Battle of the Bulge

:For other meanings of Wacht Am Rhein, see Watch on the Rhine (disambiguation)

Initial German assault

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The German assault began on December 16, 1944, at 0530 hrs with a massive artillery barrage on the Allied troops facing the 6th SS Panzer Army. By 0800 all three German armies attacked through the Ardennes. In the northern sector Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army assaulted Losheim Gap and the Elsenborn Ridge in an effort to break through to Liège. In the centre von Manteuffel's 5th Panzer Army attacked towards Bastogne and St. Vith, both road junctions of great strategic importance. And in the south Brandenberger's 7th Army pushed towards Luxembourg in their efforts to secure the flank from Allied attacks.

Related Topics:
December 16 - 1944 - 6th SS Panzer Army - Losheim Gap - Elsenborn Ridge - Liège - 5th Panzer Army - Bastogne - St. Vith - Luxembourg

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Mimicking tactics the Russians had used against German lines with devastating results during Operation Bagration the German first wave consisted mostly of infantry, who cleared the way and created pincers in the front that could be exploited by armored troops. The initial advance caught the Americans by surprise and many forward-deployed units surrendered, but strong resistance further back greatly slowed the German advance.

Related Topics:
Operation Bagration - Infantry

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Attacks by the 6th SS Panzer Army infantry units in the north fared badly due to unexpectedly fierce resistance by the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and U.S. 99th Infantry Division, which was attached to the 2nd, at the Elsborn Ridge, stalling their advance; this forced Dietrich to unleash his panzer forces early. Starting on December 16, however, terrible snowstorms engulfed the Ardennes area. While having the desired effect of keeping the Allied aircraft grounded, the weather also proved troublesome for the Germans as poor road conditions hampered their advance, and thousands of vehicles got bogged down in massive traffic jams.

Related Topics:
6th SS Panzer Army - U.S. 2nd Infantry Division - December 16 - Road

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The Germans fared better in the center and the south as they attacked the U.S. 106th Infantry Division. All along the lines, however, the inexperience of some of the German troops was evident. They tended to attack from the open and marched without cover, making them prime targets for American ambush. The recent Allied development of proximity-fused artillery shells took a heavy toll on troops out in the open.

Related Topics:
U.S. 106th Infantry Division - Proximity-fused

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Hitler had predicted it would take Eisenhower two or three days to realize that the fighting in the Ardennes was a major offensive and not a local counter-attack. His prediction was proven quite wrong; before the first day was finished, Eisenhower—ignoring the advice of his staff—had ordered vast reinforcements to the area. The Red Ball Express stopped delivering supplies and started moving troops. Within a week 250,000 troops had been sent. At the same time the 101st Airborne Division (along with a combat team from the U.S. 10th Armored Division) was ordered to move and defend the town of Bastogne. (Citizen Soldiers, p 201). The 82nd Airborne Division was also thrown into the battle north of the bulge, near Liège.

Related Topics:
Eisenhower - Red Ball Express - 101st Airborne Division - U.S. 10th Armored Division - Bastogne - 82nd Airborne Division

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Operation Stösser

:Main article: Operation Stösser

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Originally slated for the early hours of 16 December, Operation Stösser was delayed for a day because of bad weather and fuel shortages. The new drop time was set for 0300 hrs on December 17; their drop zone was 11 km north of Malmedy and their target was the "Baraque Michel" crossroads. Von der Heydte and his men were to take it and hold it for approximately twenty-four hours until being relieved by the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, thereby hampering the Allied flow of reinforcements and supplies into the area.

Related Topics:
16 December - December 17 - 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend

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Just after midnight 16 December/17 December 112 Ju 52 transport planes with around 1,300 Fallschirmjäger (German paratroopers) on board took off amid a powerful snowstorm, with strong winds and extensive low cloud cover. As a result, many planes went off-course, and men were dropped as far as a dozen kilometers away from the intended drop zone, with only a fraction of the force landing near it. Strong winds also took off-target those paratroopers whose planes were relatively close to the intended drop zone and made their landings far rougher.

Related Topics:
16 December - 17 December - 112 - Ju 52 - Fallschirmjäger - Low cloud

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By noon a group of around 300 managed to assemble, but this force was too small and too weak to counter the Allies. Colonel von der Heydte abandoned plans to take the crossroads and instead ordered his men to harass the Allied troops in the vicinity with guerrilla-like actions. Because of the extensive dispersal of the jump, with Fallschirmjäger being reported all over the Ardennes, the Allies believed a major divisional-sized jump had taken place, resulting in much confusion and causing them to allocate men to secure their rear instead of sending them off to the front to face the main German thrust.

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Operation Greif

:Main article: Operation Greif

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Skorzeny successfully infiltrated his battalion of disguised, English-speaking Germans behind the Allied lines. Although they failed to take the vital bridges over the Meuse, the battalion's presence produced confusion out of all proportion to their military activities, and rumours spread like wildfire. Even General Patton was alarmed and, on December 17, described the situation to General Eisenhower as "Krauts... speaking perfect English... raising hell, cutting wires, turning road signs around, spooking whole divisions, and shoving a bulge into our defenses".

Related Topics:
Skorzeny - Patton - December 17 - Krauts

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Checkpoints were soon set up all over the Allied rear, greatly slowing the movement of soldiers and equipment. Military policemen drilled servicemen on things which every American was expected to know, such as the identity of Mickey Mouse's girlfriend, baseball scores, or the capital of Illinois. This latter question resulted in the brief detention of General Omar Bradley himself; although he gave the correct answer—Springfield—the GI who questioned him apparently believed that the capital was Chicago, Illinois.

Related Topics:
Mickey Mouse - Illinois - Omar Bradley - Springfield - Chicago, Illinois

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The tightened security nonetheless made things harder for the German infiltrators, and some of them were captured. Even during interrogation they continued their goal of spreading disinformation; when asked about their mission, some of them claimed they had been told to go to Paris to either kill or capture General Eisenhower. Security around the general was greatly increased, and he was confined to his headquarters. Because these prisoners had been captured in American uniform they were later executed by firing squad; this was the standard practice of every army at the time, although it was left ambivalent under the Geneva Convention, which merely stated that soldiers had to wear uniforms that distinguished them as combatants. Skorzeny and his men were fully aware of their likely fate, and most wore their German uniforms underneath their Allied ones in case of capture. Skorzeny himself avoided capture and survived the war, leading a colourful life thereafter.

Related Topics:
Disinformation - Paris - Executed by firing squad - Geneva Convention

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Malmédy massacre

:Main article: Malmédy massacre

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In the north the main armored spearhead of the 6th SS Panzer Army, Kampfgruppe Peiper, consisting of 4,800 men and 600 vehicles under the command of Waffen-SS Colonel Jochen Peiper, pushed west into Belgium. At 0700 hrs December 17 they seized a U.S. fuel depot at Büllingen,where they paused to refuel before continuing westward. At 1230 hrs, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmédy and Ligneuville, they encountered elements of the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. They were disarmed and, with some other Americans captured earlier (approximately 150 people), sent to stand in a field near the crossroads. A tank pulled up and a truck shortly thereafter. A single SS officer pulled out a pistol and shot a medical officer standing in the front row, and then shot the man standing next to the medical officer. Other soldiers joined in with machine guns. It is not known why this happened; there is no record of an SS officer giving the order—such routine shootings of prisoners of war (POWs), however, were common on the Eastern Front. News of the killings raced through Allied lines. Afterwards the order went out: SS and Fallschirmjäger were to be shot on sight. Captured SS soldiers who were part of Kampfgruppe Peiper were tried in the controversial Malmédy Massacre Trial following the war.

Related Topics:
Waffen-SS - Jochen Peiper - Belgium - December 17 - Büllingen - Baugnez - Malmédy - Ligneuville - SS - Machine gun - Prisoners of war - Eastern Front - Fallschirmjäger - Malmédy Massacre Trial

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The fighting went on and, by the evening, the Leibstandarte had pushed north to engage the U.S. 99th Infantry Division and Kampfgruppe Peiper arrived in front of Stavelot. He was already behind the timetable as it took 36 hours to advance from Eifel to Stavelot; it had taken just 9 hours in 1940. As the Americans fell back they blew up bridges and fuel dumps, denying the Germans critically needed fuel and further slowing their progress.

Related Topics:
Stavelot - Eifel - 1940

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The assault of Kampfgruppe Peiper

Peiper entered Stavelot on December 18 but encountered fierce resistance by the American defenders. Unable to defeat the American force in area, he left a smaller support force in town and with the bulk of his forces headed for the bridge at Trois-Ponts, but by the time he reached it, the retreating Allies had already destroyed it. Peiper pulled off and headed for the village of La Gleize and from then on to Stoumont. There, as Peiper approached, the American engineers blew up the bridge and the American troops were entrenched and ready to fight a bitter battle.

Related Topics:
December 18 - Trois-Ponts - La Gleize - Stoumont

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His troops were cut off from the main German force and supplies when the Americans recaptured the poorly defended Stavelot on December 19. As their situation in Stoumont was becoming hopeless, Peiper decided to pull back to La Gleize where he set up his defenses waiting for the German relief force. As no relief force was able to penetrate Allied defenses, on December 23 Peiper decided to break through back to the German lines. The men of the Kampfgruppe were forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the unit was able to escape.

Related Topics:
December 19 - December 23

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St Vith

In the centre, the town of St. Vith, a vital road junction, presented the main challenge for both von Manteuffel's and Dietrich's forces. The defenders, led by the U.S. 7th Armored Division, and also including the U.S. 106th Infantry Division, and additional elements of the U.S. 9th Armored Division and U.S. 28th Infantry Division, all under the command of General Bruce C. Clarke, successfully resisted the German attacks, thereby significantly slowing the German advance. The Germans managed to capture St. Vith on December 21, but U.S. troops fell back to entrenched positions in the area, presenting an imposing obstacle to a successful German advance. By December 23, as the Germans shattered their flanks, the defenders' position became untenable and U.S. troops were ordered to retreat west of the Salm River. As the German plan called for the capture of St. Vith by 1800 hrs December 17, the prolonged action in and around it presented a major blow to their timetable.

Related Topics:
U.S. 7th Armored Division - U.S. 106th Infantry Division - U.S. 9th Armored Division - U.S. 28th Infantry Division - Bruce C. Clarke - December 21 - December 23 - Salm River - December 17

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Bastogne

:Main article: Battle of Bastogne

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On December 19, the senior Allied commanders met in a bunker in Verdun. Eisenhower, realizing that the Allies could destroy German forces much more easily when they were out in the open and on the offensive than if they were on the defensive, told the generals, "The present situation is to be regarded as one of opportunity for us and not of disaster. There will be only cheerful faces at this table". Patton, realizing what Eisenhower implied, responded, "Hell, let's have the guts to let the bastards go all the way to Paris. Then, we'll really cut'em off and chew'em up". Eisenhower asked Patton how long it would take to turn his Third Army (then located in south-central France) north to counter-attack. He said he could do it in 48 hours, to the disbelief of the other generals present. Before he had gone to the meeting, in fact, Patton had ordered his staff to prepare to turn north; by the time Eisenhower asked him how long it would take the movement was already underway. (Citizen Soldiers, p 208)

Related Topics:
December 19 - Bunker - Verdun

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By December 21 the German forces had surrounded Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. Conditions inside the perimeter were tough—most of the medical supplies and personnel had been captured. Despite determined German attacks, however, the perimeter held. When General Anthony McAuliffe was awakened by a German invitation to surrender, he gave a reply that has been variously reported and was probably unprintable. There is no disagreement, however, as to what he wrote on the paper delivered to the Germans: "NUTS!" That reply had to be explained, both to the Germans and to non-American Allies.2

Related Topics:
December 21 - Bastogne - 101st Airborne Division - Anthony McAuliffe - 2

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Rather than launching one simultaneous attack all around the perimeter the German forces concentrated their assaults on several individual locations attacked in sequence. Although this compelled the defenders to constantly shift reinforcements in order to repel each attack, it tended to dissipate the Germans' numerical advantage.

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