The Siege of Bastogne ranks high on any list of American military triumphs. In late 1944 Nazi Germany was in retreat, pursued from the east by Stalin's Red Army and from the west by a coalition of American, British and minor allies. Out of desperation, Hitler launched what would prove to be the final German offensive of the war, in hope of securing a favorable settlement with the Western Allies before the Russians reached Berlin.
The German name for the operation, Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein, meant "Operation Watch on the Rhine." The Germans decided to attack along a lightly defended area of the Allied line in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. Launched on December 16th, Germans armored columns plunged westwards in hope of recapturing the port city of Antwerp.
The 101st Airborne Division, along with various other units, was stationed in a the small village of Bastogne. One look at the map tells everything one needs to know—all roads led to Bastogne. Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, commanding the 26th Volksgrenadier, 2nd Panzer, and Panzer-Lehr divisions was tasked with capturing the town before pushing onward. The attack caught the Americans off guard and the Germans succeeding in surrounding the village on the 20th.
The Americans held on tenaciously. Finally, on the 22nd the Germans sent forward a flag of truce to offer the Americans and ultimatum. Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, acting officer since Major General Maxwell D. Taylor was at a conference in America, allegedly crumpled the German paper while saying "Ah, nuts!" The offhand remark became the basis for McAuliffe's reply: "To the German Commander, NUTS! The American Commander."
Air-dropped supplies kept the Americans supplied until General George Patton's 3rd Army punched through the line. The 101st was ordered to go on the offensive, pushing the Germans back to their starting point by January 17, 1945. Patton received many of the headlines and much of the glory, but the 101st boys see it differently. They thought they were fine and that Patton was simply a late comer.
Hitler was desperate. The summer of 1944 witnessed the crumbling of German armies on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. With the Western Allies having gained a solid foothold in France, Germany was being squeezed into submission. german resistance began to stiffen during the fall but something had to be done. Hitler stunned his generals with an audacious plan, "Wacht Am Rhein" (Watch on the Rhine), in which Wehrmacht forces would once more assume the offensive.
Though Hitler's thoughts were rarely grounded in reality, he was correct in believing that he would receive better terms from the Western Allies than Stalin—3 1/2 long years of brutal warfare left the Russians only desiring revenge. Hitler's plan called for the massing of what new forces could be scrapped together and focusing an attack against the lightly-defended Ardennes forest in an effort to recapture the Belgian port city of Antwerp. Hitler's prayer was that the Wallies resolve might waver and seek an armistice favorable to Germany, allowing Hitler to focus only on the Russian threat.
The attack was set for mid-December, counting on poor weather that would ground the Wallies superior air support. Launched on December 16th, German forces quickly overran the sparsely-populated American front lines. Problems soon developed. Lacking precious fuel, German plans depended on capturing American fuel dumps. once the alarm was raised, American troops began destroying bridges and setting up roadblocks in which a handful of soldiers held up the German columns on the narrow forest roads. The village of Bastogne proved to be a major stumbling block, with roads extending out like the legs of a spider, Bastogne was a key position. The Germans encircled the city, but never forced the surrender of the defending 101st Airborne Division. Falling behind schedule, lacking fuel, clearing weather allowing Allied air support, and with reinforcements racing to the front, the attack not only failed to reach Antwerp but at its greatest extent still fell short of the Meuse River. The Germans merely created a "bulge" in the Allied lines (see map above).
Though the American forces were under General Omar Bradley, British general Bernard Montgomery was given temporary command of units that had been isolated by the German incursion. General George Patton's Third Army swung up from the south to help relieve the siege of Bastogne and by the end of December German forces were in retreat back towards their starting line. On January 1, 1945 Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to stage a large raid known as "The Great Blow." 800 planes took to the air in the last German air offensive. Despite destroying 200 Allied aircraft, the Germans lost over 300 and the Luftwaffe never flew in significant numbers again. By mid-January the Germans were back at their starting lines but fewer in men and equipment. The end of the Thousand-year Reich was just months away.
An excellent resource on this and other WW2 topics is Famous Men of the Second World War.
Looking for a last-minte Christmas present for a young person in your life? Written by the author of the Battle Maps blog and in the tradition of John Haaren's Famous Men series Alacrity Press is proud to introduce a new entry to biography-driven history, Famous Men of the Second World War. In this book adults, youth and older children can learn about history's most complex event through the eyes of the people who played pivotal roles in the conflict. Oh, just so you know it is relevant, the book contains over a dozen battle maps. Joy!
A support website with a sample chapter and other neat goodies (click on downloads) may be found at www.famousmenww2.com. The book is also available from the Alacrity Press bookstore.
When I was in junior high I purchased my first two wargames on clearance from a Kay-Bee store. One was Struggle of Nations and way over my head (still is...). The other was Air Assault on Crete. I played Crete game several times and enjoyed it immensely.
This map details that fateful battle. Actually, as I learned from playing the game and is illustrated on the map, it was three separate battles. The forces defending the island were a mix of Australians, New Zealanders, British and Greeks. Though superior in number to the Germans, many of the Allied soldiers belonged to support units, not combat.
The German assault was the first battle where the Fallschirmjägers ("hunters from the sky") were used as the primary attack force. Losses were heavy and the Fallschirmjägers were never used in a major role again. However, their display of power so impress the Allies that they stepped up their plans to develop airborne capability.The airborne troops had one mission, capture the three airfields and hold long enough until reinforcements could be flown in. On may 20th, the Germans suffered heavy causalties as they landed. Crete civilians joined in the fight and provided stiff resistance. The battle lasted ten days but finally the Germans prevailed. Over 16,000 of the Commonwealth forces were evacuated to Egypt. The remaining 5,000 defenders at Sphakia surrendered on June 1st. Many took flight to the hills, causing the Germans problems for many months.This map is from of Wikipedia. The is from the caption from the Wikipedia site reads:
In keeping abreast with today's technology, the Department of History is providing these maps on the internet as part of the department's outreach program. The maps were created by the United States Military Academy’s Department of History and are the digital versions from the atlases printed by the United States Defense Printing Agency. We gratefully acknowledge the accomplishments of the department's former cartographer, Mr. Edward J. Krasnoborski, along with the works of our present cartographer, Mr. Frank Martini.
