Maggie's Farm

Your father had it all reversed.

The stats are in: Third Army had drastically fewer casualties than First Army -- even after excluding the Normandy Campaign.

Bradley 'owns' the fiasco of the Hurtgen Forest. He absolutely shredded the following divisions there:
28th
1st
9th
4th
83rd

On and on it went.

The reason that the 28th and the 4th were in the Bulge Campaign: they were sent to the quiet sector to completely rebuild.

Both units are special to Bradley: he was the 28th's first wartime commander -- when the nation's oldest National Guard division, Pennsylvania, had to be completely re-officered. ( He left the 82nd Airborne to do so -- it was a crisis. )

The 4th Division, three regiments: 8th, 12th, 22nd, was special in the heart of Marshall. He once commanded the 22th regiment, as its Colonel, IIRC. Hence, Bradley CONSTANTLY had the boss's old regiment at the spear tip of First Army.

That's why it, just the one regiment, and the 28th Division, were the American formations marching through Paris -- on film, of course.

And that's why the boss's regiment was the first to cross the West Wall defenses -- TWICE -- at the exact same spot. One of its junior officers wrote a memoir -- complaining that it seemed that his regiment was ALWAYS leading the way -- all the time!

If he'd only known. BTW, this regiment was receiving the cream of the manpower pool -- directed there by Bradley.

( Famously, Bradley ENTIRELY rebuilt the 29th Division for Overlord. This was done from mid-April through to late May, 1944. To do so, Bradley gutted EVERY 'reserve' ( non-Overloard ) infantry division for talent. The 29th Division of June 6th fame was the single most powerful division to have fought in the war on all fronts -- man-power wise. Bradley lifted the cut-off for physical and mental traits through the roof. IIRC, he even got rid of any trooper that needed glasses. Only the top 2% in athletics were permitted in this shock division. (!)

In one company, one one man survived the transition! Everyone else was culled -- to include the officers, as well.

This super division is never much commented upon by historians. They gloss over it as if it were still the same formation that existed April 1, 1944.

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No, your father had it backwards: Patton did more with less. It has been Bradley that has warped history.

BTW, Bradley pretty much wrote the script to the movie Patton. He attributed the story to his WIFE. (!) You will note that the vast bulk of the movie turns on Bradley-centric events -- or on stuff so widely known that any reporter could gin up a script.

Copolla, et. al. then polished the narrative -- and we have a fantastic script.

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With the Hurtgen Forest: put a fork in Bradley's reputation -- it's done.

Google it. It's now infamous -- sort of a Stalingrad of the West.