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The Battle Of The Bulge

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Battle of the Bulge Christopher Adams NCOA SLC 15-005 Battle of the Bulge Introduction The Battle of the Bulge, a massive German counteroffensive which began in December 1944, ultimately produced the largest casualty rate in any one battle throughout World War II. The Allied Forces alone lost almost 80,000 at the Battle of the Bulge. This casualty rate could have been much higher if Hitler would’ve grasped the importance and value of supply and logistical support. As a result, more than 1,500 tanks within Hitler’s most elite Panzer units simply ran out of gas only days after the “Bulge” broke through the Allied western front lines. However, the purpose of this paper is not to examine what could …show more content…

Setting the Stage (The Battle) Arguably the most infamous battle during World War II, the Battle of the Bulge took place in the heavily wooded area of the Ardennes Forest region. The overall goal of this massive German counteroffensive was to break through the Western Front which consisted of both US and British forces. The primary objective behind Hitler’s plan was too simply take back the initiative the Germans lost on beach of Normandy France. A few months prior to the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler had barely survived an assassination attempt. On 20 July 1944, one of Hitler’s most trusted officers placed a bomb in a brief case and which he left underneath the table during a meeting (Gavin, J. (2003). The bomb unfortunately did not kill Hitler but it did represent the fact that, within Hitler’s inner circle, there were disenfranchised high ranking German officers who wanted Hitler dead. 45 days before the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler was almost assassinated by one of his most trusted German Officers, an event which Allied Forces remained unaware of for a long time. Hitler’s plan focused on the use of his most elite Panzer units with more than 1,500 tanks, 2,000 artillery guns, and an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 infantry soldiers (Gavin, J. (2003). The notion that Hitler even had the ability to mount a counteroffensive that big was considered impossible by the higher command of the Allied Forces. This, along with the attempted assassination,

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