the+battle+of+the+bulge+za

The Battle of the Bulge, fought over the winter months of 1944-1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War two. The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies and destroy their ability to supply themselves. The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16th 1944. Hitler had convinced himself that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was not strong enough for a major attack the attack would break up the alliance. Therefore, he ordered a massive attack against what were primarily American forces. Hitler’s plan was to launch a massive attack using three armies on the Allies which would, in his mind, would split the allies front and also take the huge port of Antwerp which was supplying the allied forces. On paper, it was a seemingly absurd plan especially as Germany had been in retreat since D-Day, Germany's military was depleted of supplies and was facing the dedication and must of the Allies. However, Hitler, decreed that the attack should take place. The battle started with a two hour bombardment of the Allies lines that was followed by a huge armoured attack with the majority of the German armoured divisions. (tanks) The Nazi army got off to a great start, However, the success of the Germans lasted just two days. Despite punching a bulge into the Allies front line and taking many American and allied soldiers lives, the Germans could not capitalise on their attack. The Germans had based their attack on a massive armoured onslaught. However, such an attack required fuel to maintain it and the Germans simply did not possess such quantities of fuel. On December 22nd, the weather started to clear, thus allowing the Allies to bring their air power into play and on the following day, the Americans started a counter-attack against the Germans. The Germans had advanced 60 miles in two days and were now stoped, they were in a position of stalemate. The fighting was ferocious. The New Year’s period was a time of particularly intensive fighting as the Germans attempted to start a second front in Holland.