History of the Ardennes Offensive

[wwii]

The Ardennes Offensive
December 16, 1944 - January 30, 1945
By the end of 1944 Germany was losing on all fronts. Her generals, faced with ever increasing armies armed with superior technology, fell back under the combined assaults in Italy, the Eastern Front, and France.

In September 1944, as the Russians halted their advance on Warsaw and the Allies stalled in Holland, Hitler stunned his generals with a bold plan reminiscent of the 1940 campaign. Panzer divisions backed by Volksturm units would smash through the weakly defended Ardennes and head for Antwerp, cutting off the Allied supply lines. Special English-speaking units in modified German armor and captured American equipment would range out ahead of the Panzers, causing confusion and creating fear among the ranks.The bold plan included a large, desperate attack by the remaining Luftwaffe units on the Allied airfields.

The Americans had only a few divisions, including the 106th division, in the Ardennes guarding a fifty-mile front. The area was used to rest and refit divisions coming off the line, or to organize new units. The Germans poured fourteen infantry divisions and five Panzer divisions into this front, smashing the new 106th division out of existence. 7,500 men surrendered in the largest American mass surrender in the European Theatre of Operations.
Initially, confusion over the nature of the offensive went as far as SHAEF headquarters in Paris. Bradley thought it was just an attempt to delay the offensive in the Rhine, but the British, mindful of the same tactic in 1940, warned that it might be a full-blown offensive. By noon of December 17 the Allied intelligence counted twenty-four new German divisions. The Americans lcaonically nicknamed the offensive the “Battle of the Bulge"

[spudcrazy]

What kind of paintballs did they use then??? Did they have pumps or semis?
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[wwii]

Finally realizing that this was a major offensive, Eisenhower sent the Airborne divisions refitting after Market-Garden to take Bastogne and Saint-Vith. The 101st Airborne, whose defense of Bastogne would become legendary, arrived by truck just hours before the town was cut off and surrounded, supported by units of the 10th armored.


They were to hold the town with little supplies and few tanks or vehicles. A store of flour in a Belgian warehouse fed the 101st with flapjack pancakes. American GIs retreating from the German advance stopped and joined in the defense. Artillery was set up in the center of town to give the defenders support anywhere along the lines, and from their arrival on December 18th until the day after Christmas, the 101st beat back German attacks. During the battle, the German commander charged with taking the vital crossroads sent a long letter to General Anthony C. McAuliffe, calling for his surrender. McAuliffe’s one-word reply, “NUTS!” indicated the determination of the 101st to hang on

The American manpower shortage was becoming critical. With the success of the liberation of France, production goals for ammunition were lowered, and the effects were first felt in the Ardennes in December 1944. An offensive coupled with a lack of ammunition meant the Americans were facing a crisis. the weather prevented the Allies’ superior airpower from taking off. Marching bands, cooks, command staffs, anyone who could carry a rifle was put into the front lines. Units like the Rangers, who had very high requirements for volunteers before the Normandy invasion, were simply given replacements like every other unit.
The Ardennes Offensive was turning into a infantrymen’s battle. In the bitter cold, the Americans and the Germans were fighting on foot. Slowly, the Americans were closing the bulge.
After the 101st arrived on December 18, Eisenhower asked Patton how long it would take to wheel his Third Army around 90 degrees and attack the Germans to relieve Bastogne. Patton shocked everyone by announcing he would attack in forty-eight hours. The Third Army, led by the 4th Armored Division, moved through the Ardennes in a lighting maneuver. It would take them six days to reach Bastogne

[wwii]

Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army of the United States Army.. Unlike some of the more colorful generals of World War II, Bradley was a polite and courteous man. First favorably brought to public attention by correspondent Ernie Pyle, he was informally known as "the soldier's general."

The Allied high command under Eisenhower faced a decision on strategy. Bradley favored a strategy consisting of an advance into the Saarland, or possibly a two-thrust assault on both the Saarland and the Ruhr Area. Newly promoted to Field Marshal, Bernard Montgomery argued for a narrow thrust across the Lower Rhine, into the open country beyond and then to the northern flank into the Ruhr, thus avoiding the Siegfried Line. Montgomery's arguments and the eagerness of George Marshall and Henry Arnold to use the First Allied Airborne Army, ultimately carried the day, leading to Operation Market-Garden. The debate, while not fissuring the Allied command, nevertheless led to a serious rift between the two Army group commanders of the European Theater of Operations. Bradley bitterly protested to Eisenhower the priority of supplies given to Montgomery, but Eisenhower, mindful of British public opinion, held Bradley's protests in check.
Bradley's command took the initial brunt of what would become the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive). In a move without precedent in modern warfare, the US 3rd Army under George Patton disengaged from their combat in the Saarland, moved 90 miles to the battlefront, and attacked the Germans' southern flank to break the encirclement at Bastogne.

The U.S. Army's M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and M3 Bradley cavalry fighting vehicle are named after General Bradley. He was the last surviving five star officer of the United States

[Twister]

Great Stuff dude... Thanks for the posting...

Now if only Spud could read....

[wwii]

Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (December 12, 1875 - February 24, 1953) was a field marshal of the German Army during World War II. He held some of the highest field commands in all phases of the war.
In September 1939 World War II began, and von Rundstedt was recalled to lead Army Group South during the successful invasion of Poland. Turning to the West, he supported Manstein's "armored fist" approach to the invasion of France, and this was eventually selected as Fall Gelb. During the battle he was placed in command of seven panzer divisions, three motorized infantry divisions, and 35 regular infantry divisions.
By May 14, 1940, the armored divisions led by Heinz Guderian had crossed the Meuse and had opened up a huge gap in the Allied front. General von Rundstedt had doubts about the survivability of these units without infantry support, and asked for a pause while the infantry caught up; the halt allowed the British to evacuate their forces to Dunkirk. Later Rundstedt forbade an attack on the Dunkirk beachhead, allowing the British to fully evacuate it. This turn of events has raised eyebrows over the years. von Rundstedt and others subsequently argued that the decision was Hitler's and stemmed from his belief that Britain would more readily accept a peace treaty if he magnanimously spared what remained of her expeditionary force.
Von Rundstedt was again placed in command in the west, after the current general ccommitted suicide.. He quickly rallied the troops just in time to fight Operation Market Garden, winning the battle. Although he was Commander of the Western Forces during the offensive to retake Antwerp (which failed against hopeless odds in what would be known as the Battle of the Bulge), he was opposed to that offensive from its inception and essentially washed his hands of it. He was relieved of command once again in March 1945 after telling Wilhelm Keitel that Hitler should make peace with the Allies, rather than continue to fight a hopeless war.