 11:11: German Headlines repeated 12:20: today’s Headlines: Evacuation in the Ardennes is continuing as planned. 4000 men, mostly paratroopers, surrounded southeast of Bastogne. German impact force in Saar-Elsass growing. Another day without air activity above the Reichs territory 13:10: today’s Headlines repeat