Just after its seventieth anniversary, the Battle of the Bulge has lost
none of its impact. The largest battle fought by US troops on the
continent of Europe started in a surprise attack on December 16, 1944,
by four German armies, spearheaded by the cream of the German Panzer
forces. Under the cover of bad weather and heavy snow, Hitler's last
roll of the dice was intended to retake Antwerp, split the Allies,
divide their political leadership, and force peace in the West, thus
allowing the German forces to concentrate on defeating the Red Army.
Strategic pipedream or not, the attack was furious and drained the
Eastern Front of reinforcements: 12 armored and 29 infantry divisions,
some 2,000 tanks and assault guns--mainly PzKpfw IVs (800), Panthers
(750) and Tigers (250 including some of the new King Tigers)--
spearheaded the assault, which smashed into the American First and Ninth
Armies.
Near-complete surprise was achieved thanks to a combination of Allied
overconfidence, preoccupation with offensive plans, and poor
reconnaissance. The Germans attacked where least expected--the forested
Ardennes--a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage
of the weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly
superior air forces. The Allied response was magnificent. Initial
reverses brought out the best of Eisenhower's armies, which fought with
determination and grit against the enemy and the elements. The harsh
battles are best summed up by the defense of the northern shoulder
around the Elsenborn Ridge, the battle for St. Vith, and in the south
the siege of Bastogne, where the town's commander, Gen. McAuliffe,
rejected German calls for surrender with the pithy reply: "Nuts."
Within ten days, the German attack had been nullified. Patton, at the
time planning an attack further south, wheeled his Third Army round in a
brilliant maneuver that relieved Bastogne and set up a counterattack
which would drive the Germans back behind the Rhine.
The Ardennes Battlefields includes details of what can be seen on the
ground today--hardware, memorials, museums, and cemeteries--using a
mixture of media to provide an overview of the campaign: maps old and
new highlight what has survived and what hasn't; then and now
photography allows fascinating comparisons with the images taken at the
time; aerial photos give another angle to the story. The fifth book by
Leo Marriott and Simon Forty on the Allied invasion of Europe provides a
different perspective to this crucial battlefield.
