The Battle of the Bulge :: World War II History

The involution of the BulgeThe purpose of this diction for the class is to gain better knowledge of one of the most tragical and devastating strifes of World warfare II, the Battle of the Bulge. To Better understand The Battle of the Bulge I will explain to you the cause of the battle, location of the battle, when it took place, who was the battle fought between, the number of soldiers involved, and the number of casualties. The prelude to the Battle of the Bulge began on a winter day in mid-December of 1944. Three powerful German divisions, were the die hard German offensives in the west at that time during World War II. They began after the Normandy invasion in June 1944. Allied had forces swept rapidly with France but became stalled along the German border earlier that year in September. On December 16, 1944 taking advantage of the weather, which kept the Allied aircraft on the ground, the Germans launched a counteroffensive through the semi-mountainous and heavily-forested Ardennes region in Germany, and advanced 31 miles into Belgium and Federal Luxembourg near the Meuse River. Their goal was to trap four allied armies, drainage basin the Americans and the British to force negotiated peace along the western front, and retake the vital seaport of Antwerp in Belgium. Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot for a German offensive, American staff commander chose to keep the thin line, so that manpower might concentrate on offensives north and south of the Ardennes know as the bulge in the Allied lines. These American lines were thinly held by cardinal divisions in the Allied Army and part of a frontwards division, while fifth division was making a local fervor and the sixth division was in reserve. Division sectors were more than double the breadth of normal defensive fronts, therefore there were more men staccato along a larger area. The German advance was halted near the Meuse River in late December. Even though the German Offensive ach ieved total surprise, nowhere did the American troops give ground without a fight. Within three days, the determined American stand and the arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that the aspirant German goal was far beyond reach. In snow and sub-freezing temperatures the Germans shake off short of their interim objective- to reach the rambling Meuse River on the edge of the Ardennes. save they managed to avoid being cut off by an Allied nestling movement.