16th December 1944 – Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstadt, the German Army Commander in the west and Field Marshal Walter Model, commander of German Army Group B, launch ‘Wacht am Rhein’ (‘Watch on the Rhine’), an offensive in the Ardennes. Hitler wanted to cross the Meuse in a poorly defended area and recapture the strategic port of Antwerp.
German forces successfully breach the American lines on the first day on a 70 mile front – many wearing captured uniforms, using Allied equipment and speaking English cause confusion and destruction in the Allied defences.
Known in English as ‘The Battle of the Bulge’ the surprise attack was initially aimed between Monschau, a town on the German border east of Liege and south of Aachen, and Trier (historically known as Treves), north-west of Luxembourg.
The 5th and 6th Panzer Armies with 7th Army to the south had advanced in secret on the area between General Hodge’s US 1st Army in the north and General Patton’s US 3rd Army in the south. If they reached Antwerp they would have successfully trapped Montgomery’s 21st Army Group (British and Canadian) as well as the US 1st Army. However, both German commanders believed these goals were unattainable.
Eric Postles remembers the start of the battle: "On 16th December, the Germans opened a big armoured offensive in the American sector of the Ardennes and swept through a raw American Division. It took the route of the 1940 offensive and their propaganda said they would sweep through Belgium to the coast. Rumours spread about parachute troops dropping, troops dressed as nuns and troops in American uniforms. All this created a feeling of panic in the civilian populations..." (Extract from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
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