Battle of the Bulge essays

Battle of the Bulge essays In September of 1944 all signs pointed to a resounding Allied victory and the end of WWII. Everyone believed this was the case except for one man, Adolph Hitler. Refusing to resign Germany to defeat, he began planning a massive counterattack as early as August of 1944. The stalemate along the western front combined with the Allied logistical problems provided him with the preparation time and the precise location to execute this attack, the Ardennes. Hitler had earlier ordered the formation of a new reserve to be used in a November offensive and once the location for the attack was decided a massive buildup of German troops began. Hitler believed the dense forests and bad winter weather, which grounded the Allied air forces, could conceal this buildup. Hitlers master plan was code-named Wacht Am Rhein or Watch on the Rhine and would be useless without the personnel and equipment to execute it. In the fall of 1944 the German army was stretched all over Europe and was showing the strain of 5 years of war. On the western front the Germans were outnumbered 2-1 in troops, 15-1 in aircraft, and 20-1 in tanks causing Hitler to adapt some drastic measures to overcome these odds (Dworschak 3). Some examples of these measures were although the Germans lost almost 27,000 machine guns in September, only 1,500 replacements were sent to the front while 24,000 were set aside for Wacht am Rhein (Dworschak 3). 1,900 mortars were assigned to newly organized units rather than to the front and not one new Tiger or Panther tank went to Russia (Dworschak 5). More than 70 percent of all newly produced tanks and assault guns were sent to the west. Lowering the draft age to 16 and raising it to 60-increased troop size (Dworschak 5). The German rail system used over 2,000 trains, traveling under the cover of darkness, to move 145,000 tons of supplies, 4.6 million gallons of fuel, and 66 divisions to the Ardennes pri...