Battle of the Bulge
Report by Sebastian Turton
The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest battle of the Western European front of World War II. It was the last great German offensive of the war. The Americans were nearly defeated in the battle, but they rallied and beaten the Germans after a bloody three week battle. The Americans had suffered problems such as their winter clothing were too thin, and many of them suffered frostbite. The German offensive partly failed because many of the German tanks ran out of fuel in the end and the Germans had to get back to Germany on foot, and Hitler did not realize America’s capabilities.
The key German commanders in the battle were the following: Walter Model
,Gerd von Rundstedt, Jochen Peiper, Hasso von Manteuffel, Sepp Dietrich, and Otto Skorzeny, who was famous for the rescue of Mussolini. Allied commanders were the following: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, George S. Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st airborne division at Bastogne (Who we would see later).
Prelude
The Germans by October 1944, were ready. Their army had suffered heavy losses during the fighting in the summer, but the Germans had an advantage, shorter supply lines. The Allies had stretched their supply lines too long, so the Allied advances had to be halted,. The Soviets on the Eastern Front suffered the same problems. The Germans managed to rebuilt their battered forces in the west and became a formidable fighting force.
Adolf Hitler was very frustrated by the failure of the Germans to stop the Allies from reaching the German border. Now the Allies was on his border, but his forces finally stopped the Allies. During a meeting some of the German army commanders, he then announced that the Germans would launch a great offensive that would spilt the allies and the allies would be forced to have peace with Germany.
The German commanders argued against this, saying that the Allied planes had control of the air, so Hitler proposed that the offensive would be deliberately launched in the wnter, that way that Allied fighters were grounded. Preparations for the offensive began. The German generals were swore to secrecy and couriers delivering messages also did the same. There was radio silence and the Germans used telephone and teleprinters to communicate, so the Allies could not hear their messages.
The Germans set aside some oil and gas needed for the offensive. Now all railroads were diverted to carrying troops to the western front. But the trains operated at night to prevent being seen by the allied aircraft. Every movement to the western front was during night.
Colonel Otto Skorzeny, a special operations colonel, was summoned to Hitler’s room and there he was told of the offensive. Skorzeny was to disguise his men as Americans and infiltrate the Allied lines, and cause confusion. He was described by British intelligence as “the Most dangerous man in Europe.”
By early December, everything was ready,. the Allies were in the dark. The Allies did believe that the Germans were not capable of launching an offensive. Eisenhower was out playing golf, other commanders were preparing for celebrations. Hitler issued final preparations and gave the final shocking order to all the German division commanders.
The Opening Days
At dawn, the Germans began the Battle of the Bulge. One thousand, nine hundred German artillery pieces opened up for a bombardment. The Americans were completely surprised, they had heard the Germans had few artillery pieces for example, an American officer thought that the Germans only had two horse drawn artillery pieces in his sector, when he heard the bombardment, he remarked” They are working those horse’s to death.”. After an hour of bombarding, it ceased and the German panzers struck.
In some places, the Germans outnumbered the Americans by five to one. The Americans mistakenly had put raw troops at the front, get some combat experience, but the Germans had captured thousands of them now. The surprise was complete. The weather had prevented the Allies from launching their fighters, but the weather also proved bad for the Germans. Roads were in poor condition. Poor traffic control hampered the German’s progress,
Hitler had the paratroopers dropped behind the lines to cut off the Americans, but the paratroopers were given only a few days to prepare and 2/3 of their number were killed while trying to land behind the lines. The German paratroopers however, caused more chaos behind the American lines. The Americans believed as many as a whole German division was dropped.
Otto Skorzeny’s men had penetrated the American lines and disguised as Americans, his men had caused more chaos now. One German disguised as an American directed a American unit to go the wrong way, another German told an American captain of the Germans unstoppable advances, and the captain gave up and retreated. Germans had also changed signs, which made a few American regiments go the wrong way.
The Germans had problems as they advanced, such as massive traffic jams, and mines laid by their own men when they were retreating a while back. One German commander (Jochen Peiper) was impatient and ordered his tanks to drive over the mines, and lost half a dozen tanks.
The SS Germans had shot American prisoners at Malmedy, this causing outrage among the Americans, and the Americans vowed no SS prisoners would be taken. The Malmedy Massacre had also hardened the resolve of the Americans. .The Americans had learned how to fight a harsh war.
In the north, the Germans did not flare well without tanks, and they did not make much advances until the end of the day. The center attack was successful, and the Germans were moving, but their progress was hampered by die-hard Americans all along the roads and by American Engineers laying mines while they retreated,
The American commanders were beginning to be aware of Germans among the Americans, so Military Police began questioning every soldier, asking questions such as the identity of Mickey Mouse’s girlfriend, baseball scores, or the capital of Illinois. General Bradley was arrested briefly because he answered the question right even though his questioner thought it was wrong.
Five Germans were caught in American disguise, but they made up a story saying that the Germans were on their way to Paris to kill General Eisenhower. The Allied security believed it and increased security around Paris. People were stopped randomly at Paris and were questioned. Eisenhower was a prisoner in his own house.
December 20 – December 25
The Germans continued to advance slowly. Their progress was slowed by American troops who were blowing up bridges and also supply dumps. St Vith was captured after hard fighting, but the Germans captured it on December 23, even though they had planned to capture it on December 17. Thousands of American prisoners were taken in St. Vith.
During a meeting, General Patton told General Eisenhower that his forces could be sent down in forty eight hours, to the disbelief of the other generals. Patton had earlier, already sent his men down south to counter attack the German forces before they could cross the Meuse River.
Two airborne divisions, the 101st, and the 82nd were rushed to battle. The 101st reached a crucial road junction, Bastogne by December 19, and the following day the Germans surrounded it. When the Germans demanded the town’s surrender, General Anthony McAuliffe gave his famous one word response, “Nuts”.
Now there were fifteen German divisions surrounding Bastogne, The Americans had one airborne division, one element from an armored division, and a Field Artillery battalion. There were also a few survivors from the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge that arrived at the town before it was surrounded.
The Americans were able to hold out since the Germans only attacked different points of the defensive positions of Bastogne, instead of attacking in one big mass. The Americans however, lacked clothing, food, medicine, and even leadership. (Since most of the officers were somewhere else). In the later stages of the battle, the artillery guns nearly ran out of ammunition, and reserved them for anti-tank rounds. Later they resumed shelling German positions because the weather had cleared, and the Allied planes could drop supplies.
By Late December, the weather began the clear, and the Allies counter –attacked. The German advance was completely stalled by December 24. Now the Germans had outrun their supply lines, and there were shortages of ammunition and fuel. General Hasso von Manteuffel recommended to Hitler that the German army should halt all offensive operations and retreated back to Germany. That way the Germans could regroup and continue to defend Germany with plenty of experienced men left. Hitler, true to this character, rejected this.
December 26 to January
Patton’s army on December 26 reached Bastogne after heavy fighting. Patton had kept his promise. The siege was over. To keep their offensive going, the German Air Force launched a attack on Allied airfields in the low countries. Hundreds of German planes attacked Allied airfields in a surprising attack, and left many allied planes destroyed and damaged. But the German aircraft themselves suffered heavy losses, and the Luftwaffe was now very weak, while the Allies replaced their losses in a few days.
The German ground forces also launched an offensive against the US seventh army. attacked from three sides, the American seventh army retreated. The Germans still controlled some areas. Montgomery and Patton’s armies attacked and forced the Germans back, but by then, the Germans were retreating successfully, but the Germans had to leave behind their heavy equipment.
On January 7, Hitler ordered a withdrawal from the Ardennes. The Germans did a successful fighting withdrawal and escaped the battle area, but the fuel situation had become so bad, that the Germans had to abandon their armored vehicles.
Aftermath
The Germans had lost plenty of their experienced soldiers at the battle of the Bulge. They were forced retreated to the Siegfried Line but were forced to retreat again as the Allied army resumed it offensive. In February, the Allied forces crossed the Rhine and by May, Germany surrendered to the Allied forces.
Conclusion
The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest battle of the western front. But many more Allied lives were saved since Hitler’s great Panzer divisions were smashed at the Bulge. If Hitler had stayed behind the Siegfried Line, thousands of Allied troops would certainly die trying to break through the line.
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge
2. John Toland’s Battle of the Bulge
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bastogne
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