Battle of the Bulge
 Date:
December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945 - Location: The Ardennes,
Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany Result Allied victory
- United States & United
Kingdom
- Commanders: Dwight D.
Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, George S. Patton, and Bernard
Montgomery
- Strength: about
830,000 men; 242 Sherman tanks, 182 tank destroyers, and 394
pieces of corps and divisional artillery.
- Casualties and losses:
American: 80,987 (19,276 killed, 41,493 wounded, 23,554
captured or missing) [1][2]
British: 200 dead, 1,400 wounded and missing
- Germany
- Commanders: Walther
Model, Gerd von Rundstedt, Hasso von Manteuffel, and Sepp
Dietrich
- Strength: about
500,000 men; 7 armored divisions, 29 infantry divisions, and
about 500 medium tanks, supported by 1,900 guns and Nebelwerfrs.
The causalities were greatly large for the wehrmacht.
- Casualties and losses:
84,834 casualties, (15,652 dead, 27,582 captured or missing,
41,600 wounded)
The Ardennes Offensive
(December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945) was a major German
offensive on the Western Front and was launched towards the end of
World War II. This offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am
Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine) by the German armed
forces (Wehrmacht). It was officially named the Battle of
the Ardennes by the U.S. Army, but it is known to the general
public simply as the Battle of the Bulge.
The Ardennes Offensive was launched
in the Ardennes.[3] Wacht am Rhein was supported by
subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte,
Unternehmen Greif, and Unternehmen Währung. Germany’s
planned goal for these operations was to split the British and
American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp, Belgium, and then
proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the
Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers’
favor.
The Ardennes Offensive was planned
in total secrecy, in almost total radio silence. Although Ultra, the
Allies’ reading of secret German radio messages, suggested a
possible German offensive, and the United States Third Army
predicted a major German offensive, the attack still achieved
surprise. The degree of surprise achieved was compounded by the
Allies’ overconfidence, their preoccupation with their own
offensive plans, poor aerial reconnaissance, and the relative lack
of combat contact in the area by the U.S. 1st Army.
Almost complete surprise against a
weak section of the Allies’ line was achieved during heavy
overcast weather, when the Allies’ strong air forces would be
grounded. The “bulge” was the salient that the Germans initially
put into the Allies’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in
contemporary newspapers. [4][5]
Most of the American casualties
occurred within the first three days of battle, when two of the U.S.
106th Infantry Division’s three regiments were forced to
surrender. The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest of the battles
that U.S. forces experienced in World War II; the 19,000 American
dead were unsurpassed by those of any other engagement.
For the U.S. Army, the battle
incorporated more troops and engaged more enemy troops than any
conflict before that time. The German objectives ultimately were
unrealized. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units
were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as German
survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
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