West European Studies

Fought during 1944-1945, the Battle of the Bulge or the so called Ardennes Offensive was the final major offensive move of the German or Nazi against the Allies during the Second World War. It was Hitlers last attempt in dividing the Allies into two in their urge concerning their attacks on Germany. This chief German offensive was aimed to destroy the ability of the Allies to sustain themselves. It began in December of 1944 as Adolf Hitler was convinced that the alliance of France, Britain, and United States in the western region of Europe was not the strong and one solid attack and defeat would definitely lead to the breakup of the Alliance. Several secondary operations were in support of this offensive to split the Allied forces.

Those who planned this Battle of the Bulge had criteria in mind which they believed would yield a successful offensive. First of all the attack needed to be as a complete surprise for the Alliance. They also needed to poor weather conditions in order to counteract the air superiority of the Alliance as it their counter offense could damage the offensive of the Nazi. The German offense had to be fast in order to be of success.

Numerous German generals were against this plan but the massive offensive was continuously planned and was carried out nonetheless. There were four armies chosen for this attack. One was the Sixth SS Panzer Army which was assigned at the northernmost part attack force. The middle attack course was where the Fifth Panzer Army had been designated to while the Seventh Army was appointed to be at the southernmost area for attack. The fourth army used which was the Fifteenth Army was designated on the far end north of Ardennes battleground.

Thousand German tanks and troops fronted the attack via the Ardennes Forest located in the eastern side of Belgium. On December 23, 7 days after the initial attack, the Allied air forces were able to finally attack as the weather conditions began to improve. Devastating bomb was launched against the German troops and the Germans started to get short of their ammunitions and fuel which became a critical point to them. The German offensive was short-lived as the Americans were able to counteract their units. The American units were tenacious in their defense as they fought the Germans hard as it continuously advanced. After 10 days, the Germans saw that their offensive felt short of their objective and goals. The troops have failed to make significant advancement at all. As the US forces continued to battle the German troops, Hitler was advised by his Military Adjutant to stop the operations and withdraw, but Hitler refused to back down.

On New Years Day the Germans tried to launch another counterattack to salvage the losses that the Alliance had inflicted on them. The Germans launched two new operations against the Allied forces but these were too weak and were not sustained. By the end of the Battle it was proclaimed how the Allied forces had succeeded in the fight. There were roughly 100,000 German casualties during and after the Battle of the Bulge, while about 80,000 casualties for the Americans. This German offensive was said to be the bloodiest battles that the United States forces had gone through during the Second World War.