| rdfs:comment | - Several American soldiers who occupied Germany after World War II had survived the Battle of the Bulge. Bernie Cobb came out of the battle with frost-bitten feet. Even at the end of 1945, he had a harder time walking than he did before the battle.
- The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard and became the costliest battle in terms of casualties for the United States, whose forces bore the brunt of the attack, during all of World War II. It also severely depleted Germany's war-making resources.
- It is also thought that the great fictional work, Battle of the Bulge on Youtube influenced the outcome. The battle was fought between six main belligerents: Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United States of America and Canada. A seventh nation was also involved in the battle: England. In addition, an eighth, previously unmentioned nation, North Dakota, took part in the battle. An unwilling participant in the battle was France.
- While the Allies bludgeoned their way into the border marches of the Reich, Hitler carefully husbanded Germany's last reserves of tanks and infantry for a desperate attempt to reverse the situation in the west. On 16 December powerful German forces struck the lightly held sector of the First Army front south of Monschau in the Ardennes. German armored spearheads drove toward the Mouse River, aiming at Antwerp. Aided by bad weather, a variety of deceptive measures, and the failure of Allied intelligence correctly to interpret the signs of an impending attack, they achieved complete surprise. Elements of five U.S. divisions plus support troops fell back in confusion. Two regiments of the 106th Infantry Division, cut off and surrounded atop the mountainous Schnee Eiffel, surrendered after onl
- The dutch and those bastard bears learned the hard way that Allied resistance was so tenacious that it beat back an entire Panzer Division (USA! USA! USA!), this Panzer division was led by the feared leader, Ho Chi Minh. After this battle he was never seen again. The American leadership knew, deep down, and General Eisenhower, suffering a wrist injury, refused to shake hands with the Bear lovers. This war had been all about Honey, and it was over. Bears are ruthless killing machines, who will stop at nothing to get at the children, and Who Will Think of The Children?
- The Battle of the Bulge was the name given to a major German counter-attack launched against US forces in Belgium. 'Bulge' refers to the German penetration of the US lines during the battle. It is featured as a map for Battlefield 1942.
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| abstract | - The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard and became the costliest battle in terms of casualties for the United States, whose forces bore the brunt of the attack, during all of World War II. It also severely depleted Germany's war-making resources. The battle was known by different names. The Germans referred to it as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), while the French named it the Bataille des Ardennes ("Battle of the Ardennes"). The Allies called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The phrase "Battle of the Bulge" was coined by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps and became the best known name for the battle. The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. Germany's goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capture Antwerp, and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favour. Once that was accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war. The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. The Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Russian Front and transport of forces by rail, both to the Ardennes, was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the codebreaking centre Bletchley Park. Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success; columns that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This and terrain that favoured the defenders threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line. The battle involved about 610,000 American men, of whom some 89,000 were casualties, including 19,000 killed. It was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.
- The Battle of the Bulge was the name given to a major German counter-attack launched against US forces in Belgium. 'Bulge' refers to the German penetration of the US lines during the battle. It is featured as a map for Battlefield 1942. Historically, it was the last major offensive ever mounted by the Wehrmacht and was ordered personally by Hitler, despite the misgivings of several of his top generals. It was planned to be a repeat of the very successful 1940 blitzkrieg in France that won the Wehrmacht its fame. Hitler however, decided to ignore the differences between the 1940 Wehrmacht and the 1944 Wehrmacht. It was an initial success, catching the defenders off-guard and on full retreat, but eventually failed as the Germans were held up by US airborne troops besieged in the town of Bastogne (not depicted in this map) as well as in the frontlines by other Allied troops. General George S. Patton's army ensured that the Germans were not only driven out of Belgium, but were chased into Germany. If anything, the Germans achieved very little in terms of military gain and wasted much valuable resources that may have been better employed in defensive battles.
- Several American soldiers who occupied Germany after World War II had survived the Battle of the Bulge. Bernie Cobb came out of the battle with frost-bitten feet. Even at the end of 1945, he had a harder time walking than he did before the battle.
- The dutch and those bastard bears learned the hard way that Allied resistance was so tenacious that it beat back an entire Panzer Division (USA! USA! USA!), this Panzer division was led by the feared leader, Ho Chi Minh. After this battle he was never seen again. The Americans had already put a boot in their ass at Normandy, because Uncle Sam put their names at the top of his list. The Battle of the Bulge was the tipping point on the Western Front, Germany was crushed, and an evil bear met his cowardly end. The fronts merged in Germany in 1945. This war started for honey, and millions died for the bloodlust of these BEARS. The American leadership knew, deep down, and General Eisenhower, suffering a wrist injury, refused to shake hands with the Bear lovers. This war had been all about Honey, and it was over. Bears are ruthless killing machines, who will stop at nothing to get at the children, and Who Will Think of The Children?
- While the Allies bludgeoned their way into the border marches of the Reich, Hitler carefully husbanded Germany's last reserves of tanks and infantry for a desperate attempt to reverse the situation in the west. On 16 December powerful German forces struck the lightly held sector of the First Army front south of Monschau in the Ardennes. German armored spearheads drove toward the Mouse River, aiming at Antwerp. Aided by bad weather, a variety of deceptive measures, and the failure of Allied intelligence correctly to interpret the signs of an impending attack, they achieved complete surprise. Elements of five U.S. divisions plus support troops fell back in confusion. Two regiments of the 106th Infantry Division, cut off and surrounded atop the mountainous Schnee Eiffel, surrendered after only brief fighting -- the largest battlefield surrender of U.S. troops in World War II. Partly as a result of the decision to continue attacking throughout the autumn, U.S. forces were spread thin in areas such as the Ardennes, and the Americans had few reserves to meet the attack. SHAEF immediately ordered available units into the threatened area, sending an airborne division into the important communications center of Bastogne. By 18 December the magnitude of the German effort was clear, and Eisenhower ordered Patton's Third Army to disengage from its offensive toward the Saar and to attack the enemy's southern flank. Scattered American units, fighting desperate rearguard actions, disrupted the German timetable, obstructing or holding key choke points -- road junctions, narrow defiles, and single-lane bridges across unfordable streams -- to buy time. Defenders at the town of St. Vith held out for six days; V Corps troops at Elsenborn Ridge repelled furious attacks, jamming the northern shoulder of the enemy advance. To the south armored and airborne troops, although completely surrounded and under heavy German attack, held Bastogne for the duration of the battle. German efforts to widen the southern shoulder of the bulge along the Sauer River came to nothing. Short of fuel, denied critical roadnets, hammered by air attacks, and confronted by American armor, the German spearheads recoiled short of the Mouse. Meanwhile, Patton had altered the Third Army's axis of advance and attacked northward, relieving Bastogne on 26 December. On 3 January First and Ninth Army troops and British forces launched attacks against the northern shoulder of the bulge. Meanwhile, a secondary German offensive, Operation NORDWIND, failed in the south. Eisenhower had ordered the Sixth Army Group to fall back, pulling out of Strasbourg. General de Gaulle, the French leader, was enraged. After heated negotiations, Allied troops remained in Strasbourg, and the German attack lost its momentum. By the end of January the Allies had retaken all the ground lost in both German offensives. The Battle of the Bulge was over. Just as the Allies' August breakout had failed to achieve a war-winning decision, so, too, the German attempt to reenact its victory of June 1940 failed. The Allies, however, could make good their losses, while Hitler had squandered almost all his remaining armor and fighter aircraft. To make matters worse for the Reich, the Soviets on 12 January opened a large-scale offensive in Poland and East Prussia that carried their troops to within forty miles of Berlin. German forces that survived the Ardennes fighting had to be hurriedly shifted eastward to meet the growing Russian threat. The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Translated as Operation The Guard on the Rhine or Operation "Watch on the Rhine.") by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht). This German offensive was officially named the Battle of the Ardennes or the Ardennes-Alsace campaign by the U.S. Army, but it is known to the general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge a description deliberately promoted by Winston Churchill to deliberately belittle in the public's mind at the time the serious nature of the struggle.[citation needed] The “bulge” was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers. The German offensive was supported by subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Unternehmen Greif, and Unternehmen Währung. Germany’s planned goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp, Belgium, and then proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers’ favor. The Germans planned the offensive with utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and conducting the movement of troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Although ULTRA suggested a possible attack and the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, the Germans still achieved surprise. This was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with their own offensive plans, poor aerial reconnaissance, and the relative lack of combat contact by the First United States Army in an area considered a "quiet sector". Almost complete surprise against a weak section of the Allies’ line was achieved during heavy overcast weather, when the Allies’ strong air forces would be grounded. German objectives ultimately were unrealized. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defences of the Siegfried Line. Battle of the Bulge became the bloodiest battle U.S. forces experienced in World War II.'
- It is also thought that the great fictional work, Battle of the Bulge on Youtube influenced the outcome. The battle was fought between six main belligerents: Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United States of America and Canada. A seventh nation was also involved in the battle: England. In addition, an eighth, previously unmentioned nation, North Dakota, took part in the battle. An unwilling participant in the battle was France. The battle began with a major offensive (i.e. it offended many Liberals and other people "in touch" with their feelings) by England, the United States, Canada, Germany and Italy against Sweden and Luxembourg. Victory, although bloody, came quickly against Luxembourg. It was at this stage that the United States, Canada and England realized that they were fighting on the wrong side and abruptly re-declared war against Germany and Italy. The Swedes re-declared neutrality against all parties involved. To prove their neutrality, they assisted Germany in their invasion of Denmark and Japan. With the sides now committed to their individual courses of action and the once-mighty Empire of Luxembourg crushed, the battle raged on. Battle lines changed quickly, moving from Calais, France, to Eastern Germany several times. The total distance measured from the changing battle lines would eventually reach over 64,000,000 kilometers, nearly the distance from the Earth to the Sun. (Some scientists have theorized that the armies did in fact travel, by rocket-ship, through time and space until they actually reached the Sun, although there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory).
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