The Battle of the Bulge

Now I will move forward into the war, towards the end of 1944. By this time the German army had been pushed back and out of the Normandy sectors (France, Belgium, Luxemburg areas) and the allies had put a choke on German supplies, making it difficult for the German army to operate with a shortage of things such as oil, gasoline, and fabrication supplies to build more units.

                The state Germany found itself in was brought by an Allied campaign following Operation Overlord (aka the Normandy Beach Landings), this campaign was known as Operation Market-Garden. The purpose of which was to fly paratroopers over key positions (mainly bridges at significant river crossings) and to seize these positions and hold until reinforcements could battle their way to the paratroopers. The operation was given such attention that it was said that “The Troops would be home before Christmas!” however, the operation didn’t succeed in that goal and now in the winter of 1944, Germany would launch its own offensive.

                Hitler had devised the plan himself, and had the developed a strategy that took advantage of the winter, with the winter the skies would be too thick for the Allies to use their overwhelming air power. Hitler’s hopes with the offensive were capturing Antwerp Harbor, to divide the Allied armies into a state of confusion and hopefully negotiate a truce so that Germany could concentrate their forces against the Russians. When the time came to launch the offensive, the Germans had assembled “330,000 men and eight hundred tanks and assault guns [participated] in the campaign.” – (Bulge) Within these armored divisions would be the best tanks fielded at that time, a collection of German Panther, Tiger, and King Tiger tanks. However, for all their technological worth the men of the Allied forces would still put up a stubborn but effective resistance in a small village.

The battle was that was most predominant was the battle of the small town of Bastogne, a small village that would become the centerpiece of the Allied defense during the Battle of the Bulge. The German army had moved so quickly through the Allied lines that some Allied units which were in frantic retreat linked up with other units in Bastogne, the resulting defense here left a bulge in the line marking the Allies defense, hence the name –Battle of the Bulge. The Germans outnumbered the small force at Bastogne, so the Allied forces their put together a defense plan where there would be a main force within the village and small manned post on the outskirts of town. Whenever one post was attacked the main force would move in and add to the defense, this strategy worked long enough until armored forces could push back the German forces and relieve the soldiers at Bastogne, ending the Battle of the Bulge.

On another, lighter note; at one point through the Siege on Bastogne the German commander of the forces attacking Bastogne asked for the Allied surrender, and the Allied commander  “…sent a handwritten one-word note back. It read "NUTS." Surrounded on all sides…” – (Military Ch.)

Sources:

(Bulge) "Bulge, Battle of the." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 480-483. Gale World History In Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.

(Military Ch.) Curry, Andrew. “Bastogne: The Battle of the Bulge”. Military.Discovery.com. Web. 29 Apr. 2011 http://military.discovery.com/history/world-war-2/battle-bulge/battle-bulge-2.html

Image Source:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Infantry_%26_Tanks_near_Bastogne.jpg