Beginning of the Battle of the Bulge

16^th 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 5^th and 6^th Panzer Armies with 7^th Army to the south had advanced in secret on the area between General Hodge’s US 1^st Army in the north and General Patton’s US 3^rd Army in the south.  If they reached Antwerp they would have successfully trapped Montgomery’s 21^st Army Group (British and Canadian) as well as the US 1^st Army.  However, both German commanders believed these goals were unattainable.