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Case study on battle of the bulge
Case study on battle of the bulge
Case study on battle of the bulge
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The Battle of the Bulge was one of the most important battles in the European Theater during the Second World War. It was also “The largest and bloodiest battle in American History”(4). The Battle of the Bulge was fought from December 16th 1944 to January 25th 1945 (4). The battle occurred in the Ardennes forest which is located in 4 countries, Luxembourg, Germany, France and Belgium. The Ardennes forest is heavily populated by trees and supposedly incapable of allowing tanks to travel through it. The notable cities in which the Battle of the Bulge was fought are Bastogne and St. Vith (4). The Americans lost over 100,000 troops to casualties making it one of the costliest battles in the European Theater of World War II and in the entire history of the United States Army (2). The Germans lost around 85,000 soldiers to casualties in this engagement in addition to a rather large loss of vehicles and equipment.
The Battle of the Bulge took place as a last ditch desperation attempt by the German Wehrmacht which is the German word for Army. The main intent of the attack was to divide the Allies and dramatically affect their ability to supply themselves (1). The battle began on December 16th, 1944, when the Wehrmacht gathered 200,000 troops and 1,000 tanks in a last-ditch attempt to swing the war in the favor of the Axis. On the first day of the offensive the Germans attacked the Allied front in the region of the Ardennes Forest, a seventy-five mile stretch of very dense forest. Prior to the attack the Ardennes Forest had been a quiet spot on the front where Allied units had been sent for “rest and seasoning”(3).
The German attack began this attack on the Ardennes Forest by parachuting troops behind the American lines with intentio...
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...I without much resistance from the German Army. The German army was reduced to reactionary action after this battle and was unable to go on the offensive for the rest of the Second World War.
The Battle of the Bulge was a very important battle in the European Theater of the Second World War and will always be remembered as the death blow to the German army which made victory in the second World War even more attainable for the Allied armies..
Works Cited
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The prelude to the Battle of the Bulge began on a winter day in mid-December of 1944. Three powerful German divisions, were the last German offensives in the west at that time during World War II. They began after the Normandy invasion in June 1944. Allied had forces swept rapidly through France but became stalled along the German border earlier that year in September. On December 16, 1944 taking advantage of the weather, which kept the Allied aircraft on the ground, the Germans launched a counteroffensive through the semi-mountainous and heavily-forested Ardennes region in Germany, and advanced 31 miles into Belgium and northern Luxembourg near the Meuse River. Their goal was to trap four allied armies, divide the Americans and the British to force negotiated peace along the western front, and retake the vital seaport of Antwerp in Belgium. Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot for a German offensive, American staff commander chose to keep the thin line, so that manpower might concentrate on offensives north and south of the Ardennes known as the "bulge" in the Allied lines. These American lines were thinly held by three divisions in the Allied Army and part of a forth division, while fifth division was making a local attack and the sixth division was in reserve. Division sectors were more than double the width of normal defensive fronts, therefore there were more men scattered along a larger area. The German advance was halted near the Meuse River in late December. Even though the German Offensive achieved total surprise, nowhere did the American troops give ground without a fight. Within three days, the determined American stand and the arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that the ambitious German goal was far beyond reach. In snow and sub-freezing temperatures the Germans fell short of their interim objective- to reach the rambling Meuse River on the edge of the Ardennes. But they managed to avoid being cut off by an Allied Pincer movement.
Important places in Europe included sites such as Stalingrad and Normandy. Stalingrad perhaps was the bloodies battle in all of Europe, also a major turning point for the Allies during World War II. The other gruesome battle took place in Normandy, France. The battle was called D-Day and almost signified the end of German resistance.
Weigley, Russel F. History of the United States Army. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1st Edition, 1984.
In order to receive a victory in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton used Mission Command Analysis in order to understand how he can be successful for this mission. The first thing of understanding t...
superior to the German artillery. The BEF was thirty-five miles long. line in the centre of the bulge while the French Army in the area. commanded by General Ferdinand Foch, manned the flanks to the south of the city of the city. At the outset of the battle, French and Foch both retained the hope of launching an offensive of their own.... ...
Brennan, L. (2011). The battle of arracourt [Television series episode]. In Brennan , L. (Executive Producer), Greatest Tank Battles. Military Channel.
The Battle of Britain as a Turning Point in the Defeat of German in World War Two
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Leahy, Stephen M. "The Historical Battle over Dispatching American Troops." USA Today (Farmingdale). July 1999: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 May. 2014.
...s in 'Y' Service." Letter. 14 Mar. 2004. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. BBC WW2 People's War. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
The Battle: The Story of the Bulge is not a book about how the American’s used sheer numbers and force to overcome the Germans. It is a story of how the GI, who was independent, cocky, and had poor garrison etiquette, overcame the odds and became an unlikely strong adversary thus winning the battle. I can relate to the GI because I find myself at times to be cocky and not always wanting to take orders I don’t agree with. I think this relation helped me to understand some of the emotions the soldiers expressed throughout the
“The Battle of the Somme, July-November 1916, was the largest military encounter in history to date, involving over 1.5 million men”, says Furtado, author for History Today (10). Out of this 1.5 million, around 75 to 83 percent died or were injured by the end of the Battle of the Somme. Furtado later remarks that “...troops from Canada, Newfoundland..., South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India, China, Senegal, North Africa, Madagascar, Somalia, Indochina, and others” were all at the Somme (11). The troops at the battle were diverse. Even though this was an international battle with many different ethnicities, it was not about each individual or county. The Battle of the Somme was between the British and French armies against the German armies. The Battle of the Somme foreshadowed the futility of fighting World War I and concluded with few strategic military achievements, many losses, and an inconclusive victory.
This Battle of the Huertgen Forest is a varied account referencing one of the World War II (WWII) Battles fought in Germany. This battle attests to being one of the bloodiest battles of the war in Germany, a war of attrition. This battle convened from September 1944 – December 1944, culminating in a German counteroffensive that won the final day at Huertgen. Some of the key points brought out in the accounts of this battle were: the number of losses on both the American and German fronts, the terrain needing covered or acquired, key German and American leaders and tactical/strategic advantages, disadvantages.
Lanning, M. L. (2005). The History Place - Top Ten Battles of All Time. Retrieved from http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/topten/
Before the landings were to begin, the coastal German defenses had to be adequately prepped, and softened by a combination of a massive battering by United States ships, and bombing by the United States Air Force. Between the hours of 0300 and 0500 hours on the morning of June 6, over 1,000 aircraft dropped more than 5,000 tons of bombs on the German coastal defenses. As soon as the preliminary bombing was over, the American and British naval guns opened fire on the Normandy coastline (D' Este 112). A British naval officer described the incredible spectacle he witnessed that day: "Never has any coast suffered what a tortured strip of French coast suffered that morning; both the naval and air bombardments were unparalleled. Along the fifty-mile front the land was rocked by successive explosions as the shells of ships' guns tore holes in fortifications and tons of bombs rained on them from the skies. Through billowing smoke and falling debris defenders crouching in this scene of devastations would soon discern faintly hundreds of ships and assault craft ominously closing the shore.