It lasted from December 16, 1944, to January 28, 1945. It was the largest battle in World War II to take place on land. It included 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British. There were 81,000 US casualties, 1400 British casualties, and 100,000 German casualties. The Battle was being planned at a point in time when the Red Russian army was closing in on Germany from the East and the US was destroying German cities with bombs. Hitler’s military leaders knew the end was near, but Hitler had one more plan. Hitler wanted to attack the Western front between the Aachan area and the Southern Luxembourg-France boundry.
He chose this location because there was little opposition stationed there. Hitler planned on attacking between November 20 and November 30. He was sure that the Allied forces would not have enough time to react to the attack. The plan depended on the German army speed and accuracy. Since the area was a bunch of woods, that provided the cover for the German army. Hitler was also hoping that the weather would be bad so that American airplanes could not effectively attack. The plan’s code name was Wacht am Rhein, meaning Watch On The Rhine. Hitler used this code name in hopes of fooling the US into thinking that the operation was defensive. Later, Hitler changed the code name to Autumn Mist.
All of the offensive commanders were skeptical about one part of Hitlers plan. Hitler figured that it would be easy to retake Antwerp to their side because Antwerp did not appear to be settled into the Allied side quite yet. The offensive commanders claimed that the German army simply didnt have enough power to do that at the moment. Another plan was submitted to Hitler which recommended simply trying to weaken the Allied forces but Hitler refused to change the plan. The Battle was launched at 5:30 a.m. on December 6, 1944. The Battle went on until January 28. The Battle cost the Germans numerous resources. They had used up most of their air power and men. The Allies had plenty of resources left. Germanys defeat came about a few months later…
