Essay/Term paper: Bulge

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

The Battle of the bulge took place on December sixteenth 1944. The Germans mobilized the last chance they had to win the war. The Germans wanted to cut the American forces in to two parts this way the could easily be destroyed. Hitler felt this was his last to win Because his forces were being pushed back and soon they would run out of the resources the would need to win the war. Hitler was mobilizing a task force of 500,000 Germans solders. The allies were slowly pushing throng the Ardennes Forest on the Germany, Belgium Boarder, with a force of 600,000 American solders And 55,000 British solders. Hitler hoped to surprise the Allies of gard and quickly separate the army. The allies pushed through this are because they felt this was the least like place to set up a attack to assault the Allies. The Germans selected it because it was easy to hide troops in the hills. Hitler code-named this attack as the "wacht am Rhein" The Americans whit through the area in a thin line to give support to the flank were the attack was expected.

During the War Eisenhower and his staff felt this spot was the least likely to be attacked. The thought the Germans would not try any thing through the narrow passageway. The American Army was kept long and thin whit a reinforced left and right flakiness to make sure of any attacks that would come right up the middle. The Germans wanted to of the opposite of what the Americans wanted to do. As stated above the Allied troops were 'resting' and reforming; they consisted of General Simpson's 9th Army and General Hodges 1st US Army in the north and General Patton's 3rd Army to the south. The Ardennes was held by General Middleton who had the 8th US Army Corps, 106th and 26th Infantry Divisions and 4th and 9th Armoured Divisions.

The object of the German offensive was to push through the Belgian Ardennes, cross the Meuse, retake Antwerp and its harbour facilities, thrust to the north and reach the sea.

This would cut off the Allied troops in Holland and Belgium, making it impossible for them to withdraw. The success of the operation depended on three important parts, the speed of the initial breakthrough, the seizure of Allied fuel supplies and communications centres between St.Vith and Bastogne, and the widening of the breach in the Allied lines to allow German troops to pour into Belgium.

There would be three armies the 15th Army in the North, 7th Army in the South and the main push by Sepp Dietrich's 6th and von Manteuffel's 7th Panzer Divisions in the center! Specially trained German soldiers who spoke English fluently were infiltrated behind the Allied lines wearing American uniforms with orders to disrupt the deployment of Allied units and prepare the way for the German advance.The crucial problem for the German was their lack of fuel and the whole 'adventure' depended on their initial thrust capturing the allied supplies. Whit out a supply of fuel they where siting ducks if they ever ran out. Hitler's last attack had to work or he would be defeated. The plan was to march 85 miles from Southern Belgium to Luxembourg and attack the allies by surprise. He would attack during the Christmas season in the Ardennes Forest, an area where there were only a few allied shoulders. The invasion was designed to split the American and British armies in half. However it did not succeed. The German armies caught the allies by surprise. They had some success in the beginning and were able to take a lot of land from the allies and captured many allied soldiers. The allied forces fought Hitler's armies bravely. They held on to their ground wherever they could. They slowed down the German armies until American and English reinforcements arrived to fight the Germans. The German army was no match for the allied forces. They were running out of fuel, men and ammunition. After fierce battles the German forces were pushed back and gave up all the land they had conquered in the beginning of the battle. The allied forces completely destroyed the German armies. From this time forward the Germans were never able to raise a large army again to attack the allies.