This article is about the 1944 German offensive in World War II. For other uses, see Battle of the Bulge (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with the 1940 German Army Group A Ardennes offensive in the Battle of France.
"Ardennes Offensive" redirects here. For the video game, see Ardennes Offensive (video game).
Battle of the Bulge
Part of the Western Front of World War II
American soldiers of the 117th Infantry Regiment, Tennessee National Guard, part of the 30th Infantry Division, move past a destroyed American M5A1 "Stuart" tank on their march to recapture the town of St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge, January 1945.
Date
16 December 1944 – 28 January 1945[1] (1 month, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
The Ardennes: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany
Result
Allied victory
Belligerents
United States
United Kingdom
Canada
Germany
Commanders and leaders
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander)
Omar Bradley (12th Army Group)
Bernard Montgomery (21st Army Group)
Courtney Hodges (First Army)
George S. Patton (Third Army)
Lewis H. Brereton (1st Allied Airborne Army)
Adolf Hitler (Führer und Reichskanzler)
Gerd von Rundstedt (OB West)
Walter Model (Army Group B)
Hasso von Manteuffel (5th Panzer Army)
Sepp Dietrich (6th Panzer Army)
Erich Brandenberger (7th Army)
Units involved
12th Army Group:
First Army (under 21st Army Group 20 December – 16 January)
Third Army
21st Army Group
1st Allied Airborne Army
Army Group B:
5th Panzer Army
6th Panzer Army
7th Army
Strength
16 December:[a]
228,741 men
483 tanks
499 tank destroyers and assault guns[b]
1,921 other armored fighting vehicles (AFVs)
971 anti-tank and artillery pieces
6 infantry divisions
2 armored divisions
24 December:
c. 541,000 men
1,616 tanks
1,713 tank destroyers and assault guns
5,352 other AFVs
2,408 anti-tank and artillery pieces
15 infantry divisions
6 armored divisions
1 armored brigade
2 January:
c. 705,000 men
2,409 tanks
1,970 tank destroyers and assault guns
7,769 other AFVs
3,305 anti-tank and artillery pieces
22 infantry divisions
8 armored divisions
2 armored brigades
16 January:
700,520 men
2,428 tanks
1,912 tank destroyers and assault guns
7,079 other AFVs
3,181 anti-tank and artillery pieces
22 infantry divisions
8 armored divisions
2 armored brigades[2]
16 December:
406,342 men
557 tanks
667 tank destroyers and assault guns
1,261 other AFVs
4,224 anti-tank and artillery pieces
13 infantry divisions[c]
7 armored divisions
1 armored brigade[3]
24 December:
c. 449,000 men
423 tanks
608 tank destroyers and assault guns
1,496 other AFVs
4,131 anti-tank and artillery pieces
16 infantry divisions
8 armored divisions
3 armored brigades
2 January:
c. 401,000 men
287 tanks
462 tank destroyers and assault guns
1,090 other AFVs
3,396 anti-tank and artillery pieces
15 infantry divisions
8 armored divisions
3 armored brigades
16 January:
383,016 men
216 tanks
414 tank destroyers and assault guns
907 other AFVs
3,256 anti-tank and artillery pieces
16 infantry divisions
8 armored divisions
2 armored brigades[2]
Casualties and losses
American:
81,000[4] casualties
800 tanks destroyed[5]
c. 1,000 aircraft lost, over 647 in December[6] and 353 during Operation Bodenplatte[7]
British:
1,408[8]–1,462+[9][d]
German:
63,000~[10][11][e] to 75,000+[12] casualties
(U.S. Estimate: 103,900[13][f] casualties)
527–554[14] tanks, tank destroyers and assault guns lost
c. 800 aircraft lost, at least 500 in December and 280 during Operation Bodenplatte[7]
Approximately 3,000 civilians killed.[15]
v
t
e
Battle of the Bulge
Prelude
Vianden
Kesternich
Wahlerscheid
Initial German assault
Losheim Gap
Clervaux
Lanzerath Ridge
Stösser
Greif
Allied defense and counteroffensive
Elsenborn Ridge
St. Vith
Bastogne
Bure
German counterattack
Bodenplatte
Nordwind
Massacres
Malmedy massacre
Chenogne massacre
Background
German forces
Order of battle
v
t
e
Western Front (1944–1945)
Overlord
Chastity
Dragoon
Paris
Siegfried Line campaign
Channel Coast
Dieppe
Le Havre
Dunkirk
Boulogne
Calais
Market Garden
Lorraine
Aachen
Hürtgen Forest
Scheldt
Queen
Bulge
Nordwind
Blackcock
Colmar Pocket
Reichswald
Alps
Invasion of Germany
End of World War II in Europe
v
t
e
Western Front of World War II
Phoney War
River Forth
Saar
The Heligoland Bight
Wikinger
Luxembourg
Schuster Line
The Netherlands
Maastricht
Mill
The Hague
Rotterdam
Zeeland
The Grebbeberg
Afsluitdijk
Rotterdam Blitz
Belgium
Fort Eben-Emael
Hannut
David
Gembloux
La Lys
Ypres–Comines Canal
France
Sedan
Montcornet
Saumur
Arras
Boulogne
Calais
Dunkirk
Dynamo
Abbeville
Lille
Paula
1st Alps
Haddock Force
Britain
Kanalkampf
Adlertag
The Hardest Day
Battle of Britain Day
Sea Lion
1941–1943
Cerberus
Donnerkeil
Baedeker Blitz
Commando Raids
St Nazaire Raid
Dieppe Raid
1944–1945
Baby Blitz
Overlord
Chastity
Dragoon
Siegfried Line
Netherlands
Market Garden
Hürtgen Forest
Aachen
Queen
Scheldt
Bulge
Nordwind
2nd Alps
Colmar Pocket
Atlantic Pockets
Germany
Blackcock
Veritable
Grenade
Blockbuster
Lumberjack
Remagen
Cologne
Gisela
Undertone
Plunder
Varsity
Paderborn
Ruhr
TF Baum
Frankfurt
Würzburg
Kassel
Heilbronn
Nuremberg
Hamburg
Strategic campaigns
The Blitz
Defence of the Reich
Strategic Bombing Campaign
Raids on the Atlantic Wall
Battle of Atlantic
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II which took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945.[16] It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to individually encircle and destroy the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor.
The Germans achieved a total surprise attack on the morning of 16 December 1944, due to a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans elsewhere, and poor aerial reconnaissance due to bad weather. American forces were using this region primarily as a rest area for the U.S. First Army, and the lines were thinly held by fatigued troops and inexperienced replacement units. The Germans also took advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions that grounded the Allies' superior air forces for an extended period. American resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive, around Elsenborn Ridge, and in the south, around Bastogne, blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west which they had counted on for success. This congestion, and terrain that favored the defenders, threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. The farthest west the offensive reached was the village of Foy-Nôtre-Dame, south east of Dinant, being stopped by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division on 24 December 1944.[17] Improved weather conditions from around 24 December permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines. On 26 December the lead element of Patton's U.S. Third Army reached Bastogne from the south, ending the siege. Although the offensive was effectively broken by 27 December, when the trapped units of 2nd Panzer Division made two break-out attempts with only partial success, the battle continued for another month before the front line was effectively restored to its position prior to the attack.
The Germans committed over 410,000 men, just over 1,400 tanks and armored fighting vehicles, 2,600 artillery pieces, and over 1,000 combat aircraft.[18] Between 63,000 and 104,000 of these men were killed, missing, wounded in action, or captured. The battle severely depleted Germany's armored forces, which remained largely unreplaced throughout the remainder of the war. German Luftwaffe personnel, and later also Luftwaffe aircraft (in the concluding stages of the engagement) also sustained heavy losses. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were effectively out of men and equipment, and the survivors retreated to the Siegfried Line.
Allied forces eventually came to more than 700,000 men; from these there were from 77,000 to more than 83,000 casualties, including at least 8,600 killed.[19] The "Bulge" was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II[20][21][22] and the third-deadliest campaign in American history. It was one of the most important battles of the war, as it marked the last major offensive attempted by the Axis powers on the Western front. After this defeat, Nazi forces could only retreat for the remainder of the war.
^Jones 2019, p. 53.
^ abDupuy, Bongard & Anderson 1994, appendices E, F.
^Dupuy, Bongard & Anderson 1994, p. 480.
^MacDonald 1984, p. 618.
^Caddick-Adams, Peter (31 October 2014). Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45. Oxford University Press. p. 649. ISBN 978-0-19-933516-9. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
^ abBoog, Krebs & Vogel 2001, p. 632.
^ abParker 1991, p. 339.
^Ellis & Warhurst 2009, p. 195.
^Dupuy, Bongard & Anderson 1994, p. 470.
^"Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Army/Army Group, 1944". Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
^"Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Army/Army Group, 1945". Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
^"DMSi ACSDB report". apps.dtic.mil/. DEFENSE TECHNICAL INFORMATION CENTER. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
^Pogue 1954, p. 396.
^Bergström 2014, p. 426, including 20 Tiger II tanks, 194 Panther tanks, 158 Panzer IV tanks and 182 assault guns and tank destroyers.
^Schrijvers 2005, p. 339.
^Battle of the Bulge Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
^Axelrod 2007, p. 73; Cole 1964, pp. 565–567; Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge 1995, p. 55.
^Dupuy, Bongard & Anderson 1994, p. 18.
^Cirillo 1995, p. 53; MacDonald 1998, p. 618; Miles 2004.
^McCullough, David (2005). American Experience – The Battle of the Bulge (Videotape).
^Ambrose1997, p. 52.
^Miller 2002, p. 358.
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