This paper provides an analysis of the Battle of the Bulge, during the Second World War. The battle was a crucial historical moment for the Allied forces which achieved victory over German troops, to end WWII in 1945. The analysis is done through critically defining the battle, and assessing the key actions which went right, wrong, and possible actions that would have created better outcomes.
Defining the Battle
The Battle of the Bulge was the last offensive fight between the Allied forces and the German Nazi troops during the Second World War, beginning December 16, 1944 to January 16, 1945. The United States army was part of the Allied forces, which fought against the German troops at Ardennes in Belgium (Rhoyde & Hughes, 2021). The sole objective of the Allied forces was to push back the German troops for retreat into their country, and weaken their threat against world peace and stability. On the other hand, the German forces purposed to prevent the Allied forces from controlling the Port of Antwerp, hence separating them to make attacking easier, and finally emerge victorious before calling for a peace treaty in the favor of Axis power. The title of the battle was coined by Winston Churchill to describe the wedge by Germans into Allied forces.
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Setting the Stage
The Allied forces initially consisted of Britain, France, and Poland. Britain and France declared war against Germany after they attacked Poland. Initially, Germany had formed alliances with Russia, Japan, and Italy as Axis Powers. After the Poland attack, Germany extended its attacks against Russia, which prompted the move to join Allied powers to fight against Germany. The United States operated under the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which restricted it to non-interference in events happening in Europe. Therefore, regardless of war events among European countries, the United States under Roosevelt stayed away from the conflicts. However, the attack by Japan at the Pearl Harbor led to involvement of the United States in the war. The U.S joined the Allied powers, hence making a formidable force against the Axis Powers.
Size and Composition of Forces
The first movement of the German troops for the counter-offensive plan was in mid-September and mid-December, when forces were moved into the Eifel, which is a heavy forested area opposite the Ardennes. A new Panzer Army, called the Sixth was created, which encompassed hundreds of trainloads of material and army men, and furthermore, organizing thousands of men as substitutes in the newly formed military organizations (Kennedy, 2000). Germany planned its counter-offensive from Ardennes using three armies, that is, the Fifth controlled by General Dietrich and assigned the North, the Sixth under General Manteuffel and assigned the center, and the Seventh Army assigned control of the South under General Bohnenberger. The southern army was created to play a defensive role against the U.S third army, while the fifth and sixth panzer armies were meant to focus on attacking in the west (Rhoyde & Hughes, 2021). On December 16, 1944, the German troops consisting of 240,000 soldiers executed their attack plan. Each of these armies had English-speaking Germans who had no foreign accent and managed to infiltrate the U.S armies to cut communication lines and execute attacks in isolated areas. On the other hand, Americans had approximately 83,000 troops ready for the war.
Weapons and Technology
During the launch of the attack, the German troops had artillery comprising of 700 tanks and approximately 2,000 guns of all types. The German army had an advantage over the Allied forces, more specifically the U.S army in terms of the number of weapons used against the number of soldiers deployed. However, although German troops were stronger in terms of quantity of weapons, the quality of weapons used by the American troops was higher. The German Krummlauf which was a curved piece attached on the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle easily worn out due to the impact registered by the fired bullets (Rhoyde & Hughes, 2021). Additionally, bullets shattered upon firing, which contributed to low efficiency in suppressing the Allied troops. The U.S army had 242 tanks, 182 guns, and more than 394 artillery pieces for the war. The American troops had received proper weapon training, and also most of their weapons were light in terms of weight, which would later prove advantageous for the army to move during the winter of Ardennes.
Logistics and Supplies
The Allied forces depended on cargo shipped across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which were challenged by U-boat raids by the German troops at sea, and submarines by the Japanese army. Logistics and supply problems for the U.S army would get overwhelming during the sea crossings. More than 400,000 tons of daily supplies were brought into the war zone from the ports of Normandy and to the third and first U.S armies using the Red Ball Express (Kennedy, 2000). However, the ferry of supplies from the Normandy ports took over 350 miles to reach the U.S troops, which made them more prone to attacks by the Nazis. Furthermore, the time taken to deliver supplies from Normandy slowed down the Allied offensive (Bidle, 2019). The U.S forces reduced this disadvantage by capturing the port of Antwerp in Belgium, which was near the German counter-offensive build up.
The German forces used road and rail networks to transport supplies from Germany and other outside sources such as Italy and Rumania. The railways accounted for approximately 75% of the traffic, while water and roads accounted for 20% and 3% respectively. German’s supplies from outside sources were mainly oil from the Polesti fields in Rumania, while internally, coal was the most significant resource for fueling transportation of other supplies. The greatest threat to the German logistics was the air attacks by Allied forces which bombed the rail system, especially the Ruhr district which crippled their ability to move material. For instance, in October 1944, over 300,000 rail cars enroute to Ardennes were bombed by the Allied forces.
Command Control and Communications
The German troops used the Enigma for passing communication across the troop lines at Ardennes. The Enigma consisted of encrypted codes, which proved difficult for the Allied forces to decipher (Whitemore, 2012). The Enigma was a major strength for the German forces until the ULTRA cracked it due to weakness in information sharing in codes sent through the Enigma. All messages contained, ‘heil Hitler’, which enabled the forces to crack the patterns in the code.
Terrain
Ardennes was a challenging terrain for both the U.s forces and the German troops. Hitler’s choice of the Ardennes was backed by the ease in mobility for tanks after capturing the bridges in Meuse river , most fundamentally permit the raid of the port of Antwerp. Ardennes terrain challenged road network access due to the hilly nature of the region, winter conditions, dense forests, and many rivers (Kennedy, 2000). Few heavy-duty tanks managed to move in and out of the region. The roads within Ardennes such as Bastogne and St. Vith were narrowly paved and curvy, which added more challenges for mobility of the forces and supplies. Most of these roads got muddy and changed into ruts due to use by heavy vehicles (Hayes & Sugarman, 2006). The rivers within passed through deep valleys, approximately 500 feet below the rim of the ridges, which made it disadvantageous for German troops’ attack and favorable for defense only. On the other hand, the conifer trees made mobility challenging and denied the infantry enough ground to stage war. Lastly, the unpredictable cold weather and snow during winter in the region made it difficult for survival of the troops, which Hitler agreed to use for his ambushes.
Mission and Disposition
Hitler’s plan was to take control of the port of Antwerp through dominating the Ardennes region and the Meuse River. Once the port of Antwerp was seized, Hitler believed that supplies to the Allied forces would be cut, and provide him a four-month advantage to strengthen German troops counter-offensive (Bidle, 2019). Additionally, the offensive plan at the Ardennes region was meant to split the British and American armies during winter, which would weaken them and provide leverage for Germany to negotiate a peace treaty based on their own terms, separately with British and American troops. This strategy would give them an opportunity to focus on the East front against the Soviet troops. On the other hand, the Allied forces planned to withhold their offensive plan, and control the port of Antwerp fully.
Action of the Battle
The launch of the battle was on December 16, 1944. The 240, 000 German troops and 83,000 Allied forces troops marched into the Ardennes region with heavy artillery. The winter fog and snow grounded the Allied forces such that they were unable to move and counter press. The Germans utilized this disadvantage to conduct surprise attack across the front (Hayes & Sugarman, 2006). The efforts made by the forces to move paratroops behind Allied lines to seize the Meuse river bridges were however delayed due to the winter bad weather. The Sixth Panzer Army conducted the heaviest attack against the Allied forces in the North. The army had the shortest routes to the deep offensive objectives of the operation. The Infantry was tasked with opening up the American lines to allow rapid penetration of the German troops. However, the U.S 99 th Infantry put up a heavy resistance, assisted by the 2 nd Infantry division which stayed behind them on a flank as a reserve to create attacks, and the 1 st Infantry which held a defensive position at the Elsenborne Ridge (Kennedy, 2000). The German forces barely got across the first lines due to the string defense by the Allied forces, even though they lost a large amount of manpower.
In the South, the Seventh Panzer Army also faced challenges against the American troops as they tried to establish a defensive shoulder. The German troops relied on infantry in the south, which had inadequate artillery. The American 4 th Infantry and Combat Command A expressed valor and courage during the confrontation, which the German troops had underestimated during their plan of the counter-offensive (Hayes & Sugarman, 2006). Additionally, having more artillery provided the American troops with battle power advantage in shielding their front. The Germans were stopped from the South, which made their bulge susceptible to more attacks against the expectations of Hitler. However, German troops succeeded from the central attacking unit, where the Fifth Panzer led the fight. The rapid attacks by the Infantry led to destruction of the 106 th Infantry Division of the U.S forces (Passmore et al., 2014). Since the weather was unbearable, the attacking fronts were established on the roads, and German troops relied on capturing road junctions first to strengthen their advantage over the Allied forces in terms of defense and counter pressing. However, still the defense put up by the Allied forces delayed the capture of two important roads; the Bastogne and St. Vith. General Bradley’s 12 th Army Group including the Middleton’s VIII Corps coincidental passage at Ardennes provided more backup for the Allied troops to prevent the capture of the two roads by German forces. Furthermore, General Patton and Bradley initiated a plan to capture Bastogne after discussion with Eisenhower (Bidle, 2019). The 4 th Armor, 26 th and 80 th Infantry Divisions were used for this mission. By December 26, the troops had controlled the road. At this point, the Fifth Panzer Army began moving to the Meuse River as they faced more challenges in fuel supplies and ammunition (Hayes & Sugarman, 2006). Further addition of Montgomery’s 15,000 men and 100 tanks, and the SHAEF reserved by Eisenhower to support the attack further weakened the Fifth Panzer. Hitler ordered a fall back of all troops by January 8 after recognition of the failure of his offensive plan. German lost because of attrition.
Analysis of the Action
Hitler’s guidance for the offensive attack created a major weakness for the operation. The entire plan was guided by secrecy at all costs, where only a few individuals were made privy to the plan. Most German troops’ logistics challenges emanated from the secrecy code by Hitler and General Staff. For instance, the first error out of this strategy was the lack of awareness by Field Marshall Rundstedt, the Commander of the OB-West, did not get information about the offensive plan in time (Bidle, 2019). This information got to the commander and other corps and division commanders four days into the operation, hence jeopardizing their calculations of fuel and other supplies requirements. This error would come to haunt the Fifth Panzer Army during their offensive attack at the center of the Ardennes. The army was forced to move west towards Meuse for depletion of ammunition and fuel.
The Allied forces suffered huge losses during the first offensives by the Fifth Panzer Army. This outcome was as a result of the failure of the Allied forces to detect the preparations of the Ardennes offensive plan. The Allied forces focused more on their plans for an offensive attack against the German troops, while ignoring the possibility of facing a surprise attack. Also, the Allied forces assumed that the Ardennes’ terrain would make it difficult for the enemy troops to move and forgetting that Germans had used the region successfully in the early phases of WWII and WWI, which gave them an upper hand in familiarity of the invasion route.
Lessons Learned
Modern war can learn from this battle. Both Germany and the Allied forces assumed many things about each other without proper analysis of the repercussions of the presumptions made. For instance, Germany underestimated the valor of the U.S troops, and their resilience in battle during the rapid offensive in the South. Through this assumption, German deployed Infantry without adequate artillery, which jeopardized the success of the offensive plan. On the other hand, the Allied forces made assumptions about the impossibility of attack by German troops from the Ardennes, and furthermore the intelligence about the offensive plan by Hitler. Therefore, by doing due diligence on every piece of information about a war enemy is crucial for any battler parties in modern war.
Conclusion
The Battle of the Bulge was significant in the history of the WWII since it ended the war after defeat of the German troops. The end of WWII would later bring about world peace and stability, which is currently enjoyed by people around the world. This paper explored the compositions of both parties in the battle, technologies used, logistics, communication, missions, and the action involved at the Ardennes. Within the discussion, the failures and successes of each party was analyzed, and important lessons from the event derived.
References
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Hayes, R. E., & Sugarman, K. (2006). Battle of the Bulge: The Impact of Information Age Command and Control on Conflict . EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH INC VIENNA VA.
Kennedy, J. L. (2000). The failure of German logistics during the Ardennes offensive of 1944 . ARMY COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLL FORT LEAVENWORTH KS.
Passmore, D. G., Harrison, S., & Tunwell, D. C. (2014). Second World War conflict archaeology in the forests of north-west Europe. Antiquity , 88 (342), 1275-1290.
Royde-Smith, J. G. & Hughes, T. A. (2021, March 14). World War II. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II
Whitemore, H. (2012). Breaking the code . Oberon Books.
