Battle of the Bulge (General Military)

The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive in the West and the largest and the most costly battle fought by the US Army in World War II. Fought during the bitter winter of 1944-45, and resulting in over 100,000 German casualties and over 80,000 American casualties, it turned an apparent defeat into what British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called 'an ever-famous American victory'.

Three armies attacked through the Ardennes, the weakest point in the American lines - and almost broke through. At St Vith and Elsenborn Ridge, Hitler, gambling everything in the hope that the residual might of the German army would not only force a breakthrough but would also split the Allied coalition in two, concentrated the bulk of his Panzer forces in the form of the Sixth Panzer Army. When the German advance here failed, Hitler switched the focus of the offensive to General Manteuffel's 5th Panzer Army in the south. Heavily attacked by superior German armor, outnumbered and without air support, the US army was on its own. The green US 106th Division held its own for a time, but then gave way in the biggest US surrender since Kasserine. German Panzers flooded towards the River Meuse. But at Bastogne their way was barred by the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne, the "Screaming Eagles". The ensuing battle of Bastogne would prove to be one of the most decisive battles of the war.

In spite of its ultimate German failure, the Battle of the Bulge would have an important effect on the War and its aftermath: it slowed the Allies down, resulting in more territory being ceded to the Russian sphere of influence at the end of the War.

This book on the decisive campaign of the war in northwest Europe provides a full account of the campaign strategy; the American and German forces and command; their equipment and tanks; and a detailed account of the fighting.