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Battle of the Bulge World War Two
BATTLE FACTS The coldest, snowiest weather “in memory” in the Ardennes Forest on the German/Belgium border. Over a million men, five hundered thousand Germans, Six hundered thousand Americans (more than fought at Gettysburg) and fifty five thousand British. Three German armies, Ten corps, the equivalent of Twenty Nine divisions. Three American armies, Six corps, the equivalent of Thirty One divisions.The equivalent of Three British divisions as well as contingents of Belgian, Canadian and French troops. One hundred thousand German casualties, killed, wounded or captured. Eighty one thousand American casualties, including Twenty three thousand five hundred and fifty four captured and nineteen thousand killed. One thousand Four Hundred British casualties Two Hundred killed. Eight Hundred tanks lost on each side, One thousand German aircraft. The Malmedy Massacre, where Eight Six American soldiers were murdered, was the worst atrocity committed against American troops during the course of the war in Europe.The division, the 106th Infantry Division, average age of 22 years, suffered Five hundred sixty four killed in action, one thousand two hundred sixty four wounded and seven thousand and one missing in action at the end of the offensive. Most of these casualties occurred within the first three days of battle, when two of the division’s three regiments was forced to surrender
While the Allies bludgeoned their way into the border marches of the Reich, Hitler carefully husbanded Germany's last reserves of tanks and infantry for a desperate attempt to reverse the situation in the west. On 16 December powerful German forces struck the lightly held sector of the First Army front south of Monschau in the Ardennes. German armored spearheads drove toward the Mouse River, aiming at Antwerp. Aided by bad weather, a variety of deceptive measures, and the failure of Allied intelligence correctly to interpret the signs of an impending attack, they achieved complete surprise. Elements of five U.S. divisions plus support troops fell back in confusion. Two regiments of the 106th Infantry Division, cut off and surrounded atop the mountainous Schnee Eiffel, surrendered after only brief fighting -- the largest battlefield surrender of U.S. troops in World War II.
