Battle On The Bulge : The Battle Of The Bulge

The Germans defeated the Polish and almost all of Western Europe. Although the British had no help when it came to Hitler and his army, the remains of Europe had been overturned already. The Battle of the Bulge also called Battle of the Ardennes as well, which began Dec. 16, 1944 and ended Jan. 16, 1945. This was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II. It was an unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies back from German home territory . Winston Churchill made a promise that he would fight as long as it would take to overcome Hitler. The name Battle of the Bulge was appropriated from Winston Churchill he referred to “the bulge” as the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines.

The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. It was launched, in the dense forest of Ardennes Wallonia in eastern part of Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg. This battle was one of the largest fought by the United States Army, on the Western Front in Europe, during World War II. This fierce battle, was between the German Nazi’s, the American Army, Canadian Army, and the British Army, was one of Hitler’s last attempt to split the Allies driving them towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves. Were the Germans able to stop the Americans and the British from getting their supplies? Was the weather a factor and if so, who did it assist in the battle? Was the American Army able to counter attack in a timely manner and stop the German Nazi’s invasion?

     The Battle of the bulge took place on December sixteenth 1944. More than a million men participated in this battle including some 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British which made it

The Maxim-gun, an oil-cooled machine-gun designed by Hiram Maxim in 1884 that didn’t require hand-cranking or any other kind of manual intervention, had been offered to the British military by Hiram. However, the British High Command rejected the inventor’s offer, believing that there was no real need for it. The Germans, on the other hand, quickly grasped the strategic advantages that it offered and began developing their own version of Maxim’s design. Consequently, when the war broke out in 1914, Germany had a much greater arsenal of machine-guns. This is reflected by articles in The Sphere, which reported in 1914 that Germany had a new type of machine-gun with a telescopic sight, and The Illustrated War News, which noted that the weapon had revolutionised German artillery

While the Germans had the upper hand in technology, this condition did have its drawbacks. This advanced weaponry was costly to manufacture, so the German Army could not afford to produce them in large quantities. On top of that, this new weaponry was also more difficult to repair and maintain, which reduced its efficiency even further (Stewart, 6).

“The battle [is also] known by different names. The Germans [called it] ‘Operation Watch on the Rhine’, while the French [called] it ‘Battle of the Ardennes’. [American and Britain] called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive.” The main goal for the Germans for this offensive was to split the British and American forces in half and capture the port city of Antwerp. This would “cause an encirclement of four allied armies and [force] a peace negotiation” (Cirillo). The Germans almost had complete surprise when the offensive was launched on “December 16th, 1944, at 05:30” and the offensive start with “an artillery barrage of over 1,600 artillery pieces.” The assault took place across an “80 mile front [that] the 6th Panzer Army had to cover” (Quarrie 1). “The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division.” This was the lead unit for the 6th Panzer Army and was the lead division for the assault. The 26th Infantry was covering the part of the front where the push started. They were caught completely by surprise. “Equipped with only 32 M4 tanks, 57 anti-tank guns and thousands of battle-weary men” (MacDonald 1). The initial assault went well for the Germans and they break through the thinly defended American lines. Just “20 hours in [from the start of the assault] German forces are just 55 miles out from their objective”. By this time the casualty rate is below from what the

The post D-Day Allied assault that swept through France was halted by Hitler’s unexpected counter-attack through the Ardennes, resulting in a confrontation named the Battle of the Bulge.

The technology used to defend the army against the attacking enemy also used different weapons. For example, Barbed wire would protect against enemy attacks on the trenches. The barbed wire was a very intimidating tactic to the soldiers because of the fear of becoming entangled. If a trench is taken over, there are second and third lines of trenches that the soldiers can retreat to. When their trench is taken over, the army that was pushed back would try to regain their trench and advance upon the enemy.

The Battle of the Bulge gave the Allies numerical as well as a logistical superiority over Nazi Germany that paved the way for the Allies to break the heavily-fortified Siegfried line and thus paved the way for the invasion of Germany.

The Battle of the Bulge is considered the United State Army’s greatest victory as American soldiers withstood the full force of the German War Machine. Allied Forces faced freezing temperatures, fog, threats of espionage and battle tested German units. This victory was not without shortcomings, most notably in intelligence and subpar battlefield performances.

Brigadier General (BG) James M. Gavin, 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was one of the distinguish Generals to contribute in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. BG Gavin commanded the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions. He was responsible for many decisive operations that were key for the success of the battle. He maintained firing positions for engaging the Germans counteroffensive attacks. Simultaneously, his Mission Command practices brought him to the success of occupying two important cities in Belgium.

In Germany, Wilhelm Il trusted his military and its commanders deeply. Prussia (before unifying in 1871) had a powerful military which had then recently defeated Napoleon Ill, this military might had retained through to Wilhelm Il's rule. Europe in general were becoming more and more militaristic, perhaps in response to Germanys own increasing military and governance. Nevertheless there was a new weapon evolution, one that has changed the weapons front and has left a resinating impact on modern day warfare. Much like the evolution of cannon (and is ultimately apart of it) the artillery used in World War One was constantly improving, prior to the artillery first being utilised on the western front in Marne many different types of artilleries accuracy, power, reliability and range were very much improved upon, not just for artillery but for grenades, guns, and the development of tanks. The arms race had a large cause and reaction protocol (if you will) from the major leaders of Europe, when Germany had 29 U-boats at their disposal in 1914 Britain responded by building

The Ardennes Offensive was a German attack on the Allied western front on December 16th, 1944. This battle is widely known as the “Battle of the Bulge” because the German’s initial attack pushed the Allied front in the Ardennes region to the west, creating a bulge in the generally north to south running Allied western front. The Allied western front ran north to south, stretching from the northern part of Belgium down into the southern parts of France. The German’s main focus was an area called the Ardennes region in the middle of the Allied front. The German’s end state was to attack the middle of the Allied front in order to split Allied forces. The Ardennes region was a heavily forested area and German commanders knew the Axis forces had to seize the city of Bastogne in order to control the main supply routes (MSR’s). The city of Bastogne was a piece of key terrain in the Ardennes region due to the highly trafficable MSR’s. The MSR’s would allow the Axis forces to easily maneuver their fifteen panzer divisions and supply trains westerly through the Allied front. 1

Prior to the onset of The Battle of the Bulge, it's important to understand what lead up to this fateful day of December 16th, 1944. The beginning of the end for Germany started when America and it's Western Allies put together the greatest assault offensive that would ever be known to man, which was named: Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord (D Day). On June 6, 1944, the invasion was planned with two phases which consisted of an air assault and an amphibious beach assault consisting of American and allied forces. The landing took place on a beach of 50 miles in stretch of the coastline of Normandy, France which would be divided into five segments: Juno, Utah, Gold, Sword, and Omaha. The first phase of the operation was the air assault, which occurred after midnight and consisted of dropping 24,000 101st paratroopers into the military area. The second phase would be amphibious

Leading into the Fall of 1914, tactics on both sides of the line involved the rapid mobilization, maneuver and envelopment of the opposing side.10 Pre-1914 doctrine took little into account the effects of emerging new technology and their impact on both defensive and offensive operations. This disconnect between doctrine and technology contributed to the failure of early offensive operations in the Fall of 1914 and resulted in staggering casualties.11 Both sides developed doctrine that took into effect the unique terrain and technology that had been developed prior and during World War I. However by the end of the war, a combination of flexibility, decentralized control, and counterattack at every echelon made the German defensive system the most effective.12 This “elastic defense” had three unique characteristics; dedicated counter-attack force at all levels, decentralized command and control, fluid defensive belts and integrated artillery support at the Division level. Under this new doctrine, Corps headquarters had the role sustaining subordinate units, but not directing their actions during battle.13 This defense-in-depth and the lessons learned during the Verdun battles of 1918 were so successful that British forces adopted many of the German tactics with a special emphasis on their counterattack capability.10 Utilizing the new doctrine, by August 1918, Germany had made substantial gains, however had