** Moment of Remembrance **

“The Losheim Gap, A Bridge & Onion Soup”

8th Global Venture Exchange
Antwerp 6 March 2020
“75th Remembrance Anniversary of Peace in Europe”

A dedication to:

• Fernand & Thérèse Boufflette of Villers-l'Evêque and their extended Family

• 28 engineers who died securing the “Ludendorff” bridge and shortened the war

• Major Lawrence Smith (of German heritage; operations with US 14th Cavalry in Ardennes & Remagen), 20 veterans of the US 106th Infantry who visited Belgium recently and the Polish, British, Belgians, Dutch, Canadians, French & Scandinavian “Vikings” of the 99th who worked side-by-side in Benelux in 1944/45.

addendum to program
arranged by Chris, Co-chair
Est reading time: 28 minutes
(pintje or glass of wine recommended for Readers)

PROLOGUE & WELCOME

Remember Who you are.

Last week we were hunkered down.

The kids had a week off from school and as of the second week they began their online schooling. Whenever I wonder about the taxes I pay living in The Netherlands, where I moved with my partner and three kids a bit more than 10 years ago — I always remind myself of the value we get back in the form of good roads, good schools and a government that balances budgets and generally stays ahead of the curb. I still don’t like paying the taxes; but I deal with the pain because I appreciate the gain.

This is not to say that I’m complaining about my country. I love America, my mother country, and always will. And even Trump who I did not vote for has had me recently with his personal assessment of the severity of the virus and how brave our human facing services workers are — doctors, EMTs, police, grocery store workers and the like. His rough and unscripted comments about how brave they are and how he’d not like to run towrds the fire as they do shows how human we can be when the severity of a situation becomes more clear.

And while I undersatnd some skeptics might say its an election year…I’d say whatever the reason for the humanness is good enough for me. And I believe the Kentucky (we in Holland heard of the parties and the party goers jinx of themselves as well) cornoa partiers will soon realize that those doctors, nurses, and general operational staff are not to be ‘f-’ with — and that any rebelliousness or boomer i told you sos are not on the right side of history. Plus they’ll hopefully get some social xxxxx.

That said I was pretty discouraged - speaking as an American who believes in the traditional values America which I guess we took somewhat from ourDutch Ancestors — to have my American-Dutch kids (they weree all born in the states where we lived until moving to The Netherlands to experiment, give them some of their Mother’s family and language and culture) come home one afternoon last week and mention they’d heard that Philips — a 100 year old global firm we grew up thinking of as a consumer products company, but has developed into one of the world’s leading complex health equipment manufacturers.

Though I’d disagree with the terseery comments of the CEO that ‘we all shouldhave taken more note of China’ and that Holland itself shouldn’t have waited until two weeks ago to order ventillators…which after china and Italy ‘got there first’ are apparently backlogged. I would say how the notion of using Wartime acts to collect the equipment — manufactuered in California and XX — and that the Ministry of Economic Affairs of NL was in negotiatoins to ensure the flow to Holland of those products.

In the 1940s, when we sent GIs toEurope to assert freedom, and lost so many of our grandparents, they would undrestand the fear of any American that they might get sick and die a horrible death like drowning. That sounds excrutiating. And another reason why we should all follow the government’s advice to stay home….something Pence even today remarked in another one of their frequent press sessions.

But I’ll just say as a proud American — modestly proud as would be expected of one living in The Netherlands (pride is something to be seasoned with humility and a sense of appreciation) — I hope my American family will remember who they are. To say that the Dutch were there at the beginning, and loaned us the money to finance our revolution; or stood by us in Iraq (whatever you feel, they were allies); or that they somehow are different than any other people with respect to the right to health and equal access — that would be hitting the wrong note. As well, I would have a tough time facing a family member of someone who does not hve a ventillator come mid April or May when this issue will begin to crop up with more intensity.

But I would say — remember this is not a one shot deal. That how a nation behaves in times of hardship — as we suffered together 75 years ago (this is the Remembrance year of the Peace in Europe) and what was fought for. It was a moment of cooperation that showed when you team up to face the demons — those mechanized technologies we had unleashed and had not yet understood — and also the authoritarian governance which disrespected human life and thus tarnished us all; gave us a world which we would not want to wish on our worst enemy.

So for those calling for use of the War Act to ‘quarentine’ eqipment which also needs to be used and has been requested — to keep in mind that it is more than just ‘we are in this together’. It is that our forbearers died and entire generations sacrificed to give us the freedoms and quality of life we have today. While those equities are not distributed equally around the world — and there are those who would see our institutions and way of life weakened for their own benefit. It is the alliances of friends who come to your aid, and provide the bulwark against which our enemies recline and that give us longevity, and a community which we can be proud of.

This doesn’t mean that in an election year, government should not do everything to save it’s own people and do so with an extra jump in the step to win few more votes. That’s fine and part of what makes the system as bumpy as it may be. But let’s remember that when we are perceived as ‘being out for ourselves’ — the same way someone hides behind the American flag to claim supreme right to guns by any means, or that somehow being a true AMerican means standing up for indviduality at any cost. Just remember that when you go tribal as an American, you have undermined the investments in goodwill that a whole lot of people that went before you have invested. And that you’d better count the contributions and sacrifices you’ve made for — not just those in your house, or on your block or school council — but the people you don’t know but who are the measure of your own greatness.

Some friends I have living in the States right now have told me we’re watching the decline of America in front of our eyes. That seems a bit dramatic. For what makes America great is — in those moments when our back has been against the wall — we use our sound, humorous, pragmatic and ‘get the job done’ character — with a bit of religion and prayers to God whichever may be the preference of the individual — to tackel the world’s most monumental challenges. We’ve done it for more than 250 years. And I don’t doubt we can for another 250.

But as you go into hunker down mode — carry yourself in a way that your kids and grandkids could look back and be proud. Or as one of the guys who landed in Iwo Jima, or landed on the moon, or who invents the cure to COVID19.

And when they come over to hang out in Amsterdam a few years from now, to enjoy the culture, realize the interconnectedness of our history and world values, our appreciation for art, our protestant work ethic, the freedoms and creativity of businesses and fundament to our capitalist machinery that create the most wealthy country in the history of humankind….not to mention winning our revolution back in the 1770s, that when you stop by a bar someone might actually buy you a beer, and slap you on the back to say thank you for having theirs.

My heart goes out to people suffering, I know suffering is something done too often in isolation and without hope, or empathy. And I while - again - I have freidns who say once this is over, in 6 months we’ll forget about it and go right back to over endulging ourselves until we face a bigger reconning on the climate or disintegration of trust with out allies. I disagree. I think we know who we are, but live in a time when social media amplifies the loudest talkers, the American pushkins….xx…and after 30 to 40 years of change across our country the self confidence has been sapped. How we get it back or get it forward is the task every generation since the dawning of humankind has needed to figure out. What enabled us to get through it and maintain our self respect was how we conducted ourselves morally and ethically towards those who would see our values furthered i the world. And who would sacrifice and invest in a future we’d like to live in.

I recently wrote a blog about something called the Losheim Gap.In a nutshell, the Losheim Gap is a corridor that was used repeatedly in the two world wars to encroach upon free people to take away their rights and because it happened repeatedly, is a metaphor for what defenses are important to see — the moment the is an encroachment on something that underpins our basic freedoms and future of our kids we need to step into the gap and fight as individuals not waiting for a supreme commander — who will come later to help coordinate and bring to bear the full, efficient resources at their disposal. By doing this, the Allies won the war and constitional government was returned to Europe which in turn has enabled 75 years….of xxx…

I’d argue that the Losheim Gap is not a physical space. It is a place that you can’t touch or point to, but your instinct knows where it is and it is there. Typically with a Losheim Gap, not to defend it — or to send all resources there without watching you flanks, means utter defeat and being under someones thumb for rest of eternity — or huge sacrifice to regain what you lost. Often the Losheim Gap distracts you into thinking that physical space is the point — but it is only the start. That is why with this current situation, the ventillators are the first problem that needs to be solved by any means necessary.

But then we need to demonstrate to the entire world — all people of th eplanet — that this capitalist, democratic institutions we have uesd for more than 250 years is the one to lead us to the future. Or we’ll loose the closely gaurded secret sauce which has given nearly 15 generations a free society since our independence 250 eyars ago.

So if you have something to offer the VEntillator problem — manufacturing it, distributing it, helping people who aren’t trained to use it — then jump in and do what you can where you stand. And then be prepared to look along the flanks of society to fill those gaps too.

And if you have noting to do with it, find where the unexpected consequences of this situation, and perhaps also the solution we are focusing on.

When the American 107 Infantry Division, which was stationed in Limburge in December 1944 — after fighting for 3 straight months in FRance with Patton, then up into the Scheldt with the Canadians, Polish, British and others finally got a break — on 16 December they hightailed it to the Losheim Gap. They where the capstone — or one of many capstones — and the battle was wond.

But the costs were tremendous. The Dutch lost 20k people to hunger that Winter. And countless young people were lost in acts of individual bravery we can’t even imagine.

So do your research, find a cause, and fill a gap.

Today, I’d urge people to consider the gaps that restrain cooperation and unified defense of our liberties and I’m not talking about gun rights….that minutia which forgets so many interdependencies — XYZ — I mean the helping of your neighbor….or what? … alliances with people who are your friends, family and especiallly those who are less able to support themselves.

If you have more than a million dollars in the Bank or some portion in sequity, I would say consider this a war bonds era where you are apaying back into a system that enabled your comfort and your well-being. If you think you got where you are on your own — much of that might be true — but if you received equity from family, a company you joined and went public or a company you built from the ground up by pulling yourself up by boostrap in the face of government regulators and bankers breathing down your neck — get over your ego for this year and carve out something to share. Find two things to invest in — one a equity investment for the future that will grow after…like a good startup that needs the cash this year to survive. And the second to support an NGO on the front lines of anyh of the 75% of countries in the world which are woefully underprepared for this pandemic.

One thing I’ve learned working the tech industry is often the distrubution of value is not equitable. The founders and shareholders (actually the investors with preferences first). I started a company 20 years ago that is a category leader but have seen no cash and had to continue being worried about paying the mortgage — though count myself lucky to have always managed to stay busy. But many many young people are giving their professional careers and blood to companies without an eqiuty stock pool…. Then if we consider the millions of people on day jobs in India or the farm workers who did not receive any aid in the COVID19 legislation…there are massive cracks in the system now.

When people who accomplished great things, in retrospect the guys said:

….insert…

When asked what they did, they said they just did it.

That’s what we need to do….

Each family should coordinate internally if they have a family member who is on the front lines. The discussion should go something like this:

What might they need? Some extra money if they are cash strapped, so they aren’t stressed the entire time they work. Some care packages of food which could be sanitized and hand delivered. Or someone they don’t have time to take care of who you could step in and help?

This goes for anyone with family working in grocery stores, hospitals, or in education as teachers or administrators. This is what anyone can do.

Then do the same thing at the community level. And the city. If you are one of those minority who is a vigilante and think taht putting trees in front of your out of state neighbors garages (link), okay, but then do something courageous for someone you never met….balance the leger sheet because if you only defend with no sense of unity for human kind you aren’t deploying your capacities to their fullest…you are an agent that runs around bitching and moaning and blaming the ‘other tribe’ but not helping people. That’s not Christian (love thy neighbor, o XXX) and it’s not American.

The City Administrators, can do ABC (ask them what they think)

And if you know data science

And if you get help from people — who step in and give of themselves during this — consider how you will repay that debt somehow. Particularly in cases where the person is without means.

I see this even in the most lucrative jobs in this era — with data scientists — who often come in and use their talents to provide tense of millions of value to their companies…but unlike an entrepreneur who owns the asset and AI is baked into the application but each sale give shte shareholders a 6x value — the data scientist needs to worry about their job and how to keep their employer happy with them. This pear shaped value chain means that likely today the data scientists in companies around the world are being given monumental responsibilies — how to manage the supply chain, what to do about marketing discounts, and probaby even who to lay off. These activities are being tasked on them with no regard to their ethics or on the impact data science has on huge populations of 5,000 people to tens of millions of people.

When things ‘go back to the new normal’ we need to look carefully at this.

I watched a french documentary recently on Netflix (link) which had an interesting point…in Scotland when there was a bond drive for tanks…they literally put takns in the town square and asked for citizens to pitch in. They did, and raised XYZ, more than any other city in Europe. The tanks were built. They went to the front. They won the war. But communism was on the rise in Russia, insurection in European democracies had the people XXX fermented. And so the very tanks they’d funded were paraded down the streets of glasgow and partked so everyone could see, such that should an insurrection rise they could be used to squash them.

These are the ironies of filling Losheim Gaps. We should keep eyes on the problem and solve it. But do not be a robot. Be a human and see with empathy and stobborness when hypocracy is there.XXX

As the country recovers, adn the economy rebounds, adn we find the hollowing out even further of the small enterprises, the little guy who doesn’t have the time or the money to hire Cambridge Analytica to manipulate the rest of us — just fall back on the Golden Rule. And if you need to take a bit more now to get by, keep an eye on the balance sheet and do something later to make good on your debt. That sort of accounting in aggregate will make an eternal flame a bonfire and those are good for storytelling, having a few laughs and deep moments with people you care for. And that is what life is all about.

..

Thi

.

Welcome to entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors to Antwerp for the 9th Global Venture Exchange, as we pivot our gravity from California to the Benelux.

GVX is a network of leaders exchanging knowledge of tactics and tools for transformation and growth using data science, AI and the cloud. We started in Mountain View in 2013 with the help of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, iMinds from Ghent and six Berkeley MBAs (from France, Italy, Belgium and Spain).

Those traveling by train arrive at Antwerpen Centraal, a station with volume (speaking of which, Le Royale Cafe on the top floor has good Belgian bier). Our gathering in Antwerp extends globally via video stream. Speakers meet peers, sharpen their ideas and meet AI-related entrepreneurs and investors. With the world in a spin, we try not to “slow down” too much.

But how does one go about speaking up for a 75th Anniversary of peace in Europe? What does a forum in Antwerp have to do with the past and lessons about future technology?

• There are practical answers: Sharing practices from the recent past helps everyone improve. But that doesn’t go back too far

• There are sober facts: When applying new technology people can get carried away. Antwerp station was nearly destroyed by V-2 Rockets, with each the equivalent of “fifty locomotives, each weighing a hundred tons, impacting the ground at 60 mph” — as one German General described the 3,000 kpm impact. 8,000 of the Antwerp’s houses were damaged and there were 6,000 casualties in the late Fall and Early Spring if 1944/45

We live in a time in search of it’s future. Some see AI and societies’ reliance on digital technology, the business subject of our gathering, as a clear and present danger.

And since I ask something of the Reader — namely to help GVX draw a line to a collective future (and move from places we are “sitting ducks”) — it would be courteous for the story to have a few new facts. And even better if it used a few metaphors like “Cloud” and “Fog” used in the past but still popular today in tech circles.

I’ll try to oblige.

Larry Smith graduated in the Mid-west just before the war in 1938 and trained at Camp Hood in Texas with a tank destroyer unit. After being deployed to Belgium he and the other senior officers of the 14th Cavalry were ‘ambushed’ in the Ardennes on 17 December 1944 by the 1st SS Panzer division tasked with retaking Antwerp.

What occurred before the sun rose at the Losheim Gap in what would become “the largest and bloodiest single battle fought…during WW2” has not been widely known. Larry’s letters to his wife and recent interviews with the Belgian family finally brings this story to light fittingly at GVX and as a 75th Remembrance.

So as a British or Polish cryptanalyst might say, “Let’s crack on with it”.

The setting begins on a Walloon farm in Belgium during the first world war.

Then lands with a thud in the Fall of 1944.

In Good Faith

— Chris. Co-chair

******

PART 1: BELGIAN HEARTS

Fernand Boufflette and his wife Thérèse PIER lived on a farm near Liège as had their forebearers for several hundred years. Liège existed from before Roman times (500s), was the apparent birthplace of Charlemagne and in 1914 was site of the first battle of WW1. Fernand joined the military and later that year survived an explosion at Fort Loncin which killed 350 of 550 resident soldiers.

Fernand became prisoner and was taken to Camp Parchim in eastern Germany to work until returning home at the end of the war. He was well treated and good at his work since the ground and farmlands were quite similar to his home. While gone, his parents and one of his sisters had died. He rebuilt the farm and Thérèse gave birth to three children Joseph, Paul and Palmyre. 

In 1941 Liège was again occupied but this time the local German commander knew Fernand. Fernand had worked as a farm hand while at Camp Parchim and by chance the Commander grew up in Parchim. As a boy he had known Fernand well. This history and Fernand’s flawless German made survival easier for the family during the occupation of Liège. 

After Normandy in June 1944 the Allies battled their way South and also East. In early September, the Witte Brigade (White Brigade) of the Belgian resistance managed to seize the port of Antwerp before it could be scuttled and 90% of the port remained in tact.

PART 2: EMBATTLED PORT

On September 4 1944 Antwerp was liberated, though it was far from free or functional. On September 8 Liège saw a more palpable liberation including the nearby village Villers-l'Evêque where the Boufflette’s lived. That same day Belgian Prime Minister Pierlot returned to Brussels after four years in London, making Belgium the first in Europe with a restored constitutional government.

But fighting in Belgium persisted — along the West Scheldt the 1st Polish Armoured Division advanced northeast from Ghent (by September 20), as Canadian and British covered their flanks and moved northward in their respective battle zones.

And to the East scheming persisted — Hitler began his plans for the Ardennes Counteroffensive to retake the port, even as the Allies were sending exhausted units and new ones to the Ardennes which was considered the “Honeymoon sector”.

On November 6, the Royal Scots made an amphibious landing on the beaches of Middelburg (capital of Dutch province Zeeland) in “Buffaloes”, forcing an end to all German resistance around Antwerp on November 8. 

PART 3: THE ARDENNES

The 14th Cavalry Group with Major Smith sailed for Europe aboard the Queen Elizabeth on 28 August 1944. After brief training in the UK, they landed on Omaha Beach 30 September three months after the initial June landings of Normandy. Most of France had been liberated by September so the 14th Cavalry Group, comprised of the 18th and 32nd squadrons with roughly a thousand men and 150 vehicles each pressed East.

By the end of 1944 the war appeared to be coming to an inevitable conclusion.

Bastogne is etched in the collective imagination of any American who knows his or her history. A US commander replied ‘nuts’ when told to surrender in an endeared American-as-rebel moment. The 101st Airborne of HBO “Band of Brothers” fame were there. General Patton made his legendary 90 degree pivot and sprint to Bastogne to save the day there.

But an hour drive northeast of Bastogne slinks a lesser known corridor called the “Losheim Gap” (near Prum). In 1914 the Germans had used the 8 kilometer gap to attack Liège, one hour away through St. Vith.

The Losheim Gap was used again in 1940 to sow confusion in Benelux when the Germans attacked and attracted more than a million French soldiers to the North. This northern thrust towards Holland by the French allowed the German army along the southern flank to encircle and capture the more than a million French soldiers in one of history’s lopsided outcomes given the military superiority and preparations of the French leading up to the war.

By early October the 14th Cavalry Group’s 18th Squadron arrived in Ettelbruck Luxembourg. By mid October they arrived in the Ardennes and began to familiarize themselves with a ten kilometer front which included the Losheim gap.

As the “operations officer” of the 14th, Larry was supposed to write procedures to deal with what “might come up during combat” for the group and the 99th and 106th comprising around 12,000 men to which they were “attached”. Many of them arrived at the Gap to take their positions in frigid foxholes just a few days before the fighting began.

PART 4: THIRD TIME AT THE GAP

General Joachim Peiper was a model son of the SS who had built his reputation in the battle of France, in Poland and the Soviet Union. He had joined the scouts in 1926 at 18 along with his older brother and before he reached his 30s became a prodigy General leading the 1st SS Panzer Division.

The furor’s infatuation with woods, Norse legend and fog is well known. The fog was the decisive factor since it made the air superiority of the Allies irrelevant and forecasts said 10 days.

Peiper was assigned over 21,000 SS and 124 Panther and Tiger tanks (plus dozens of armored cars and artillery), whose military objective was Antwerp through St. Vith area and Liège (though likely politically motivated).

By mid December Major Smith had been in the Ardennes for six weeks. He’d had time to get to know the land and any ‘high ground’. Supreme US commanders saw terrain to the south and north of St. Vith (up the way about an hour, closer to Cologne) more suitable to enter Germany. The Losheim area was considered less strategic and build ups were done elsewhere.

PART 5: EUROPEANS IN THE HEARTLAND

Every entrepreneur-at-heart loves to take lessons from history like the introduction of a new technology — the rail lines or a new communications platform — or a historical figure who against the odds built something fitting and successful in the age they lived.

Johan Schmidt, grandfather of Major Smith, immigrated to Michigan with two brothers and settled not far from Grand Rapids (where many Dutch settled during the 1840s and 50s) and arrived with little more than their work ethic and wit.

Agriculture saw incredible industrialization from the mid 1800s to mid 1900s, not only from production but developments in mobility like roads, rail and air and new business that were derived from and built upon that industrialized base.

The Civil War had ended in 1865 and there was a shortage of labor. Johan’s America-born son David was seven at that point and lived on the family farm.

Many entrepreneurs and investors rushed into the rail business with highly varying results but once the lines were in place another wave of startups piggy backed on the new infrastructure.

David, son of immigrant Johan, “asked his father to save a piece of ground along side the right-of-way (rail lines) and subsequently built an elevator at Woodbury.” David and his brother George joined him as they started out using a “horse powered sweep to drive the machinery.” Along the way they added cousin Coates, who worked at the local Farmers and Merchants Bank in town and could access capital.

For three generations this family would manage operations connecting the farmers and their goods to Chicago commodity markets. The Smith brothers were competent guys and rooted in their community.

Third generation Larry described his Father: “I could talk for long periods about him — his morality, Christian principals, liberal ideals, etc…that’s how the company got started. Smith Bros has a long history of dedicated, moral, community-involved service. It is our intension to continue such service.”

In February 1942 he received a letter to report to Fort Riley, Kansas. Larry would spend two years as Colonel George Beatty’s adjutant Captain at the Academic Regiment of Tank Destroyer Command School.

PART 6: AMERICAN INNOVATOR IN MOBILITY

Around the same time that Larry was born in 1916, another descendent of immigrants Dwight D. Eisenhower graduated in 1915 from military university.

Dwight came from a family of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry and some German. His 3rd great-grandfather Hans Nicholas Eisenhauer and his 2nd great-grandfather Johann Peter immigrated to America in 1741 from Germany on the ship Europa.

Young captain Eisenhower had remained State-side he ended the first war in 1918 leading an Infantry Battalion that trained young tank crews.

In early 1918 Eisenhower got his first command at Camp Colt in Gettysburg National Military Park.

The things learned by Eisehower and his staff at Camp Colt would find their way into the manuals Larry read in Texas in 1944. But in September 1918, the "Spanish flu" epidemic arrived at Camp Colt, ultimately killing 175 and infecting many of the roughly 10,000 men under his command. 

In 1919 Eisenhower was an observer for a mobile convoy across the country with the Transcontinental Motor Convoy (TMC). The trip from the East coast to the Bay Area was meant to help raise awareness of the quality of roads, leadership and mobility.

The 5,000 kilometer TMC journey took four months consisting of 81 vehicles, including 31 heavy cargo trucks, 4 kitchen trailers, a wrecker, 4 motorcycles and 5 ambulances – and it did not go well. By the time the Transcontinental Motor Convoy reached Oakland, California, it was seven days behind schedule, ferrying the next morning on the last travel day.

In the 1920s and 30s, Eisenhower served under generals like Fox Conner, John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall. When the war started, Eisenhower was brought to Washington and was involved with developing plans to defeat Japan and Germany.

PART 7: ALL IS FAIR

As Christmas approached there was 8” to 18” inches of loose snow and a dense Fog slithering through the Ardennes. Fox holes peppered the ground. The 106th Infantry Division had arrived on December 11th and the 99th not long before.

Major Smith and the 14th Cavalry command post was moved to Manderfeld a few kilometers from the Losheim Gap. He had been in Europe little more than three months and was missing his girls and wife back home in Michigan. Larry and Bennie’s birthdays (Bennie was three days older then him) both fell the week before Christmas and he planned to write her a letter.

Preparations were made but as rotations of new divisions came the advice from the vets to the new guys was how lucky they were to be in the sleepy Ardennes. Guys mostly in their 20s from an ocean away tried to stay warm. The Fog and low temperatures were expected to last another ten days.

At 5:30am on 16 December 1944 the battle was on. I still hold a letter Larry wrote to my Grandmother explains the initial reaction to cut communications lines that morning in Manderfeld, just a few kilometers from the German border and the Losheim Gap.

Excerpts from letter Larry wrote to his wife about that 16th December morning:

“The day before your birthday (i.e., December 16 1944) about 5:30am I was awakened by a terrific bunch of explosions. It was evident we were being shelled, and after 15 or 20 minutes, I couldn’t go back to sleep (also decided something was up), I got up and walked downstairs.

The damn shelling didn’t let up. In fact kept on going for about an hour and a half. Me…I’d never been through a heavy one before, so didn’t know whether it was tough or not. Our Ex had been here since D Day, though, and claims he had seen some heavy barrages: and that ours on the 16th was the heaviest he’d seen.

[…]

Our phone lines to the lower units were out soon after the thing started and we didn’t know what was going on at the front; so someone had to go down to the Sq. to find out….So we started out […]

Got closer to the front, and found that the front line positions were in tact, but receiving the same thing, so went back to the Command Post and got the wire men to lay wire again.

Day break found [Jerry] coming through our front lines with tanks and large numbers of men. Our particular part of the line consisted of occupying, holding and defending towns (they’re closer together over here). He paid extremely heavy though in coming through; but he was apparently ready and willing…sent more right into the spots where he lost the first, and then repeated and repeated the process.

Now that we look back, we can see little things, extremely little, that show us how carefully and minutely the [Boshe] may have been planning the thing.

It was a hazy day, and so the “air” couldn’t do much to help. About noon I packed most of my stuff, got it on the trailer, and sometime during the afternoon, we withdrew.” (Larry Smith)

A whirlpool of mechanization was turning around the Losheim Gap like a clock.

Meanwhile, Larry’s letter to Bennie he described the front line of this attack:

“Everything was vague…by that I mean we couldn’t find out what the situation was on our flanks, or what the general picture was.

As it turned out, the big picture was an attack, on a grand, all-out scale. We were in a town called Monderfield…about 10 miles east of St. Vith.

One interesting thing; We had some troops in a dinky berg who were about cut off; so, we sent a tank platoon down to help them out. 5 minutes after they evacuated the town, it just plain disappeared. [Jerry] put a TOT on it. “TOT” means “time on target” in which several artillery battalions shell a point and figure their data so that the shells hit at the same time. Well, we crossed that settlement off the map. I guess [Jerry] wanted us out of it…we were!” (Larry Smith)

Mechanized platforms and artillery brought speed and carnage as they came through Losheim. Another observation of the first barrage by a German commander:

“The earth seemed to break open. A hurricane of iron and fire went down on the enemy positions with a deafening noise. We old soldiers had seen many a heavy barrage, but never before anything like this.” — Major Günther Holz, the commander of the 12. Volksgrenadier-Division’s Panzerjäger-Abteilung 12, afterwards described 0530 hrs on 16 December.

On the American side, Staff Sergeant John Hillard of 394th Infantry Regiment describes the psychological effect of this massive artillery fire, “Several of our men went mad and left their shelters in order to get killed or mutilated.”

This third incursion through the corridor in such numbers brought grid lock and devastation both ways. “Surprise and numbers” went up against “familiarity with the terrain and dug in positions”. Throughout the night of the 16/17 Germans poured through the Losheim Gap. Major Smith got little rest and described that “bright and early the next AM the front line units started catching it again.”

Meanwhile the unfortunate top American field commander for the Ardennes General Bradley was in Paris to celebrate his classmate Eisenhower’s promotion to 5-stars and initially discounted the reports (Eisenhower’s quick analysis enabled Bastogne and Losheim to receive timely defense by Patton and Limburg-stationed reinforcements).

The 1st SS Panzer group took a series of towns with the opposition in completely in disarray. In interest of saving time Peiper, after having capturing and having them refuel his vehicles, Peiper would have 84 US POWs abruptly shot in what would become known as the Malmedy Massacre.

Meanwhile both lived by the old adage “all is fair in love and war” with the Americans using brutal new explosives and Germans parading around in costumes.

Resistance began to firm up north of Manderfeld where 40+ German tanks from the 12th were destroyed. The afternoon on 18 December a slight break in the clouds allowed individual sorties from the air and 291st Engineering battalion on the ground managed to blow up two key bridges.

According to a popular story, after seeing the second small bridge scuttled just before they’d reached it, Peiper sank down on his knees and hammered his fist against one knee (or threw his officer’s cap in the ground) and cursed over and over, ‘diese verdammten Ingenieure!’ ’Those damned engineers!’.

The antagonist Peiper, just 29 years old but used to success, worried about fuel. He found his rear turning into a battlefield. He dispatched two convoys of troop carriers to find a route.

PART 8: AMBUSH NEAR POTEAU (& ROAR FROM HOLLAND)

On the 2nd day of fighting 17 December things were not easing up. The 14th Cavalry had used Poteau to rotate and replenish whatever squadron had been on the front. Colonel Devine got his three senior officers including Major Smith into a jeep and armored escort from St. Vith area to ascertain status of the 99th with whom they had lost contact.

After making their way north and hitting a brick wall, they turned around. It was after dusk as the two vehicles navigated a dark wooded road. A convoy of armored cars was on the same road coming towards them. It was 6pm.

Excerpts from letters Major Smith wrote to his wife Bennie. Bennie’s birthday was on 17th of December and she was three days older than Larry.

“…on your birthday, we moved a couple of times. So that kept us busy. The Colonel and staff started out late in the afternoon for [the 99th infantry] division but couldn’t get through due to [some…] machine guns. So we came back. It was dark by that time. 

All of the sudden the armored car up ahead (I was in a jeep with the Col right behind it) stopped!

Somebody walked up to [the armored car], a pistol shot rang out, and the battle was on. It seemed pretty hot and heavy to me, so the old man and I hit the ditch, skinned through a barbed wire fence, and started a little creeping and crawling with the prayers.

What happened was the officers in [our] first car recognized the man...so he was killed. Then [the 14th armored car] turned on their headlights to see what was up, and lo and behold, there was a G-reconnaissance patrol (about 4 armored cars). 

Well, we opened up with our 50 cal mg, and kept [them] stunned for about 30 seconds. [Our guys] backed the car up (it’s an awkward thing), and finally turned around and took off. 

They tried to pick the Col and me up, but couldn’t locate us, so…

I got my compass out, decided which way we wanted to go, grabbed the Col by the arm, and started out. Well…[they were] fully awake by that time and decided to find some of us. So [they] threw up some flares, searched the ground with machine gun fire and some mortar. The firing didn’t last long, but the flares did. Each time a flare with up, we hit the ground.

Well, to shorten this up a bit, with my compass, we walked about seven miles back to our outfit and were okay. That night I was up the whole night, and the next day was a bad one again, but I guess that’ll have to wait.” (Larry Smith)

Whether or not the Germans had mistaken these night-time marauders as their comrades dressed as Americans will never be known. But the 14th Cavalry and the 1st SS Panzer reconnaissance patrol ambushed each other that night.

Upon getting back around midnight, Colonel Devine went immediately to bed saying “You take over Patsy”. (Patsy was nickname of one of the other senior officers).

Colonel Dugan assumed command of the 14th from Colonel Devine at Vielsalm by 2am.

With 28% casualties and 35% of the 14th Cavalry vehicles missing from the two original squadrons, they were combined into one. Dugan directed two task forces, one sent to “seize the high ground” at Born, the other to move the command post to Petit-Their from Poteau, which by that time had again lost telephone communications.

The group tasked with heading up ground for Born immediately ran into three regiments and found themselves defending Poteau itself.

The first defense line of Manderfeld and second of Poteau were over-run later that day. St. Vith would fall on 21 December a day after Larry’s 28th birthday. Between 1pm and 11pm that day 200 of the original 650 men were standing.

There was no time for reflection. Large formations had “roared out of Holland” and the newly arrived 7th Armored division assumed control of the group.

The Battle of the Bulge became the bloodiest single battle for the Americans of the war with over 19,000 killed in 6-weeks.

In those initial days the cut off 99th Infantry Division to the north while green would demonstrate heroism in the field which would also be published widely later on. And the colorful characters like the legendary “Viking Battalion” - a group of conscripts of Norwegian descent whose officers had a humorous disdain for their European interlopers and were lethal in their zone.

From 16 to 24 December Peiper would pace a 40 kilometer line like a polar bear armed with a machete.

And the pack of stubborn but disjoined wolves did their work.

In what is considered a turning point, Major George Brooking’s Thunderbolt, aptly named ’The Fickle Finger’, broke through the Fog & Clouds a few feet from the ground. For the next two hours, “Peiper’s Charge” paid at Amblève as individual sorties chipped at the extended line of SS Panzers.

On the 23rd of December at 1700 hrs a full moon had broken through and the sky was clear.

And in the woods not far away, General Peiper the prodigy was ordered to break out and join the campaign. Out of gas, he and 800 soldiers abandoned 150 vehicles and walked thirty six hours east through foggy woods from whence they came. They arrived cold and hungry at the spot where they began — at the Losheim Gap. For the first time Peiper was stumped.

It was December 24th, the Night Before Christmas. No “visions of sugar plumbs” would dance but the 1832 English St. Nicholas poem seems strangely correct:

“More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

- Clement C. Moore's poem 
A Visit from St. Nicholas (‘Twas the Night Before Christmas) (1823)

Ironically just a few kilometers to the north of the spot sat 3 million gallons of gas at a town called Spa, enough fuel to make a trip with 150 heavy vehicles to Antwerp and back to Losheim 75 times (a nice round number for this 75th anniversary).

That day back home in America a Bing Crosby song “Don’t fence me in” hit #1 on the Billboard singles charts. [click to play]:

“Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees…”
— “Don’t Fence me In”, Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters 1944

On French Bastille Day (14 July) in 1976, while living hidden away in France, Peiper's cover was blown. His home was set ablaze and he did not survive.

Controversy later surrounded the Cavalry and 106th Infantry and whether they had made correct decisions, particularly after much of the 106th was encircled and taken prisoner.

These good guys who were dealt a tough hand would go home hearing of the heroes of Bastogne and Iwo Jima, and that they finally were recognized in December 2019 with a war memorial was a long time coming.

And Colonel Devine, the S1 of the 14th Cavalry at 2:30am on the 18th December— after five hours behind enemy lines — reached some boiling point of hysteria. Devine left the area via medical evacuation channels.

PART 9: HOW DOES A PHOENIX RISE?

Antwerp has risen from the ashes before. As a world city Antwerp pre-dates Beijing, New York, London and even Amsterdam. The strategic location has meant a millennium of repeated encroachments.

Eight weeks after Antwerp was recovered in tact by Belgian freedom fighters, the port began to pump critical fuel and supplies like the Pershing tank into the grinding war front.

But the Allies desperate December action to the Ardennes left The Netherlands exposed.

If you ever attend a Liberation Day 5 May ceremony in Holland they are somber. Winter 1944/45 is deep in the consciousness. A Lion-spirit and human sensibility — something we too often miss these days — were evident in 2014 when the Dutch honored 283 people (193 Dutch) who were lost on flight MH17. The conduct of The Netherlands in that ceremony televised nation-wide, the harpist in our local church (who inspired my own daughter to learn to play) and regard for justice - how they carried themselves and defended righteousness — made me feel privileged to call The Netherlands home.

And September 1944 had begun with such great promise for the Dutch.

Eindhoven, Oss, Nijmegen and Terneuzen were liberated that month.

But Arnhem’s all important Rhine-crossing — with its normally relaxed river overlook lined with cafes — proved an agonizing “Bridge Too Far”.

By October North Brabant in the south of The Netherlands, fighting began to resemble trench warfare from the first war. But still with the British and Americans tag-team operation, Overloon was won outright and Allies made steady progress against counterattacks liberating Breda, Tholen, Tilberg, Den Bosch, Breskens and in November Middelburg.

Still, this was only 20% of The Netherlands.

Limburg had been liberated four days after Liège on 12 September.

But everything changed at 5:30am on the 16 December. The 7th high tailed it south to St. Vith for defense.

It would take until March 1945, nearly six months of wounded delay, to get Allies moving northward into The Netherlands again (see map in appendix).

During that traumatic pause of Winter 1944/45, many sacrificed. Desperation was at a peak across most of the Benelux. At long last Spring did come:

• Venlo was retaken (end of March)

• In April Wageningen, Arnhem north to Leeuwarden

• Finally by 5 May the “Randstad” (major cities Rotterdam, Den Haag, Amsterdam, Utrecht)

5 May 1945 it stood again full bodied except two northern islands of Ameland and Schiermonnikoog (Historie, No.2 2020).

Those who survived the ordeal in the Ardennes left shell-shocked and Larry was one. Larry spent three to four weeks with the Boufflettes regaining himself.

Fernand Boufflette and his wife Therese showed great generosity by opening their Walloon farm near Liège to Major Smith and two other American service members.

The people of Villers-l'Evêque showed a light in those dark months through their benevolence. Those months of alchemy forged Europe — particularly the Allies from this war — into the defender of human values we know today as a distinct character and fault line of the European Union. These were the months we all earned the right to stubbornly safeguard them.

Christmas was celebrated at the Boufflette’s farm, across the road from an old town square with a tall church.

In those days of rejuvenation Larry was taken into the family, also by the Boufflette children Joseph, Paul and youngest daughter Palmyre. Incidentally, I met Palmyre ten years ago with my parents and children. She sat at the head of the table, a chin up Matriarch with her grown family and the eldest stateswoman in the room. It was touching to see her eyes light up when talking about our Grandfather from a time when she had been a girl and he had been on the mend.

Palmyre passed away not long thereafter, but it was clear she handed down the warmth towards Larry from that most difficult Winter to her posterity.

In January 1945, Major Smith left the Boufflettes and Villers-l'Evêque to rejoin his unit. By February the 14th Cavalry Group was back at it.

And six-weeks after a uninvited 5:30am wake up call, on 25 January, the Battle of the Bulge was done.

PART 10: MIRACLE AT REMAGEN

On 7 March history converged on the Rhine. The 14th Tank Battalion (a sibling to the 14th Cavalry also at St. Vith) under the 9th Armored Division unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.

The last unscuttled bridge crossing the Rhine, scheduled to be blown at 4pm, was taken with 10 minutes to spare. In fact, a faulty fuse and backup fuse failed to deploy by defenders desperate to slow the tide that now flowed against them from the forest three months before.

On 10 March the 14th Cavalry rode in and took on security (ground, water and air) on both river banks at the bridgeheads.

Trained suicide teams of saboteurs continually attempted to demolish the bridge over the next several days. Steps were taken to “frustrate [those] efforts” in “the most thorough and complete” way:

“…log, and net booms were constructed across the river to intercept water-borne objects; depth charges were dropped…an average of 12 per hour each night to discourage under­water swimmers and submarines; radar was employed to detect underwater craft; river patrols were maintained; shore patrols were on the alert 24 hours per day; at night, power­ful lights illuminated the surface of the river while high velocity guns were trained on all objects floating downstream; coordination was effected between adjacent corps, who were assisted by river and shore patrols.”

In a last ditch attempt, 17 March Hitler V-2 bombs launched from Holland for months now targeted Remagen. A thousand rockets had landed in Antwerp (see map in appendix). Now 11 V-2 rockets were turned to Ludendorff 200 km away. The first rocket came in at it’s usual 3,000 kph, going through the roof of a house belonging to Christian Schutzeichel.

The warhead split off and landed around 9:54am in the backyard of a farmer named Herman Joseph Lange, a kilometer from the bridge (this would be the closest and deadliest strike).

The Lange family was hosting a dozen servicemen in their home. Three of those men were killed instantly. The next three V-2s landed near two churches and in another berg 8 km away - injuring 31 and killing three.

But this Losheim Gap would be thoroughly defended. It became known as the “Miracle in Remagen”.

During the 12-day period, 16-28 March, a total of 58,262 vehicles crossed over all three pontoon bridges, or an average of 4,855 per day.

And two hours to the north in The Netherlands a Spring thaw began.

And by April, Major Smith and the 14th Cavalry would journey another 400 kilometers East to Nuremberg just two hours from the Schmidt’s ancestral home and his great grandfather’s resting place in Stuttgart, Germany.

The 14th Cavalry ended their tour in Austria. In November 1945 Larry returned home to his wife Bennie and two girls in Lake ‘O.

PART 11: CHOCOLATE CREPES IN PARIS

My kids and I needed two full days to cover the first 200 kilometer leg from Utrecht to the Ludendorff Bridge. Driving through the winding, sunny hills of the Ardennes and into the Rhineland we unpacked family stories of legendary absurdity. And a golden hue washed over equally stunning Belgian and then German country sides.

We stopped the stereotypical American mini-van next to the bridge head at the edge of the Rhine. We painted (a relaxing thing even a teenager might try on a meandering European holiday) the reinforced abutments of Remagen stood like dark sentries on either shore, blackish-blue water snaking still between massive hills. We bid farewell to imaginary figures standing up top on the far side of the river. They ambled away as Odysseus might knowing he was emblazoned already to history.

Ten days after this bridge was crossed and almost six months to the day since Arnhem was not, Ludendorff collapsed. 28 engineers of the 276th Engineer Battalion and 1058th Bridge Group fell while hanging from rafters they had one mind to strengthen.

Engineer John Morgado of the 16th Armored Division remembers “I looked down to see the men, several of whom I knew, trying to keep their heads above water, but because they had on heavy gear and the river was flowing so swiftly they couldn’t.”

Sergeant Alfred W. Enlow, in command of a 30-man platoon from the 32nd squadron said, “At the time the bridge started to collapse I was looking at it, and right in the midst of shaving. I never saw such a sensational sight in my life. There was no shell fire nor were there any explosions. the bridge just trembled and shook and in a mighty cloud of dust fell into the river.”

There was no Ludendorff Bridge for us to cross.

After a worthy pause, with the agility of a mini-van (neatly named Odyssey), we made a 90 degree pivot to Paris.

532 kilometers and six hours later we stood beneath the Eiffel Tower.

We ordered extra large chocolate crepes, captured our “Winter Lights” pics on iPhones and watched the water surge down the Siene reflecting the Christmas lights. Sweet spoils for three lucky Dutch-American kids whose holiday was ambushed in the Ardennes and who nibbled an edge of history.

PART 12: THE EASY STUFF: 8th GVX GATHERING

With a new sense of purpose and with Parisian pastries accounted for it was time to secure all this to our 8th Global Venture Exchange.

But what bridge connects a family history journal and a cross-Atlantic business event. I contacted “Belgium Remembers”, “Europe Remembers”…but knew not what to ask for. Should we ask a WW2 veteran to attend as our Guest? Thankfully such ideas sank in the mud.

Then two weeks ago, a break in the Clouds. I left a voicemail of my predicament with the Mayor of St. Vith who I’d found online. Not five hours later, I received a 10pm call (on a week night in Holland i.e., not “normal”).

After friendly greetings Mayor Grommes got to the point. “You want someone who knows about the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, then Carl’s your man.” he told me efficiently. “Carl lives in Antwerp and really the memorial was his idea.” The St. Vith Memorial to 106th was inaugurated on 16 December 2019.

Carl is the Liaison to the 106th Infantry Division Association and did not hesitate. Carl will share what he knows and relate it to what he hears (once we have requisite Pintjes in hand).

PART 13: ONION SOUP & CHRISTMAS

Late December 2019 at the Boufflettes, Christmas lights were draped on the tree in a high ceiling living room. Fire burned in the hearth of Fernand’s family farm rebuilt a century before and renovated by his grandson Denis. And we grandchildren and our children sat together eating Wallonia Onion Soup sharing stories. Now that is ‘gezellig’.

We passed around a square patch of parachute. Through the nylon were stitched signatures of the Americans who had recovered themselves here in Villers-l'Evêque during the six week Battle of the Bulge.

The Boufflette’s feat of reconciliation at the crossroads of two major wars is Epic. And their farm would make a perfect set for a Spielberg film if it had to be real.

I am not surprised to learn that when put in a tough situation, Larry did well. He never mention receiving a Bronze star for how he helped to extricate his fellows from encirclement in the first pre-dawn moments of the battle and later during an ambush near Poteau. And I know this action was one of thousands made by individuals who doubted themselves but still did what they could where they stood.

And where a monument stands today in slight disrepair but steadfast, imploring us to stay vigilant and keep watch for ghosts of Losheim Gap’s Future.

FINALE: MIND THE GAP

Today there is new technology all around us, and most of society is going through this rapid 4th industrial revolution McKinsey’s multiples referred to. As we seek new frontiers we see our flanks exposed.

And meanwhile our vulnerabilities seem like groundhog day regarding our elections, our health or more paralyzing “what to invest or save today” to ensure well-being of our Future Selves.

We turn to straight-talk historian Carl, Liaison to the 106th Infantry Division Association, who offers some parting thoughts.

I paraphrase and directly quote below:

1. Bottom-up thinking: Small unit actions are important. Individual and low level initiative is key. Don’t expect reinforcements or a unified plan at the start

2. Cooperate and have contingency plans: Coordinated action works to defend a Losheim Gap. But be prepared for when the shooting starts and communications lines (telephone and radio), signal instructions and networks are likely compromised

3. Mix in new technologies and old: But take the time to re-rethink things. Mobility, intelligence, scenario planning, training, supply were fundamental to the new Mechanized Cavalry introduced by “re-thinkers” like Eisenhower

4. Reconciliation: Acknowledge our mutual interests to preserve a peaceful and healthy society (and tech community). A foe on the field can become “the home team” and a leader in the pack

5. Complacency: Allies believed there was no fight left. Units were unprepared and had a false sense of security and even the Supreme Leaders did not see what was in front of them

Tomorrow 7 March is the date the 14th cavalry would reach the Rhine in 1945. Ten weeks ago 20 of just these sorts of guys from the 106th Infantry came to St. Vith for the 75th Remembrance. One was indeed 100 years old.

• But what would these veterans say about a fog that encircles us, like the Spanish flu did Camp Colt in 1918?

• How would they say to find and defend a Losheim Gap, as mortar and bullets zip around us?

• Would they see us as less able than they were to meet the challenges we face with AI, Coronavirus or climate change?

One thing I do remember is that Larry and Bennie had big plans to move to the City. But Larry’s Dad passed away while he was in the Ardennes and his older brothers were already practicing medicine and were his seniors. So he took a crash course in agriculture that summer. In the end, Larry did the same thing as Fernand had in Belgium after the 1st War. He spent the next many years applying his energies to things he thought mattered and was steadfast to his community:

And as for Supreme Allied Commander Eisenhower, everyone knows what he went off and did after WW2. But even more fascinating to me is that in 1919, in the months after loosing nearly 200 of his 10,000 soldiers at Camp Colt to the Spanish flu, Eisenhower took a convoy from one ocean to the other (technically it was Wash DC to Oakland).

Eisenhower took the year of a pandemic to get stronger, building support for investments to secure the future. And while I’m not sure a physical world convoy during a pandemic was a great idea — he managed to trouble shoot for the cavalry by driving 5,000 kilometers at an average speed of 8kph to see what broke. Then made sure it did not happen the next time.

A few things said with certainty:

“We raise a Pintje to Antwerp for rising to the occassion, and for the sustenance and fuel they brought for Centuries but especially the last one. To people like the Boufflette’s and Larry and their families. To the 2020s (28 engineers of Remagen and 20 veterans of St. Vith’s 106th Infantry). To new friends and preserving old ones for our collective future.”

Vigilance and cooperation are good words to keep!

With Warmth & Gratitude,

Christopher Smith Mott (aka, Che)

Larry’s eldest grandson
On behalf of the Smiths & Boufflettes
Steering group lead, Global Venture Exchange

Note: Thanks to Cresco Law, European Leadership University, Adilson, Annemie, Volta Ventures, the speakers and Carl Wouters, historian Liaison for 106th Infantry Division Association and Mayor Grommes from St. Vith. Most sources can be found online or through primary research. Any trespasses are unintentional. Pls send any counter points or additions to chris@globalventure.com.

Post Script to the 75th Remembrance

I hope this writeup using Major Smith (aka Grandpa Larry) as the protagonist gives Readers a modest bridge to connect the lessons of the past with the future of technology. It was sure fun to write.

And if it provoked a Reader to stubbornly secure the bridge to our collective future - or even better to do it together (while still complying with the 1.5 meter rule!) - then the objective was achieved.

Long version

GERMANY

Benelux

France

Bastogne on 27 December 2019, 75 years to the day after

Biography Major Lawrence Smith