The Ardennes - Hitler's Last Stand

[Webb]

The Battle of the Bulge

In December 1944, in an all-out gamble to compel the Allies to sue for peace, Adolf Hitler ordered the only major German counteroffensive of the war in northwest Europe. Its objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp.

On December 16, three German armies (more than a quarter-million troops) launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west in the poorly roaded, rugged, heavily forested Ardennes. The once-quiet region became bedlam as American units were caught flat-footed and fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and, later, Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division. The inexperienced U.S. 106th Division was nearly annihilated, but even in defeat helped buy time for Brigadier General Bruce C. Clarke's brilliant defense of St.-Vith. As the German armies drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads west of the River Meuse quickly, the line defining the Allied front took on the appearance of a large protrusion or bulge, the name by which the battle would forever be known.

The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest of the battles that U.S. forces experienced in World War II; the 19,000 American dead were unsurpassed by those of any other engagement. British losses totaled 1,400. The German High Command's official figure for the campaign was 84,834 casualties, and other estimates range between 60,000 and 100,000.

[Strategic Retreat]

In December 1944, in an all-out gamble to compel the Allies to sue for peace, Adolf Hitler ordered the only major German counteroffensive of the war in northwest Europe. Its objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp.

I guess I will never understand how the twisted minds of some idiots work.

Try to bully a nation or a coalition of nations that is WAY more powerful, better equipped, with potentially infinite resources and superior number of troops than you, AND KNOWS IT, to beg YOU, who are losing and/or in no way have a snowflake's chance in a Tzar Bomba's blast to win even going all out, to accept peace AT YOUR CONDITIONS with a maneuver that only shows how in a desperate condition you are...

I just don't have the words to describe the depth of such an idiocy, in none of the languages I know.

And the same goes for the Japanese on the other end of the continental mass, of course.

Naturally hindsight is 20/20, as they say, yet that was a failing that was in great fashion, in those years. Still is, in the case of modern military dictatorships.

Need or want to make a hash of everything in a hurry? Give the military free hand and total power and you'll not wait for long.

[wifesaysno]

Do not forget about the airborne component of the Ardennes offense: Operation Bodenplatte

Well technically it was not apart of the Ardennes offense but it had a similar goal and took place at the same time.

[Webb]

Strategic Retreat,

This was idiocy only because it failed.  If it had succeded it would have been seen as another example of Hitler's military "genius".  It didn't have to be a complete success.  It just had to be enough of a success to force the Allies to negotiate a peace settlement.

Hitler didn't care about the odds.  His eastern front was collapsing and his two front war nightmare was reality.  There was no possibility of peace with the Soviets but the Allies might be more reasonable.  Hitler always thought the Allies were more sympathetic to him politically than they were the Soviets.  You can see hints of this in the movie "Patton" as General Patton suggests that the US Army keep heading east after capturing Berlin.

The Allied invasion that started so ferociously had stalled.  The German front shrunk and held natural defenses (rivers and mountains) and the Allies had to control a huge front, so large that their supply train couldn't keep up.

If the Germans could break through the Allied lines and take Antwerp they could disrupt the supply lines further and tell the Allies, "Settle this now or fight for another five years.  We'll give up France and together we can beat the commies."

Of course the West hadn't discovered the death camps yet.

[Strategic Retreat]

[quote]This was idiocy only because it failed.

[Webb]

I didn't oversimplify anything.  The Germans did.

In order for Watch on the Rhine to succeed everything had to work perfectly - bad weather had to keep the Allies out of the air, the Vermacht had to capture intact fuel depots, split the Allied lines and capture Antwerp.  Then they had to hope the Allies would consider a negotiated peace.

These things didn't happen - they only happen in bad movies - and the battle ended up shortening the war and probably increasing the western sphere of influence in post-war Europe.

[Strategic Retreat]

[quote]I didn't oversimplify anything.