The Battle of the Bulge started on December 19th 1944. Hitler had convinced himself that British, France and America were weak and attacking them would be good. He ordered a big attack against them. The attack is strictly known as the Ardennes created a bulge in the Allied front line, it has become more commonly know as the Battle of the Bulge.
The Battle of the Bulge happened in Ardennes, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany, and involved Britain, France, and America.
On the morning of December 16, the Germans began their attack in the Ardennes forest. At first, the Germans got
What they expected; very little resistance, and they made a lot of progress in the first three days. The Malmedy Massacre happened during the Battle of the Bulge. This was when 86 America soldiers who were being held prisoner by the Germans were murdered.
Allied General left the Ardennes forest unprotected. They expected a counterattack from they Germans, but the Ardennes forest was the last place they expected one. This was because they thought that it would be very difficult for Germans to get their tanks and artillery through the forest. Germans generals thought that the Germans only chance, was to attack where there would be very little resistance, and cut thought the Allied lines, and very quickly move toward Paris. Hitler was dictator of Germany, so what he wanted, he got.
In December 1944 Adolph Hitler directed on ambitious counteroffensive with the object of regaining control in the west and to get the Allies to settle for a peace agreement. Hitler’s generals were opposed to plant, but the Fuhrer’s will prevailed and the counteroffensive was launched on 16 of December by some 30 Germans divisions against Allied lines in the Ardennes region. Allied defenses there had been thinned to provide troops for the autumn defensive. Hitler’s intention was to drive through Antwerp to cut of and destroy the British 21st Army Groups and the U.S First and Ninth Armies north if the Ardennes, aided by stormy weather which grounded Allied planes and made quickly gains at first, but firm resistance by different units provided time for the U.S First and Ninth Armies to shift against the northern side of the diffusion, for the British to send reserves to secure the line to the Meuse, and for Patton’s Third army to hit the most important from the south. Denied vital roads and weak position by air attack when the weather cleared, the Germans attack result only in a large bulge in the Allied lines which did not even extend to the Meuse River, the Germans first objective. The Americans lost 80,000to 100,000. Germans strength had been haplessly impaired. By the end of January 1945, Americans units had retaken all grounds they had lost, and the defeat of Germans was clearly only a matter of time. In the east the Red Army had opened a winter offensive that was to carry, eventually, to and farther then Berlin.