BATTLE OF THE BULGE

By the late summer of 1944, the Allied armies had chased retreating German formations across France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland and were poised to strike across the Rhine into Germany itself. The failure of Operation Market Garden was a setback that meant it was unlikely that any further progression into Germany would take place prior to 1945. Their stretched supply lines, broad front, tired troops slowing down and with the winter upon them, allied commanders decided to call a halt to the advance.  Late 1944 became a time to consolidate, strengthen the line, build up supplies and wait for the spring weather to launch their next offensive. So, on a line stretching from the English Channel in the north to Switzerland in the south, the allies dug in and made themselves as comfortable as possible. With a combination of “green” newly activated as well as under strength battle weary troops, General Middleton’s VIII Corps of the 1st Army, held the middle of the line from Belgium down to the French border; covering the Ardennes Region. It was an area known to the troops as the “Ghost Front” because nothing much ever happened.

The Ghost Front

 The German Plan

The Battle

At 0530 on 16th December 1944, all hell broke loose as artillery shells rained down on the American positions. The US defending forces were caught with their pants down. Under cover of thick fog, German troops crossed the line and infiltrated through the US positions, isolating strong points but pushing towards the Our River. In amongst the German troops were English speaking Germans driving jeeps and wearing US uniforms who caused havoc behind the US lines. By 18th December, three German Divisions converged on St-Vith surrounding the 106th Infantry Division‘s 422nd and 423rd Infantry Regiments positions. Following a day of increased artillery pounding and a tightening of the ring around them, at 1600 on 19th December, 7,000 men surrendered to the German force.

In the early hours of 17th December, the 6th Panzer Army broke through the line between the US V Corps and VII Corps, through the Losheim Gap led by elements of the SS 1st Panzer Division, commanded by Colonel Joachim Piper. With 2,200 men and 100 tanks and self-propelled guns, Combat Group Piper had orders to spearhead the main assault to the Meuse River without regard for boundaries, defences or time.

Piper followed his orders to the letter or even beyond and the group were responsible for many of the outrages that took place during the battle. Near the town of Bullange, Belgium, the murdered fifty US prisoners of war and later slaughtered another eighty US POWs at Malmédy. Before the battle was over, Piper’s group killed at least 300 US POWS and over 100 unarmed Belgian citizens.

Private First Class Melvin Biddle

​A Map of Bastogne situation Christmas 1944

 For four days and nights fighting raged in a clockwise rotation around the town’s perimeter.  This, combined with German bombing and the weather, took a heavy toll of the “battered bastards of Bastogne.” Surrounded, low on ammunition and supplies and with no immediate support forthcoming, the days leading up to Christmas 1944 were desperate in Bastogne. However, with a brief window in the dreadful winter weather, on 26th December, a small team of Pathfinders was able to jump into Bastogne and with their equipment set up, was able to guide hundreds of C-47 supply aircraft towards the town.

Pathfinders call in the C-47s

  Reinforced in morale as much as equipment and ammunition, the defending force continued to hold on despite the terrible odds, limited supplies and awful weather. But by 1650 on 26th December 1944, lead elements of General Patton’s Army broke through the outer cordon near Assenois where they ran into the 326th Engineers of the 101stAirborne Division. The siege of Bastogne was over, but not the battle.

  Malmédy massacre

Piper’s group was half way to its objective of the Meuse River when it ran into the US 9th Armoured Division at Stavelot. The US troops stopped the advance dead and then destroyed the bridge, forcing Piper’s group to divert towards the town of Trois Ponts, translated as three bridges, his only option to cross the Salm River. However, Piper was to be thwarted as the 51st Engineers destroyed two bridges while the 291st Engineers destroyed the third. Piper was stopped cold with nowhere to go. By 20th December, the group was out of fuel and surrounded. During the night of 23rdDecember, Piper ordered his men to destroy their equipment, abandon their vehicles and to try and walk back to safety.

  M Panzers advance

The Germans certainly saw the Ardennes offensive as their last throw of the dice and put everything into their Blitzkreig, including the use of paratroopers. During the night of 17th December, 1,200 paratroopers and 300 dummies were landed behind the US lines at Baraque Michel. But in small groups and widely dispersed, they were unable to make a substantial contribution to the offensive.

 By 17th December 1944, the allied intelligence had become more aware of the strength and objectives of the German force. With the pressure mounting, General Eisenhower, at the request of Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges the US 1st Army commander, decided to commit his reserves – the XVIII Airborne Corps. With the absence of Generals Ridgway and Taylor, Lieutenant General James Gavin was the Corps’s most senior officer and that evening, he received notification that the 82nd and 101st Divisions had been alerted to move into action at daylight the following day and head, without delay, towards the town of Bastogne. In addition, a further message was relayed to General Miley in England, to get the 17th Airborne Division to France as quickly as possible.  When satisfied that everything had been put in place, Lt. Gen. Gavin left for Spa, Belgium and a meeting with the US 1st Army commander, General Hodges. On arriving in Spa, Gavin received more information regarding the latest situation and was ordered to attach the 82ndAirborne to V Corps and to bolster the defences in the area of Werbomont, northwest of St-Vith; their mission, to block the advance of the 6th Panzer Army. The 101st Airborne Division was attached to VIII Corps, whose headquarters were in the town of Bastogne and directed there to reinforce the defence of this key location.

The troops in Reims boarded trucks and departed with all haste on their missions. Many men were pull from leave and many others were without the proper equipment or arms, but they were notified that these would be collected at their destination and departed with all speed. So, by 2000 on 18th December, the lead elements of the 82nd had arrived in Werbomont where they trudges through wretched ground conditions and along muddy, snowy roads towards their defensive positions. The 101st arrived at 1145 on 18th December and at daylight the next morning began assuming their defensive positions, not a moment too soon, as the German attacking force was already overrunning some of the outer defensive line. The 501st arrived first and moved into areas around Longvilly and proved to be a stubborn barrier that would allow the necessary time to build Bastogne’s defences. On 19th December, German formations cut the north-south road from Bastogne to Werbomont in the vicinity of Houffalize and surrounded St-Vith. By 20th December, Bastogne was also isolated and encircled, but the lead attacking thrust bypassed these towns and left them for the follow-up troops to capture. So the stage was set for one of the famous battles of WWII.men to destroy their equipment, abandon their vehicles and to try and walk back to safety

1944 BATTLE OF THE BULGE

Meanwhile, in Bastogne by 22 December, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe found himself in command of an odd assortment of troops in the town. As well as his airborne regiments, he controlled the 969th and 755th Field Artillery Battalions, Command B of 10th Armoured Division, Command R of the 9th Armoured Division and the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and together with the airborne troops, all would play a vital part in the defence of the town. With its isolation complete, the continued success of the German attack depended upon the swift capture of the town and the road hubs it controlled, but with typical bravado, the trooper’s view was, “the Germans have surrounded us – the poor bastards.” But McAuliffe had orders, “Hold Bastogne at all costs.” On 22nd December the 26th Volksgrenadier Division and the XLVIII Panzer Corps’ artillery closed in on the town. At 1130 that day, Lieutenant General Hasso von Manteuffel, the commander of the German 5th Panzer Army, sent a Major, a Captain and two corporals with a white flag, to present an ultimatum and discuss surrender terms. This ultimatum was passed to Brig. Gen. McAuliffe who in response replied with the famous “Aw Nuts.”

82nd trooper on the march

In the north, the 82nd held a line from Stoumont-Stavelot-Malmédy and counterattacked towards Trois Ponts, therefore stopping the German advance in the northwest. Lt. Gen. Gavin sent the 504th PIR to seize the high ground northwest of Rahier, the 505th to take the high ground in the vicinity of Basse-Bodeux and the 508th to occupy the high ground near Chevron.

The 325th GIR was held in Werbomont, Barvaux and Manhay, controlling the major road junctions there. Hearing that the SS 1st Panzer Division was pressing from Cheneaux, the 504th was ordered to engage them, to force them back and having done so, to move towards and take the towns of Brume, Rahier and Cheneaux and link up with the 505th near Trois Ponts. After bitter fighting, by 2200 on 20 December, the 504th had advanced to the edge of Cheneaux with the Germans were holding the main part of town, but by next morning, the 504th had captured the town and the all-important bridge across the Amblève River. For its defence of the region, the 504th PIR would receive its second Presidential Unit Citation.

 Along the northern border of the bulge, the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion and the 517th Parachute Combat Team were fighting a bloody battle with the 3rd Armoured Division. On 23rd December, the lead scout of B Company 517thPCT, Private First Class Melvin Biddle, was ordered to lead the battalion into the town of Hotton to root out some Germans holed up there. 400 yards from the town, PFC Biddle was shot at by three snipers and having checked their position, proceeded to kill them one by one. Just a few hundred yards further along, he ran into a machine gun nest and crawling through snow to within range, killed the crew with a single hand grenade. He was then fired upon by a second machine gun and running towards it, singled handed, killed all the five Germans manning it. At dusk the battalion halted and dug in, but PFC Biddle continued to scout through the snow and found a direct route into the town. The next morning the battalion continued its attack and PFC Biddle successfully knocked out another machine gun nest on the road to town. Hotton was finally captured on 24 December and for his actions, PFC Melvin Biddle was awarded the Medal of Honour.

​​The Plan

In September 1944 at his Wolf’s Lair, Adolf Hitler set the scene for one of the biggest land battles of World War II and possibly Germany’s last chance at salvaging total defeat. In conference with his top military advisors, Hitler made them aware of his plan to go on the offensive. He said, “I have mad a momentous decision. I shall go over to the counter-attack, here out of the Ardennes, with the objective – Antwerp. The room thought Hitler mad and was shocked into silence, but as Hitler forced his ideas and objectives upon them, they realised that he was serious about the plan. But could it be implemented, and could it work? Immediately, Hitler ordered General Alfred Jodl to make the necessary plans for the counter-attack, while Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel was given the task of organizing the fuel and ammunition. Hitler also ordered the creation of a new 6th Panzer Army under the command of General Josef “Sepp” Dietrich. Everything was to be done a secretly as possible as surprise was to be the key element to bring initial success.

By 11 October 1944, Jodl submitted his plan to Hitler codenamed Operation Christrose. Three armies, totalling twelve panzer and eighteen infantry divisions would advance, cross the Meuse River within two days and reach Antwerp within a week, but Hitler wanted more.  So, on 21 October, Jodl returned with Operation Wacht Am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine), which Hitler approved. Three armies would drive an armoured wedge between Montgomery’s British forces and Lieutenant General Hodges’ US 1st Army. The 5th Panzer Army would secure the road network hubs at St-Vith and Bastogne, while the 6th Panzer Army would drive for the River Meuse and then Antwerp. The 7th Panzer Army would protect the left flank of the advance and counter any allied support from General Patton in the south. On 22nd October, Hitler informed the representatives of the commanders of Army Group B, who would implement the operation, of Wacht Am Rhein. When these commanders heard, Field Marshall Gert von Rundstedt call it “a stroke of genius” while Field Marshall Walter Model reacted by saying, “this plan dos not have a leg to stand on.” But both were equally required to implement the Operation, which after an initial delay, was set for 16th December 1944. Meanwhile, the Germans continued to secretly build up their forces in the region.  

CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE