War and American Society

The Battle of the Bulge

*Although Montgomery’s invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands stalled, most Allied leaders were not too concerned about the strength of their position.  The German Army seemed to be sufficiently reduced in strength that the only question was how to break through it into Germany. 

 

*However, the German high command was planning a counter-attack, assuming that taking a purely defensive stance would only delay defeat but hoping that a surprise attack might push the Allies away from the border and possibly even break up their alliance.

 

*Before the attack, German soldiers who could speak English went behind Allied lines to spread false information, tear down road signs, cut telephone lines, and otherwise interfere with Allied intelligence and communications.

 

*On 16 December, 1944, the Allies were completely surprised when the Germans launched a massive artillery barrage followed up by an attack on the Ardennes Forest (the same place they had invaded France in 1940).  This began what is officially known as the Ardennes Offensive, but is generally known as the Battle of the Bulge because the Germans pushed a huge salient sixty miles deep into enemy lines, even splitting Omar Bradley’s Twelfth Army Group so that Montgomery had to take temporary command of two American armies that could not communicate with the rest of their Army Group.

 

*The German Army put everything they had into this offensive—at least half a million men--and initially the Allies were knocked back, and the 101^st Airborne was cut off and surrounded in the town of Bastogne.  When the Germans asked the 101^st if they would surrender, their acting commander, General Anthony McAuliffe, responded ‘Nuts!’

 

*Eisenhower claimed he saw the Bulge as an opportunity to destroy the Germans out in the open rather than try to fight Germans ensconced behind the Siegfried Line.  To do so, he ordered Patton’s Third Army north to attack the Germans and relieve the Battered Bastards of Bastogne.

 

*The Battle of the Bulge was not just a surprise to the Allies nor was it simply a battle involving vast numbers of soldiers (500,000 Germans and over 840,000 Allied troops), but the weather itself was an enemy for both sides, although particularly the American troops who were caught unprepared.  Many men froze to death or suffered frostbite—thousands of men were hospitalised from the cold, and many more should have been.  Trucks had to be turned on every half hour so the oil in the engines would not congeal.

 

*Although the Allies were able to slow, and eventually stop, the German army, it was impossible to make a proper counter-attack for a week, as bad weather prevented the Allies from using aircraft to support their ground troops.  On the 23^rd, Allied forces began advancing on the Germans, while some supplies were airlifted to Bastogne and a team of volunteer surgeons were dropped in by glider.

 

*On 26 December, 1944, the first elements of Patton’s Third Army reached Bastogne (although the 101^st have always claimed they did not need to be rescued).

 

*On 1 January, 1945, the Germans had gathered enough fuels and other supplies (which had run low) to make one last major attack in the Ardennes Offensive.  The Seventh Army was pushed back in Alsace after being attacked from three sides.  On 7 January, 1945, the German Army was ordered to withdraw and by 15 January, had been pushed back to their starting position, although some fighting continued for the rest of the month.

 

*The United States lost at least 89,500 casualties, the British 1,400, and the Germans about 100,000.  It was the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought by the US Army.

 

*As the Battle of the Bulge was ending, Allied forces were also pushing German troops out of other parts of France.  While closing the Colmar Pocket in Alsace, thus liberating the last major French city held by the Germans, Audie Murphy—already decorated (and twice wounded) for heroism in Italy and in Southern France—was in command of 19 men through 14 degree weather when the Germans began advancing.  He sent the rest of his men back while he stayed to direct artillery fire by radio and to personally shoot at the Germans until he ran out of ammunition.  He then climbed on top of a burning tank destroyer and began using its machine gun to fire on the attacking Germans until most of their infantry were killed and their tanks began to withdraw.  For this he received the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He was the most decorated American soldier of World War II.

 

*Following the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans defended the bridges leading into Germany as long as they could, but many of their best men had been killed in the Ardennes and many of their tanks and artillery pieces abandoned.  As the Allies marched into Germany, they found that much of the German resistance was not nearly as strong as it had been in France or elsewhere.