06/22/09

Battle of the Bulge

On December 16^th, 1944, four German armies attacked a US line between Bastogne and Auchen. The four German armies in the battle were 15^th SS, 6^th SS, 5^th & 7^th Panzer divisions attacking the lines of US VIII corps. The four German armies combined had around 200,000 troops that took part in the offensive following the attack. Around a 1000 paratroopers dropped behind the lines to take bridges roads and Allied HQ. Sturmbanntu her Otto Skorzny commanded a group of German soldiers to pursue American soldiers behind American lines. The whole point of this offensive was to capture Antwerp that had been lost some weeks before. The seize of Antwerp would split the allied forces in two, cutting the British off from the rest of the Allies. For the offensive to succeed the Germans would have to rely on capturing oil from supply dumps for the operation to succeed. On 16^th the regiment of the 15^th SS swept the gap of American lines and went and captured Duligen, which contained a large oil dump.  The American portion shot at Honsfeid. This became a massacre to American GI’s thus GI’s thought of revenge. The German’s were stopped on the main road by American artillery. Then the German army maneuvered along the south gap between and the two raid junctions.

In the south Patton took the 4^th armored division to turn 10 degrees and relive Bastogne in 48 hours. During this time Ike released the 82^nd to help blunt the offensive. These would become famous stands.

This who time Germans being protect from air by fog. The Germans made last attempt to capture Bastogne but failed. On 26, Patton armored division broke the siege, meanwhile Montgomery took command of the Northern flank and had 29^th British armored bridge on US right flank next day the US 2^nd armored division same on flank the offensive was halted by this time the German could not go farther because lack of oil. Hitler stopped the offensive and turns it into defensive part of line now. By Feb 7^th the Germans were pushed back to practically the starting point of the offensive. The Germans lost 82,000, American lost 77,000 casualties.

Some names may be missed spelled.