What Role Did Oil Play In Ww2

In one of the largest battle ever fought by the United States Army, with just over 600,000 Soldiers involved, it was very difficult to place any location or unit ahead of another in order of importance. The reality is that two crucial stands on the front line are what doomed the German attacks to complete

In March 1918, with nearly 50 additional divisions freed by the Russian surrender on the Eastern Front, the German Army launched a series of attacks on the Western Front, hoping to defeat the Allies before U.S. forces could be fully deployed. In the north, the British 5th Army was virtually destroyed by two major offensive operations, Michael and Georgette around the Somme. A third offensive launched in May against the French between Soissons and Reims, known as the Third Battle of the Aisne, saw the Germans reach the north bank of the Marne river at Château-Thierry, 95 kilometres (59 mi) from Paris, on 27 May. Two U.S. Army divisions, the 2nd and the 3rd, were thrown into the Allied effort to stop the Germans. On 31 May, the 3rd Division

A lack of good intelligence and the inability to properly utilize the intelligence we had made it impossible to properly position our forces prior to the battle starting. Furthermore it greatly reduced our ability to reinforce our front lines and counter the German attacks.

When the United States entered the war in 1941 the conflagration had been raging for two years. The strategic decision made by the allied powers was “Germany First” (Morton 11). That is to say that they allies decided to concentrate resources in Europe before turning towards the Pacific. One of the key strategies employed was strategic bombing (Stockings 6-20). In this the allies would attack from the air, the enemies ability to wage war by destroying infrastructure, war production, fuel supplies and the like. A prime target on the attack list was the German oil production facilities at Ploesti in Romania.

This was to be a joint operation between British, French and American forces. Though it was not the actual boundaries, the Meuse River and the Argonne Forrest restricted much of the U.S. 1st Army’s maneuverability between them. This area was comprised of a very dense and thick vegetation with few roads for heavy equipment and supplies to flow forth once the offensive began; therefore this was to be used to the Allied Powers advantage. The Germans would be attacked all along the front from British, French, and American forces simultaneously.

The Battle of the Bulge also known as “Ardennes Offensive”, started on December 16, 1944. The Battle of the bulge, is significantly known as what ruined the German army and brought about the end of the war. The battle got its name from poorly protected stretch of hilly, woody forest “bulge” that Germans made between its allies. Hitler used this area of 80-mile dense forest, believing that his forces would be able to surround and cut off

This inability saves the Allied from enduring the worst battle of the war, the Battle of the Bulge, where the US alone suffered close to 90,000 causalities. In reality, the German Army surrendered less than two months after Allied Forces captured the Ruhr Valley, severely crippling Germany’s war-making resources. This took place in the spring and not at the onset of winter, but the German Army was finished once the Allies controlled the Ruhr. The dash to Berlin during the winter months would have been slower than it occurred in the spring, but without the Ruhr, the German Army would have limited resources to resist the Allied advance. A defeated German Army in the West would likely have hastened the defeat of the Germans on the Eastern Front but as it stood, the Russians did not take Warsaw until mid-January after the Germans abandoned the city. Success at Arnhem puts the Allies on track to march on Berlin four months before the Russians would

On August 28, 1859, George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake found oil in oil creek Pennsylvania. Oil did not become popular (or a major industry) until the late 1800’s. It was still a great improvement and (in today's time) one of the most important advancements all-time It is important because most everything that is in the world requires oil in order to run properly. Oil fuel our airplanes, cars, and trucks, to heat our homes, and to make products like medicines and plastics. It pollutes our environment. It causes danger to plants and animals d spilled. When the oil spilled n the sea, it caused tremendous danger to the sea animals. Oil helps because after being distilled it causes tarry residue which helps road surfacing, and for roofing. When

“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 Battle of the Bulge started with a surprise on December 16th when the German Army launched one of the largest Artillery bombardments the world has ever seen. Part of the Germans plan was to infiltrate the United States forces with Germans Soldiers with near perfect English in order to disrupt and cause confusions during the initial attacks. The German Soldiers were unable to maintain their disguise and were later executed. The initial surprise attack seemed at first like forward progress, however the United States 2nd and 99th Divisions maintain a strong hold at Elsenberg and Mamedy. Unfortunately for the American Soldiers December 16th also brought on another surprise, bad weather set in at the Ardennes region, limiting any air support

The site of the battle was the mountain region called the Ardennes mountain region in Belgium, this would be the weakest part of the American front line, and exactly why Germany planned their attack accordingly. Germany decided that if they wanted a higher chance of success they would have to use only their most elite units and thousands of their advanced armor units to puncture the American line. They would be sending 200,000 infantry units supported by nearly 1,000 tanks toward the inexperienced 106th American division who were not prepared for the oncoming onslaught. The Germans would attack from two different angles and join back together entrapping American soldiers between them, after forming the wedge they would drive back into Europe splitting the army in two. In the beginning of the battle the Germans would be outnumbering the defending Americans a staggering 10 to 1 soldier ratio. (The Battle of the Bulge)

Bodies flailing, ripped apart by machine guns. German Panzers destroying everything in their path. A blood soaked forest; the Ardennes. The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944. It was a hard fought allied victory that pitted American, British, Australian, and South African forces against the battle hardened Panzer and SS German divisions. In the heat of the battle, the American 101st division was surrounded by German forces at Bastogne. When asked to surrender, General Anthony McAuliffe only replied with one word; “Nuts!”. The 106th division was almost annihilated. This was a gallant allied victory, showing the force of the American soldiers. However, it came with great cost. Influenced by the beginning of the war and how the war turned against the Nazi’s, the Battle of the Bulge was a bloody battle, in which German defeat lead to their surrender soon after, proving to be an extremely significant event in WWII.

The Battle of the Bulge was more pivotal than the D-Day invasion because of the benefits the battle brought to Allied operations in ending the war in Europe. The Germans’ defeat at the Battle of the Bulge resulted in vast amounts of their equipment and experienced soldiers being lost. During the invasion of Normandy, the Allied forces faced resistance from standard German ground forces who they swiftly defeated. But during the Battle of the Bulge, the Allies were immediately outnumbered by forces with superior equipment. When the offensive began on December 16th, the four divisions of the 8th Army Corps immediately faced 14 German divisions. To add onto the Allies’ numerical disadvantage, the German forces deployed during the offensive didn’t only consist of veterans of the western front,

Early on the misty winter morning of Dec. 16, 1944, more than 200,000 German troops and nearly 1,000 tanks launched Adolf Hitler's last bid to reverse the flow out/decline/get worse fortunes that had begun when allied troops landed in France on D-Day. Trying to drive to the coast of the English Channel and split the allied armies as they had done in May 1940, the Germans struck in the Ardennes Forest, a 75-mile stretch of the front seen as dense woods and few roads, held by four inexperienced and fight-worn American divisions placed/assigned therefor rest and seasoning.

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.