Analysis: The Battle Of The Bulge

The Battle of the Bulge is widely regarded as one of the deadliest battles in our country’s history. Although the battle yielded one of the most storied victories in our military history, it cost us over 75,000 casualties; conversely, the Germans lost an estimated 80,000 to 100,000. The battle was from 16 December 1944 until 16 January 1945, and remains the largest battle ever fought by the United States. The genesis of the battle was Hitler’s attempt to secure a foothold between American and British troops in France through a surprise attack and essentially deny the Allies access to critical port facilities. The German force was currently engaged in a two front war between the allied forces and the Soviet forces to the east. This surprise

Prior to the battle, Hitler ordered Schutzstaffel (SS) commando Otto Skorzney to assemble a group of soldiers to become imposters. At this moment, Skorzney outfitted this small unit of English speaking soldiers with seized American Jeeps as well as uniforms to pose as GI’s to slip behind enemy lines and conduct sabotage operations. These operations consisted of switching road signs and cutting communication wires, causing mass confusion. This would become one of the most famous ruses of World War II. It enabled Hitler’s troops to advance with the express purpose of seizing key crossroads pushing directly through the American front, creating the bulge in the line of troops lending to the battle’s name. Once the allied troops were made aware of the German soldiers’ sabotage operations, they began to set up multiple check points questioning individuals on baseball and American pop culture to confirm their identities. The German attack consisted of five armored divisions along a front of over sixty miles with over 500 medium tanks. Although German forces were able to gain a substantial victory off their initial attack, they did not account for the Allies superior air power. Intense fighting would ensue, specifically focused on towns where several roads converged; these towns were key in

The first use came when the German army launched an attack on the 38th Calvary Squadron near the town of Monschau, Germany. The squadron, under heavy fire, immediately called for artillery support from the 406th at the time the commander of the 406th was Colonel George Axelson. Col. Axelson had just received a new secret artillery fuze, but faced a dilemma because the Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had not authorized the fuze for use yet. Col. Axelson made the decision to fire the fuze due to the severity of the attack. Up until this point, the artillery only had two fuzes in its arsenal, contact and timed; the introduction of the VT time fuze gave American artillery units a significant advantage due to the increased capabilities of an airburst shell. While timed fuzes could be set for an aerial burst, they were highly inaccurate due to the fact the fuzes had to be set by estimating when the round would be over the target location. The development of this technology was years in the making, it was reported that physicists working on this project signed secrecy clauses. Two days after the initial use of the VT fuze, General Eisenhower removed all restrictions on its use of the fuze. The lifting of this restriction came just in time as Colonel Skorzeny was launching an attack on the town of Malmedy; American artillery forces