Prologue
Barry W. Fowle
The invasion of Nazi-held Europe at Normandy in June
1944 started a highly successful Allied offensive against
After the breakout from the beachhead and
the Germans.
the pursuit across northern France sent the foe reeling
back into the Reich, the Allies thought that the enemy was
After
incapable of mounting a heavy counteroffensive.
all, the Germans had suffered heavy losses on both fronts,
and several of their allies had deserted the Axis cause.
In the face of the deteriorating military situation,
Hitler decided on a desperate gamble: a massive coun-
terattack that would send 25 divisions against the western
allies in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg.
(Map 1) He designated the scheme WACHT AM RHEIN or "watch
on the Rhine" to give the impression that it was to defend
the Rhine River.
The plan's real purpose was to surround and destroy
the British and American forces north of the Bastogne-
The drive would cross the Meuse
Brussels-Antwerp line.
River and culminate in the capture of Antwerp, with German
forces moving northwestward along a narrow front on an
axis of advance through Butgenbach, Trois-Ponts, Werbo-
mont, and the Ourthe River, to a Meuse River crossing
north of the Huy-Antwerp line.
On 16 December 1944, the Germans attacked the north-
ern flank of the American line, hitting the 106th Infantry
Division, an inexperienced unit fresh from the United
States that had been on the front line only a week. The
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