The Battle of the Bulge
These are the coats the German soldiers wore on a six week long battle.
On December 16, 1944 The largest battle the U.S has ever fought happened in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. It had major casualties the German suffering 100,000 dead and the Americans at 81,000. Belgium, France and the U.S tried holding a line from the advancing Germans that ran from Northwestern Belgium to Northern France. This is arguably the greatest battle in American history.
The Allies thought at first that the Germans were forming a counter attack while in reality they were pushing a major offensive. The Germans got deep in the Americans line before their advance got checked 60 miles behind the line. Everywhere in France units were called to get the “bulge” back in the line.
Once the Americans were informed that their was a German attack coming they tried bombing the German Tanks through the Ardennes forest, but the German tanks rolled along unhindered. At first the Americans thought this was a counter attack while in reality it was one of the biggest German offensives of the war. This caught a lot of the front line soldiers off guard and what ultimately lead to most of the success of this attack. The Germans got 30 of their crack decisions together and their goal was to cut the allied lines in two and capture the port of Antwerp.
While this attacks surprise had tremendous effects on the allies the Germans didn’t think about the attacks future and the supplies that would be needed. One thing that Hitler didn’t get was don’t launch a major offensive in Winter. As both sides were fighting each other they had another opponent which was weather. The battle took place in the middle of Winter in the middle of the Ardennes forest. Although the Nazis used this to their advantage holding off on their offensive so the Allies couldn’t use their superior air force. This led to the battle being fought on foot in terrible weather conditions. But as the attack continued the Germans so feared Panthers and Tiger tanks used up all the gas set aside for the attack which was almost 5 million gallons. This stopped their advance and that let the Allies return the “bulge” back to the line.
This attack lasted for 6 weeks from December 16,1944 to January 28, 1945. From America's point of view it was the largest battle we ever took place in. We had 67,000 American Casualties. This was easily one of the most important battles in World War 2, that was the Germans last major offensive in the Western part of Europe and ultimately lead to the Nazis surrender.
The Allies thought at first that the Germans were forming a counter attack while in reality they were pushing a major offensive. The Germans got deep in the Americans line before their advance got checked 60 miles behind the line. Everywhere in France units were called to get the “bulge” back in the line.
Once the Americans were informed that their was a German attack coming they tried bombing the German Tanks through the Ardennes forest, but the German tanks rolled along unhindered. At first the Americans thought this was a counter attack while in reality it was one of the biggest German offensives of the war. This caught a lot of the front line soldiers off guard and what ultimately lead to most of the success of this attack. The Germans got 30 of their crack decisions together and their goal was to cut the allied lines in two and capture the port of Antwerp.
While this attacks surprise had tremendous effects on the allies the Germans didn’t think about the attacks future and the supplies that would be needed. One thing that Hitler didn’t get was don’t launch a major offensive in Winter. As both sides were fighting each other they had another opponent which was weather. The battle took place in the middle of Winter in the middle of the Ardennes forest. Although the Nazis used this to their advantage holding off on their offensive so the Allies couldn’t use their superior air force. This led to the battle being fought on foot in terrible weather conditions. But as the attack continued the Germans so feared Panthers and Tiger tanks used up all the gas set aside for the attack which was almost 5 million gallons. This stopped their advance and that let the Allies return the “bulge” back to the line.
This attack lasted for 6 weeks from December 16,1944 to January 28, 1945. From America's point of view it was the largest battle we ever took place in. We had 67,000 American Casualties. This was easily one of the most important battles in World War 2, that was the Germans last major offensive in the Western part of Europe and ultimately lead to the Nazis surrender.
Bibliography:
- Andrews, Evan. "8 Things You May Not Know About the Battle of the Bulge." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 16 Dec. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
- Battle of the Bulge 70th Anniversary. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web.
- Dog Tag. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web.
- "FOCUS ON: BATTLE OF THE BULGE:." Battle of the Bulge 70th Anniversary. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016"Battle of the Bulge." The Official Home Page of the United States Army. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
- World War 2 in Pictures. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web.