Battle Of The Bulge
...which he dubbed the Battle of the Bulge, "undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever famous American Victory". Arguably so, as great a victory as it was for the Americans, it would go on to become an even greater victory for the Allies against Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler.
The summer of 1944 had been a catastrophic one for Hitler and Germany. Loses at Normandy had greatly depleted equipment, manpower, and had lost ground to the invading Allied Forces (Keegan, 440). On September 16, Hitler made a "momentous decision" to make a counteroffensive out of the Ardennes to capture the Belgian city of Antwerp in an attempt to split the British armies in the north of Belgium and Holland, and US Armies in the south (Winton, par 4). Antwerp had been not ready for use by the Allies, but could turn into main port to supply for an offense into Germany (Keegan, 440). His angle was that an offensive to halt the Allied advance was crucial, as the Western Theater would be the deciding factor in the war. This offense would be named Autumn Mist.
The Ardennes had been deemed a secondary front (Keegan, 441) by the Allies, with a grossly unprepared defense of four American divisions who had either been inexperienced or the sufferers of heavy casualties from prior battles. The Allies had not gambled on an attack from Germany, as they had been in the planning of an attack on them. Even before Normandy, they were forewarned about a major counteroffensive by years end in an intercepted radio message from Japanese Ambassador to Germany Baron Hiroshi Oshima, reporting on a conversation he had with Hitler (Johnson, par.1). Supreme Allied Headquarters decided to keep the bulk of their forces in the north and south (Keegan, 441). This mistake would allow Hitler to still achieve his element of surprise.
On December 16,...
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