The Battle Of The War

The German Command, in planning for a short and swift war, found themselves in a bind when the war started to prolong itself. From the very beginning, their plan started to fall apart, as Belgium, who they assumed would just let them march through to France, took up arms in resisting their approaches (Hull, 2005). The war would get longer and longer and seemed farther away from its conclusion as the months grew colder. As a result of this as well as their Prussian roots, they resorted to dangerously risky and destructive tactics, trying to bring the war to a quicker end while putting more of their resources in jeopardy, a move that eventually did not pay off and ended up leading to the German Empire’s demise (Hull, 2005).

The initial airborne drops caught the Germans totally by surprise, and there was little resistance. MG Urquhart, later wrote that “ever since the first landing, General Bittrich commander of the II SS Panzer Corps and his staff had expected the British second lift.'' He also wrote that the Germans had provided early

     The battle of the bulge was Hitler's last chance to win the war or at least make the allies go for a treaty. He did this because his forces were being pushed back into Germany and soon they would run out of supplies and other resources for war. Hitler thought of this bold plan when he recalled how a German hero Frederick the great was facing defeat, Frederick went on a offensive attack at his foe who had superior numbers but the bold moved worked and Hitler thought he could do the same thing.

<br>As the war progressed, Hitler became more risky in his decision making, and made the crucial error of invading Russia in June 1941. This opened Germany up to communist attack by breaking the Soviet-German non-agression pact of August 1939, and also a two front war, and Hitler was forced to divert forces to Russia, which could have been spent on defeating Britain. Hitler's aim of invading Russia had been postponed due to the distractions in both North Africa, and also south eastern Europe. Hitler felt an urgency to begin the move to the east, even though the British remained undefeated in the west. The invasion of Russia was the largest military campaign of the war.

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also know as the 100 Days Offensive, was the part of the grand Allied offensive in 1918 at the end of WW1. This battle involved 1.2 million American soldiers. The American’s objective was to break through the Hindenburg Line, which covered the length of the entire western front. The offensive consisted of a three-sided attack on the German’s Western Front. The BEF and the French Army were to engage the German lines at Flanders, while the British forces would take on the German troops at Cambrai. The American Expeditionary Forces numdering 400,000 men under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing, and the French Fourth Army under General Henri Gouraud’s role was the eastern most pincer of the multinational endeavor, the Argonne forest. The forest presented Gen. Pershing and his men some difficult challenges they were forced to overcome.

“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

General Pershing, in command of the U.S. 1st Army, set the rail line near Sedan, France as the main objective. This was a vital supply route for German forces (Stewart, 2005), and the direction of attack to the north of the front line through the Argonne Forest would expose the flank of German forces being attacked by the French from the west. Support for the American forces consisted of over 800 aircraft, nearly 190 tanks, and approximately 2,700 pieces of artillery, and over 600,000 men (Stewart, 2005).

On the German side, Hitler was running out of options. Russia has destroyed twenty-five German divisions, the worst defeat ever inflicted on them. On the western front, the Allies had captured Rome and were attacking 155 miles north. The D-Day invaders had destroyed another two German armies while they pushed through France. He was being surrounded on all sides and needed to make a drastic move. He reasoned that since Allies had come so far so fast, they would have to halt eventually to allow their supplies to catch up with them. During

Nearing the end of World War II and after the successful D-Day invasion by Allied Forces, Adolf Hitler would personally plan a counteroffensive he believed would turn the tied of the war in his favor and prevent his unconditional surrender. Historically known as the Battle of the Bulge, the Ardennes Counteroffensive, from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, would showcase the power of a full-scale German offensive while highlighting the ingenuity and heart of the United States Army as they encountered a seemingly undefeatable foe.

The German 5th Panzer Army led by General Hasso Von Manteuffel along with the 7th Panzer Corps and several thousand German Paratroopers, infantry, and heavy artillery had been mobilized to retake the city. The ultimate goal of the German Army was to secure the major road junctions in the city of Bastogne, cut off Allied forces, disrupt logistics and ultimately annihilate the Allied Forces if they failed to surrender. The German Nazi Infantry forces started advancing quickly into the city in their numbers but was subsequently slowed down by one American Company supported by a mortar platoon. Bad weather also delayed their advancement. This foiled the German Army’s plan of entering the city within a day even though they eventually broke through the frontlines in two days. The 101st Airborne led by General A. McAuliffe along with, CCB of the 10th Armored Division led by Colonel William L. Roberts, troops from the 110th Infantry and other supporting elements were ordered to hold the city until reinforcements could arrive. The U.S Forces spread in a large defensive formation around the city of Bastogne in order to stop the German Forces advances to overrun the

Along the way, many Russian victories such as the battle of Kursk, led to the complete destruction of the Axis eastern front. The battle of Kursk stood as a large turning point in the war. The Russians caught wind of the German advance and emplaced 1.3million soldiers, 20thousand artillery guns, 36 hundred tanks, and 24 hundred planes, as well as placing over 400,000 miles. The Russians recruited civilians to repair hundreds of miles of road and dug thousands of miles of trenches. The Germans carefully planned their offensive using 2thousand planes, 2,700 tanks 900 thousand soldiers and 10 thousand artillery guns. One general said "No offensive was ever prepared as carefully as this one" -General Mellenthin. The battle ended very poorly for the Germans with over 500,000 casualties and two thirds of the German tanks destroyed. In conclusion, the battle of Kursk happened to be one of the most brutal slaughters in World War

Still, from Berlin, Hitler ordered the army to continue the fight and promised General Paulus that reinforcements would be sent. The Russian army would not give up. They trapped the weakened Germans in the city. In January, General Paulus sent a message to Hitler requesting permission to surrender. He knew any victory was impossible and the only thing certain for the Germans was death. Hilter denied his requesting saying that the German army had to stand firm until the last man. Hitler’s pride was one of the biggest reasons the German’s lost to Russia. Had he let his men retreat, regroup and fortify themselves they would have stood a much better chance. Hitler was operating solely on an out of control ego at that point and not rational thought.

Germany was not able to claim victory during World War II due to poor military guidance. Hitler’s military tactics led

In the year of 1914, German decided to put into practice one of the most ambitious military plan in the history of Europe. Before the outbreak of the war the Kaiser instructed his chief staff Alfred Schlieffen to devise a strategy that could allow the Germans to fight against their enemies that surrounded them(France and Russia). This plan was developed in a study written in the early 1906 .It involved the attack the northwest of Belgium and defending the Alsace-Lorraine border with a smaller German army. Once the tactic was archived, the second facet of the plan consisted that the Germans would move their troops to the Eastern frontier to fight against the Russian Army.

Germany did not have a numerically superior force on the western front, but bold strategy, careful planning and blitzkrieg tactics set the foundation for the French defeat. In June 1940 Hitler invaded Paris, eight days later the French surrendered. After the French surrender, Hitler attempted to end the war with Britain. Speaking to the Reichstag in June, he said, “I can see no reason why the war need go on.” But Hitler was already had his sights set on invading Russia. He now aimed to end the war in the west so he could concentrate on attacking communist Russia in the east. Hitler knew that invading Britain would be difficult, but still he informed his military to leaders to prepare for the operation, Operation Sea Lion, and proceeded in planning a landing operation against Britain.