The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the largest battle fought on the Western Front in Europe during World War II; it is also the largest battle ever fought by the United States Army.
The Battle of the Bulge was almost entirely an American battle. Over one million German and Allied combatants were engaged—600,000 of them Americans and about 50,000 British. Nineteen thousand Americans were killed, 47,000 wounded, and 15,000 captured.
The battle’s impact on the Delaware Jewish community was also considerable.
KIA
Five Jewish Delawareans were among those killed in action during the battle.
MAX VICTOR SCHWITZGOLD, Corporal, U. S. Army, son of Jacob and Becky (Achnebaum) Schwitzgold, husband of Ethel (Rosevich) Schwitzgold. Killed in action December 17, 1944, in Belgium while serving with a Field Artillery unit. He served one year, five months.
MORTON TOPKIS WOLSON, Private First Class, U. S. Army, son of Julius and Zipporah (Topkis) Wolson. Killed in action December 17, 1944, near Obergailbach, Germany while serving as a medical corpsman with Company A, 346th Infantry Regiment, 87th Division. He served one year, one month and was decorated with the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster. He is interred in the Lorraine American Cemetery in France.
HERBERT RUBENSTEIN, Private, U. S. Army, son of Morris and Mary (Astrin) Rubenstein. Killed in action December 19, 1944, in Belgium while serving as a medical corpsman with the 106th (Lion) Division. He served two years and was decorated with the Purple Heart.
CHARLES KENNETH GOLDSTEIN, Technical Sergeant, U. S. Army Air Corps, son of Nathan and Lillian (Abramson) Goldstein. Killed in action January 4, 1944, in a raid over Flensburg, Germany while serving as a radio operator in a bomber. He served about nine months.
BERNARD GOODLEVAGE, Private First Class, U. S. Army, son of Morris and Sophie (Wasserman) Goodlevage. Killed in action January 20, 1945, in Germany while serving in Company E of the 301st Infantry of the 94th Division of the Third Army. He served one year, six months and was decorated with the Purple Heart. No photograph is currently available.
Prisoner of War
Dr. Ralph Tomases, a Captain in the U.S. Army Dental Corps, he was captured at the Battle of the Bulge with the 106th Infantry Division and spent the remainder of WWII as a German prisoner of war, until being liberated by the Russian Army in April, 1945. A 2001 interview Dr. Tomases is part of the Veterans History Project, a project of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.
Ralph Tomases Collection (AFC/2001/001/67859), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress