22 Apr Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
What is the Battle of the Bulge?
The Battle of the Bulge was a brutal battle that took place
in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxemburg during World War II. It is
often described as the most intense battle in World War II. In fact, it was
called “The greatest battle of the war” by Winston Churchill.
When Was the Battle of the Bulge?
The Battle of the
Bulge took place from December 16th, 1944 to January 25th,
1945.
What Armies Were
Involved in the Battle of the Bulge?
The Battle of the
Bulge was fought primarily between the German army under the leadership of
Adolf Hitler and the Allied forces. The Allied forces that fought in the Battle
of the Bulge were primarily American. However, thousands of British and
Canadian troops also fought in this battle.
What Happened at the
Battle of the Bulge?
The Battle of the
Bulge was Hitler’s last-ditch attempt to launch a successful assault on the
western front in World War II. After the Allies invaded Normandy in the spring
of 1944, the Germans had been losing ground and retreating back eastward
towards Germany.
In this attack,
Hitler aimed to break through the Allied lines and cut the Army in two. He
wanted to prevent the Americans from using the port of Antwerp in Belgium and
encircle the northern part of the Allied forces in order to cut them off from
supply lines.
To achieve this
goal, Hitler sent over 400,000 soldiers to attack along an 85-mile stretch of
the Ardennes forest. The Germans chose this time to attack because the sky was
heavily overcast so the Allies couldn’t effectively use their air superiority
to bomb the approaching German army.
The German attack
was initially successful. The German army achieved total surprise and caught
the allies off-guard. The combination of surprise and vast amounts of troops
and firepower results in the Germans taking ground and the Allies retreating.
However, the Allies, and in particular, the Americans, fought back with
ferocity.
The Americans also
quickly reinforced their army in the Ardennes. On December 26th,
General Patton’s Third Army broke through the German lines to reinforce the
101rst Airborne division which had become encircled in a town called Bastogne.
This helped to turn the tide of the battle and gave the Americans the edge.
Eventually, the
Allies were able to push the Germans all the way back to their initial starting
point, thus ending the Battle of the Bulge.
Why Was it Called the
Battle of the Bulge?
The “Bulge” referred
to the bulge in the Allied lines that the Germans caused by pushing through the
Ardennes Forest.
How Many Casualties Were
There in the Battle of the Bulge?
The Allied and the
German Army suffered about 90,000 casualties each.
What Were the
Consequences of the Battle of the Bulge
The biggest
consequence was that Germany depleted its army, and was never again really able
to regain full strength. Germany spent the rest of the war in retreat until it
was finally defeated about 5 months later in the spring of 1945.
