THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE: Hitlers Ardennes offensive.

In November 1944, things looked pretty dim for the Third Reich
In the East, the Russians had entered East Prussia and crossed
German soil and Germany`s depleted Eastern armies were frantically
battling to stem the Red tide. In the West, the Allies, even
after the failure at Arnhem were closing up to Germany`s frontiers
and in some places had crossed them. Hitler desperately needed a
big and quick strategic/grand tactical victory in that final
winter of the war - and as such the Ardennes offensive was
conceived.

After analyzing the situation, Hitler decided to attack in the
West.His armies would attack out of the Ardennes with Antwerp
just over 100 miles away, the final objective.

Once he had taken Antwerp,Hitler could not only disrupt the flow of
supplies to the Allies, but also might destroy all enemy forces north
of the line Bastogne-Brussels-Antwerp.

The Germans carried out an elaborate deception plan and lulled the 
Allies into a false sense of security on this quite part of the
front.
Hitlers fully developed plan specified that Sepp Dietrichs Sixth SS
Panzer Army would make the main attck.His army was to penetrate
between Eupen and Stavelot and enable the infantry divisons to advance 
and establish blocking positions. To the South, Manteuffel`s Fifth
Panzer Army also with three corps would be attacking towards the
key road junctions of St.Vith and Bastogne. Flank protection in the
extreme South would be from four infantry divisions of the German 
Seventh army.

In the inital assault, the Germans would be able to achieve a 2 to 1
superiority in tanks and a 6 to 1 ratio in troop strength at the
critical points. to assist in the crossing of the Meuse, special
SS units would infiltrate behind US lines dressed as US servicemen.

At 5:30 am, December 16, the front erupted as the German assault went
in and the ~Battle of the Bulge` had begun. The cold stillness of the
night was shattered by reports from 2,000 guns. On a front from
Monschau to Echternach, german infantrymen moved forward across the
snow covered ground as Hitler`s attempt to regain the initiative in
Western Europe began.

At first the Americans were taken by suprise and some German units
made good advances, however the US 99th infantry division put up a
fierce resistance to the spearheads of Six panzer Army that the
vital German timetable began to slow up even on the first day.

At first the Allies did not realise that a major German offensive
was underway and merely thought that the Germans had launched a
spoiling attack. However once it became clear to the Allies that
a major attack was under way Allied reserves started to slowly
move towards the area.

During the next few days, Major general Robertson, commander of
the US 99th Division fought what Eisenhower later termed "one
of the brilliant divisional actions of the war in Europe".While the
cost was high, the Americams held on to roads vital to the success
of the German plan. On December 20, Model shifted the main
German attack to the Fifth Panzer Army.

In other areas there were German breakthroughs. Two regiments of
US troops holding out in the Schnee Eifel were encircled and 
surrendered to the Germans on December 21 - it was a heavy blow
to US prestige. At St.Vith, a vital road junction, the Americans
held out tenaciously denying the Germans control - the Germans took
the St.Vith road junction on the fifth day of the fighting when
in fact they had targetted for it to be taken on the second day -
the offensice was badly falling behind schedule.

While the American General Clarke stubbornly held out at St.Vith,
Colonel Joachim Peiper had led the armoured spearhead of the 1st
SS Panzer division through the Losheim gap and deep into the
American rear area. Finding gasoline, Peiper used American prisoners
to refuel his tanks then continued the advance westwards. Peiper`s
advance was slowed by small groups of defenders. he waited to attack
Stavelot until dark on December 17th and took nearly a day to clear
the village against determined resistance- the Americans in Stavelot
fired a huge 124,000 gasoline dump which Peiper nearly captured - the
Germans were denied vital fuel which the tanks following Peipers
battle group were relying on. Eventually, US reinforcements stopped
Joachim Peiper`s drive and he returned to German lines with only
800 of his original 2,000 men.

The key town of Bastogne was surrounded by the Germans on the 21st 
December.The defenders of Bastogne, under Brigadier General Anthony
C.McAuliffe were the 101st Airborne Division , elements of the 10th 
Armoured Division and various artillery, engineer and tank destroyer 
units. The town held out and on the 22nd December, Patton switching
his offensive away from the Saar area of Germany came towards its
relief with two divisions. Progress was slow, intially because the
Germans had learned of Patton`s plan of attack. On that day also,
McAuliffe is alleged to have replied "NUTS!" to a German request
to surrender, under the threat to annihilate all the troops in
Bastogne  if the request were not honoured within two hours. Word
of McAuliffe`s reply soon spread and served to bolster morale at
a critical time. There spirits received a further boost when cold
winds began to blow at dusk and the weather started to clear.Allied
aircraft grounded the previous days by extremely poor weather would
now be back dominating the skies.

Fighter bombers,medium bombers and transports were all aloft on December
23rd. Supplies were dropped to the defenders of Bastogne and bombers
hit German columns throughout the area. Meanwhile fighters strafed emeny
targets - however the German 116th and 2nd panzer Divisions continued
to attack but were stopped on Boxing Day - empty fuel tanks did not
help as the German armour ground to a halt.On the 26th Bastogne was
reached by an American relief force from the 4th Armoured Division.
With the siege of Bastogne broken, Allied spirits rose.

The Germans continued aggressive fighting but both Patton and Montgomery
were shifting massive Allied reinforcements against the German gains.
While the Allied commanders wrestled with the problems of positioning
troops and systematically squeezing out the German salient (The Bulge)
the German High Command also had crucial decisions to make. Hitler`s
attention was riveted on the Ardennes. Although his troops had not
reached the Meuse river, much less Antwerp, he had succeeded in
disrupting Allied offensive plans. Hitler ordered additional attacks
on Bastogne. he continued to believe that the capture of Antwerp
was a possibility. The situation continued to deteriorate however
and Hitler was forced to face reality. Pessimistic reports continued to
flow into his HQ. The final attack on Bastogne took place on January
3rd and 4th 1945. When it was again repulsed, Field Marshall Model,
German overall commander in the Ardennes, ordered an SS panzer division
north to defend against the attacks of the Allied First Army which
had begun on January 3rd. On the 8th, Hitler authorised a withdrawal
to the Ourthe River. On January 3rd Montgomerys assault made slow
progress but by the 28th January , the Bulge was cleared. On Jan 12th
the Russians had launched a major offensive and the 6th SS Panzer
Army headed east.

During December and January, the war in the West had taken a sudden
turn as the Ardennes and Alsace-Lorraine exploded in the fury of close
and desperate combat. The results were sobering to the Allies but
disastrous to the Third Reich. By attacking in the Ardennes, Hitler
had gambled on reaching Antwerp and had lost. Some 100,000 Germans
had become casualties while the Americans suffered about 81,000.
British casualties were 1,400. While Allied leaders had functioned
well with the exception of the intelligence failure over German
deception plans, the real heroes of the Bulge were the American
soldiers. The American defence of Elsenborn Ridge,St.Vith,Bastogne,
and Echternach proved this. Their resourceful defence gave those who
controlled the mighty Allied war machine the time that was needed
to shift forces to stop and eventually defeat the assault.
When the battle ended, the Anglo-American coalition had remained
intact and 4,000,000 troops in three army groups were poised on
the border of Germany.