Further south on Manteuffel’s front, the main thrust was delivered by all attacking divisions crossing the River Our, then increasing the pressure on the key road centers of St. Vith and Bastogne. The more experienced 28th Infantry Division put up…
Continue to Allied counteroffensive in the South
At dawn on 19 December, Peiper surprised the American defenders of Stoumont by sending infantry from the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment in an attack and a company of Fallschirmjäger to infiltrate their lines.
Continue to Fifth Panzer Army attacked positions held by the U.S. 28th and 106th Infantry Divisions
While the Siege of Bastogne is often credited as the central point where the German offensive was stopped, the battle for Elsenborn Ridge was a decisive component of the Battle of the Bulge, deflecting the strongest armored units of the…
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The Wehrmacht ’s code name for the offensive was Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (“Operation Watch on the Rhine“), after the German patriotic hymn Die Wacht am Rhein, a name that deceptively implied the Germans would be adopting a defensive posture along…
Continue to The troups who participated in the Battle of the Bulge
German leader Adolf Hitler felt that his mobile reserves allowed him to mount one major offensive. Although he realised nothing significant could be accomplished in the Eastern Front, he still believed an offensive against the Western Allies, whom he considered…
Continue to Hitler believed he could split the Allied forces
After the breakout from Normandy at the end of July 1944 and the landings in southern France on 15 August 1944, the Allies advanced toward Germany much faster than anticipated.
Continue to Allies advanced quickly after breakout from Normandy
The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World…
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