Both offered stubborn resistance in the face of superior forces and threw the German schedule off by several days. What little intelligence they had led the Allies to believe precisely what the Germans wanted them to believe-–that preparations were being carried out only for defensive, not offensive, operations. … Moreover, the sole corridor that was open (to the southeast) was threatened and it had been sporadically closed as the front shifted, and there was expectation that it would be completely closed sooner than later, given the strong likelihood that the town would soon be surrounded. [citation needed], The Allies' efforts to destroy the French railway system prior to D-Day were successful. Peiper and Knittel both faced the prospect of being cut off. The Ourthe River was passed at Ourtheville on 21 December. Adolf Hitler personally selected for the counter-offensive on the northern shoulder of the western front the best troops available and officers he trusted. Unter dem Decknamen “Wacht am Rhein” entwarf Generaloberst Jodl, Chef der Wehrmachtsführungsstabes und engster militärischer Berater Hitlers, unter größter Geheimhaltung Pläne, in denen etwa 30 Divisionen (davon 12 gepanzerte) für den großen Schlag vorgesehen wurden. [137] Of the German write-offs, 16–20 were Tigers, 191–194 Panthers, 141–158 Panzer IVs, and 179–182 were tank destroyers and assault guns. London: Cassell. These soldiers were to be dressed in American and British uniforms and wear dog tags taken from corpses and prisoners of war. By this time the German Army suffered from an acute manpower shortage, and the force had been reduced to around 30 divisions. On 14 January, Hitler granted Gerd von Rundstedt permission to carry out a fairly drastic retreat in the Ardennes region. Als Angriffstermin vorgesehen war der 27. The Germans could field a total of 55 understrength divisions. Deutsche Infanteriewaffen im 2.Weltkrieg . Die WELT als ePaper: Die vollständige Ausgabe steht Ihnen bereits am Vorabend zur Verfügung – so sind Sie immer hochaktuell informiert. Kampfgruppe Hansen was still struggling against bad road conditions and stiff American resistance on the southern route. Kampfgruppe Peiper, at the head of Sepp Dietrich's Sixth Panzer Army, had been designated to take the Losheim-Losheimergraben road, a key route through the Losheim Gap, but it was closed by two collapsed overpasses that German engineers failed to repair during the first day. Nach dem Zusammenbruch der … 4 maps. They thus developed alternative, less ambitious plans that did not aim to cross the Meuse River (in German and Dutch: Maas); Model's being Unternehmen Herbstnebel (Operation Autumn Mist) and von Rundstedt's Fall Martin ("Plan Martin"). [citation needed], Before the offensive the Allies were virtually blind to German troop movement. Winston Churchill Die höchsten Offiziere in Hitlers Umgebung fügten sich. The leadership composition of the Sixth Panzer Division had a distinctly political nature. The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, was a major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II, and took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. Deutschland: REICH,Karte; Die Wacht am Rhein 1e Weltkrieg. Den Hauptstoß sollte zwei Großverbände führen, die 5. Die Wacht am Rhein ist ein politisches Lied, welches im Deutschen Kaiserreich ab 1871 neben Heil dir im Siegerkranz die Funktion einer inoffiziellen Nationalhymne hatte. [24] With the Allies stalled, German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) Gerd von Rundstedt was able to reorganize the disrupted German armies into a coherent defensive force. [18] Total casualties included at least 9,000 wounded. At Montgomery's orders, St. Vith was evacuated on 21 December; U.S. troops fell back to entrenched positions in the area, presenting an imposing obstacle to a successful German advance. [43], For these reasons Allied High Command considered the Ardennes a quiet sector, relying on assessments from their intelligence services that the Germans were unable to launch any major offensive operations this late in the war. [54] The 6th Panzer Army included the elite of the Waffen-SS, including four Panzer divisions and five infantry divisions in three corps. Model lenkte ein und erklärte sich „voll einverstanden“ mit dem Plan. Wacht am Rhein campaign, December 16-21, 1944. Hinter dem Plan steckte eine Vorstellung, die für Hitler seit der Kriegswende von Stalingrad 1942/43 typisch geworden war: Abwechselnd redete er sich ein, mit einem massiven Sieg entweder gegen die Rote Armee oder gegen den Westen die Koalition seiner Gegner spalten zu können und so den nicht zu gewinnenden Zweifrontenkrieg zu beenden. Montgomery subsequently recognized his error and later wrote: "Not only was it probably a mistake to have held this conference at all in the sensitive state of feeling at the time, but what I said was skilfully distorted by the enemy. Mit einigen Abbildungen Das Inhaltsverzeichnis entnehmen Sie bitte den beiliegenden Abbildungen. [e][f] When they offered their alternative plans, Hitler would not listen. It was led by Oberst Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, considered by Germans to be a hero of the Battle of Crete.[80]. The close terrain of the Ardennes would make rapid movement difficult, though open ground beyond the Meuse offered the prospect of a successful dash to the coast. It came to me as an order complete to the last detail. [24] Over-the-beach supply operations using the Normandy landing areas, and direct landing ships on the beaches, were unable to meet operational needs. While having the effect of keeping the Allied aircraft grounded, the weather also proved troublesome for the Germans because poor road conditions hampered their advance. "[127], Bradley and Patton both threatened to resign unless Montgomery's command was changed. In the bitter, desperate fighting of Operation Nordwind, VI Corps, which had borne the brunt of the fighting, suffered a total of 14,716 casualties. Entscheidend war außerdem das Wetter. [60], Driving to the south-east of Elsenborn, Kampfgruppe Peiper entered Honsfeld, where they encountered one of the 99th Division's rest centers, clogged with confused American troops. Kampfgruppe Sandig, which had been ordered to take Stavelot, launched another attack without success. 5/2/2007 1 of 95 Wacht am Rhein, 2nd Edition Rules and Scenarios Credits Game System and Map Redesign: Joseph Youst Game Graphics: Joseph Youst Original First Edition Design: Joe Balkoski Original First Edition Graphics: Redmond Simonsen According to the U.S. Department of Defense, American forces suffered 89,500 casualties including 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded and 23,000 missing. The Allies called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. [152][153] "Ultra intelligence was plentiful and informative" though "not wholly free from ambiguity", "but it was misread and misused". Die fünf Panzer- und 13 Grenadier-Divisionen verfügten über etwa 600 Kettenfahrzeuge und 1600 Geschütze. German planning for the counteroffensive rested on the premise that a successful strike against thinly manned stretches of the line would halt Allied advances on the entire Western Front. I embarked on these measures: I put British troops under command of the Ninth Army to fight alongside American soldiers, and made that Army take over some of the First Army Front. [160] It sets out the various indications of an impending offensive that were received, then offers conclusions about the wisdom conferred by hindsight; the dangers of becoming wedded to a fixed view of the enemy's likely intentions; over-reliance on "Source" (i.e. Then, we'll really cut 'em off and chew 'em up." Schließlich wurde, nach einem Temperatursturz und heftigen Schneefällen, die mindestens eine Woche andauern sollten, der Angriffstermin auf den 16. [94] On 20 December, Eisenhower removed the First and Ninth U.S. [71], At dawn on 19 December, Peiper surprised the American defenders of Stoumont by sending infantry from the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment in an attack and a company of Fallschirmjäger to infiltrate their lines. Doch Hitler lehnte ab, wie Keitel und der Chef des Wehrmachtsführungsstabes Alfred Jodl. [53][54], The attack on Monschau, Höfen, Krinkelt-Rocherath, and then Elsenborn Ridge was led by the units personally selected by Adolf Hitler. Similar action was taken on the southern flank of the bulge by Bradley, with the Third Army.[117]. Damit wollte er nicht nur den leistungsfähigsten Hafen, über den die Alliierten auf dem Kontinent verfügten, ausschalten, sondern ihnen auch ein „zweites Dünkirchen“ zufügen, die also zur Flucht über das Meer zwingen. The Panzer-Lehr division tried to relieve them, but was only partially successful, as the perimeter held. The estuary of the Schelde river that controlled access to the port had to be cleared of both German troops and naval mines. Knittel joined up with Peiper and reported the Americans had recaptured Stavelot to their east. After a brief visit to Berlin, Hitler traveled on his Führersonderzug ("Special Train of the Führer" (Leader)) to Giessen on 11 December, taking up residence in the Adlerhorst (eyrie) command complex, co-located with OB West's base at Kransberg Castle. THE MASTER STROKE-WACHT AM RHEIN For Germany, December 1944 was a bleak time. After 20 July attempt on Hitler's life, and the close advance of the Red Army which would seize the site on 27 January 1945, Hitler and his staff had been forced to abandon the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, in which they had coordinated much of the fighting on the Eastern Front. Schnellgruppe Knittel was forced to disengage from the heights around Stavelot. The parachute drop was a complete failure. The more than 2,380 counters represent every formation, at company and battalion levels, which fought there, including US, German, British, French, Canadian and Belgian units. Quelle: Hitler rejected this. The stiff American defense prevented the Germans from reaching the vast array of supplies near the Belgian cities of Liège and Spa and the road network west of the Elsenborn Ridge leading to the Meuse River. This destruction hampered the German response to the invasion, but it proved equally hampering to the Allies, as it took time to repair the rail network's tracks and bridges. The offensive was planned by the German forces with utmost secrecy, with minimal radio traffic and movements of troops and equipment under cover of darkness. The song will still be listed as "Die Wacht Am Rhein (Heia Safari Version)" in the music player, but that's not a big problem. The next day GIs who relieved the Rangers reported a considerable movement of German troops inside the Ardennes in the enemy's rear, but that no one in the chain of command connected the dots.[46]. 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, and poor aerial reconnaissance due to bad weather. The 6th Panzer Army was given priority for supply and equipment and was assigned the shortest route to the ultimate objective of the offensive, Antwerp. The men of the Kampfgruppe were forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the 800 remaining troops were able to escape. Having given orders to Dempsey and Crerar, who arrived for a conference at 11 am, I left at noon for the H.Q. The operation was a failure.[93]. In October, the First Canadian Army fought the Battle of the Scheldt, opening the port of Antwerp to shipping. [23], The speed of the Allied advance coupled with an initial lack of deep-water ports presented the Allies with enormous supply problems. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to encircle and destroy four Allied armies and force the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor. It also contained the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill found it necessary in a speech to Parliament to explicitly state that the Battle of the Bulge was purely an American victory. He believed a critical fault line existed between the British and American military commands, and that a heavy blow on the Western Front would shatter this alliance. "Die Wacht am Rhein" (German: [diː ˈvaxt am ˈʁaɪn], The Watch on the Rhine) is a German patriotic anthem. This had the short-term goal of opening the urgently needed port of Antwerp and the long-term goal of capturing the Ruhr area, the biggest industrial area of Germany. At the same time, they felt that maintaining a purely defensive posture (as had been the case since Normandy) would only delay defeat, not avert it. [72], German efforts to reinforce Peiper were unsuccessful. Draufhauen, durchbrechen und dann weitersehen: So knapp lässt sich das Konzept zusammenfassen, aufgrund dessen Adolf Hitler den letzten Großangriff seines Lebens befahl. Im Befehlsdeutsch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht lautete diese Anweisung etwas anders, blieb aber im Kern identisch: „6. [142], Churchill was elated at Stalin's offer of help,[143] thanking Stalin for the thrilling news. Die selbst ernannte Bürgerwehr "Wacht am Rhein" patrouilliert, um die Straßen sicherer zu machen. I should therefore have said nothing." Believing in omens and the successes of his early war campaigns that had been planned at Kransberg, Hitler had chosen the site from which he had overseen the successful 1940 campaign against France and the Low Countries. Recreate the decisive engagement that represented Hitler's last major effort to win the Second World War. Hier sind Videos über den 2.Weltkrieg: Band of Brothers . Major-General Freddie de Guingand, Chief of Staff of Montgomery's 21st Army Group, rose to the occasion, and personally smoothed over the disagreements on 30 December.[115]:489–90. 9 Antworten ... und Nagasaki, Operation Overlord,(Unternehmen Uranus) (Unternehmen Zitadelle), Stalingrad, Ardennenoffensive( Operation Wacht am Rhein), Schlacht um Berlin(Verlauf) ... Das war am 12.April. Eleven black American soldiers were tortured after surrendering and then shot by men of the 1st SS Panzer Division belonging to Schnellgruppe Knittel. While operations continued in the autumn, notably the Lorraine Campaign, the Battle of Aachen and fighting in the Hürtgen Forest, the strategic situation in the west had changed little. On the Eastern Front, the Soviets' Operation Bagration during the summer had destroyed much of Germany's Army Group Center (Heeresgruppe Mitte). They believed he had belittled them—and they were not slow to voice reciprocal scorn and contempt. Even during interrogation, they continued their goal of spreading disinformation; when asked about their mission, some of them claimed they had been told to go to Paris to either kill or capture General Dwight Eisenhower. They were given priority for supply and equipment and assigned the shortest route to the primary objective of the offensive, Antwerp,[28]:1–64 starting from the northernmost point on the intended battlefront, nearest the important road network hub of Monschau.[40]. By December 11-12, 1944, the snow that fell in November had already completely melted. "C" also stresses the role played by poor Allied security: "The Germans have this time prevented us from knowing enough about them; but we have not prevented them knowing far too much about us". In the center, von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army attacked towards Bastogne and St. Vith, both road junctions of great strategic importance. 1. But the VI Corps AAR for January 1945 puts its total losses at 14,716 (773 killed, 4,838 wounded, 3,657 missing, and 5,448 nonbattle casualties); and Albert E. Cowdrey and Graham A. Cosmas, "U.S. infantrymen fire at German troops in the advance to relieve the surrounded paratroopers in Bastogne. Their job was to go behind American lines and change signposts, misdirect traffic, generally cause disruption and seize bridges across the Meuse River. Dann setzte sich die erste Welle in Bewegung, etwa 200.000 Mann. Peiper's forces were already behind his timetable because of the stiff American resistance and because when the Americans fell back, their engineers blew up bridges and emptied fuel dumps. When they reached it at 11:30 on 18 December, retreating U.S. engineers blew it up. SS-Sturmbannführer Knittel crossed the bridge at Stavelot around 19:00 against American forces trying to retake the town. [37], The Wehrmacht's code name for the offensive was Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), after the German patriotic hymn Die Wacht am Rhein, a name that deceptively implied the Germans would be adopting a defensive posture along the Western Front. Speaking subsequently to a British writer while himself a prisoner in Britain, the former German commander of the 5th Panzer Army, Hasso von Manteuffel said of Montgomery's leadership: The operations of the American 1st Army had developed into a series of individual holding actions. For the Americans, out of a peak of 610,000 troops,[18] 89,000[5] became casualties out of which some 19,000 were killed. "Es gab auf Postkarten eine 'Wacht am Donaustrand' von Jacques Burger, eine 'Wacht am Isonzo' von Emil Ekstein (nur durch Titeländerung wurde daraus eine 'Wacht an der Adria') und mindestens fünf verschiedene Gedichte unter dem Titel 'Donauwacht'". [33] Success in the west would give the Germans time to design and produce more advanced weapons (such as jet aircraft, new U-boat designs and super-heavy tanks) and permit the concentration of forces in the east. Although they failed to take the vital bridges over the Meuse, their presence caused confusion out of all proportion to their military activities, and rumors spread quickly. German historian Hermann Jung lists 67,675 casualties from 16 December 1944 to late January 1945 for the three German armies that participated in the offensive. German offensive exhausts their resources on the, troops were fatigued by weeks of continuous combat, supply lines were stretched extremely thin. These predictions were largely dismissed by the U.S. 12th Army Group. [137] The Germans lost an additional 5,000 soft-skinned and armored vehicles. Das Jahr 1933; Das Jahr 1934; Das Jahr 1935; Das Jahr 1936; Das Jahr 1937; Das Jahr 1938; Das Jahr 1939; Das Jahr 1940; Das Jahr 1941; Das Jahr 1942; Das Jahr 1943; Das Jahr 1944; Das Jahr 1945; Personenregister. [131] Some authors have estimated German casualties as high as 125,000. "[99] That reply had to be explained, both to the Germans and to non-American Allies. Um die Offensive selbst zu leiten, begab sich Hitler in das eilig ausgebaute Führerhauptquartier Adlerhorst bei Bad Nauheim. [25] These limitations led to differences between General Eisenhower and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group, over whether Montgomery or Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commanding the U.S. 12th Army Group, in the south would get priority access to supplies. Heavy snowstorms engulfed parts of the Ardennes area. August 1870 erschienen, ist nachgedruckt in Lipperheide und Scherer: Die Wacht am Rhein, 1871, S. 2–4. Calvocoressi, Peter (1980). The Allies at this point thought the information was of no importance. The defenders, led by the 7th Armored Division, included the remaining regiment of the 106th U.S. Infantry Division, with elements of the 9th Armored Division and 28th U.S. Infantry Division. Additional Allied airborne units remained in England. Additionally, their extensive telephone and telegraph network meant that radios were no longer necessary for communications, which lessened the effectiveness of Allied Ultra intercepts. Even Dietrich believed the Ardennes was a poor area for armored warfare and that the inexperienced and badly equipped Volksgrenadier soldiers would clog the roads the tanks needed for their rapid advance. (G40) Allemagne | eBay Nach der Niederlage bei Auste… Planning for the "Watch on the Rhine" offensive emphasized secrecy and the commitment of overwhelming force. At Cheneux, the advance guard was attacked by American fighter-bombers, destroying two tanks and five halftracks, blocking the narrow road. (, Wacht am Rhein was renamed Herbstnebel after the operation was given the go-ahead in early December, although its original name remains much better known (, harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFMitcham2006 (. Finally it was put into battle with a bang ... you thus have the picture of British troops fighting on both sides of the Americans who have suffered a hard blow." [67], By the evening the spearhead had pushed north to engage the U.S. 99th Infantry Division and Kampfgruppe Peiper arrived in front of Stavelot. Up to this point the German losses had been light, notably in armor, with the exception of Peiper's losses. Montgomery, refusing to risk underprepared infantry in a snowstorm for a strategically unimportant area, did not launch the attack until 3 January, by which time substantial numbers of German troops had already managed to fall back successfully, but at the cost of losing most of their heavy equipment. British XXX Corps was significantly reinforced for this effort. Der Führer hat uns an besonders wichtiger Stelle eingesetzt. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region in Belgium and Luxembourg towards the end of the war in Europe. Description. 25f., die briefliche Fassung, bereits mit Refrain und Titel Die Wacht am Rhein, auf S. … He entrusted them with carrying out his decisive counterattack. Zum Andenken an die Einigung Deutschlands 1870/71. On 24 December, German forces made their furthest penetration west. [34], Hitler's plan called for a Blitzkrieg attack through the weakly defended Ardennes, mirroring the successful German offensive there during the Battle of France in 1940—aimed at splitting the armies along the U.S.—British lines and capturing Antwerp. [157] Lucas and Calvocoressi added that "it would be interesting to know how much reconnaissance was flown over the Eiffel sector on the U.S. First Army Front". The Allies relied too much on Ultra, not human reconnaissance. 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. Thus McAuliffe wrote on the paper, which was typed up and delivered to the Germans, the line he made famous and a morale booster to his troops: "NUTS! The battle has also featured on television; it was the subject of the, The battle has also been featured in music, most notably "Screaming Eagles" by, This page was last edited on 27 March 2021, at 10:46. In loyalty to their commander, 150 men from von der Heydte's own unit, the 6th Parachute Regiment, went against orders and joined him. This, and terrain that favored the defenders, threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Houffalize and the Bastogne front would be abandoned. This view was opposed by the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, as well as Field Marshal Montgomery, who promoted a rapid advance on a narrow front, with the other allied armies in reserve. Knittel pressed forward towards La Gleize, and shortly afterward the Americans recaptured Stavelot. Headquarters now freed up the 9th Panzer Division for Fifth Panzer Army, which was deployed at Marche. By October it was decided that Otto Skorzeny, the German SS-commando who had rescued the former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was to lead a task force of English-speaking German soldiers in "Operation Greif". A team of volunteer surgeons flew in by military glider and began operating in a tool room.[100]. Von Rundstedt set up his operational headquarters near Limburg, close enough for the generals and Panzer Corps commanders who were to lead the attack to visit Adlerhorst on 11 December, traveling there in an SS-operated bus convoy. [88] By late Christmas Eve the advance in this sector was stopped, as Allied forces threatened the narrow corridor held by the 2nd Panzer Division. Hargimont was captured the same day, but Marche-en-Famenne was strongly defended by the American 84th Division. Erst mit der im März 1854 von Carl Wilhelm komponierten Vertonung und prominenten Aufführung bei der Silberhochzeit des späteren Kaisers Wilhelm I. gewann es an Popularität, die sich 1870/71 noch steigerte. [4] These were reinforced a couple of weeks later, bringing the offensive's total strength to around 450,000 troops, and 1,500 tanks and assault guns. [87], For Operation Greif ("Griffin"), Otto Skorzeny successfully infiltrated a small part of his battalion of English-speaking Germans disguised in American uniforms behind the Allied lines. After the war ended, this assessment was generally viewed as unrealistic, given Allied air superiority throughout Europe and their ability to continually disrupt German offensive operations. As a result, the start of the offensive was delayed from 27 November to 16 December. [140] On 12 January, the Soviets began the massive Vistula–Oder Offensive, originally planned for 20 January. [162] The citation covered troops in the Ardennes sector where the main battle took place, as well as units further south in the Alsace sector, including those in the northern Alsace who filled in the vacuum created by the U.S. Third Army racing north, engaged in the concurrent Operation Nordwind diversion in central and southern Alsace launched to weaken Allied response in the Ardennes, and provided reinforcements to units fighting in the Ardennes. One officer, Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard, noted that McAuliffe's initial reply would be "tough to beat." In the center, on Christmas Eve, the 2nd Armored Division attempted to attack and cut off the spearheads of the 2nd Panzer Division at the Meuse, while the units from the 4th Cavalry Group kept the 9th Panzer Division at Marche busy. Two major special operations were planned for the offensive. As the Ardennes crisis developed, the U.S. First Army (Hodges) and U.S. Ninth Army (Simpson) on the northern shoulder of the German penetration lost communications with adjacent armies, as well as with Bradley's headquarters in Luxembourg City to the south of the "bulge". In the context of Patton's and Montgomery's well-known antipathy, Montgomery's failure to mention the contribution of any American general besides Eisenhower was seen as insulting. Das vielleicht bekannteste Bild eines deutschen Soldaten entstand wahrscheinlich am 18. [147], The Germans officially referred to the offensive as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), while the Allies designated it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. As a result, parts of the 2nd Panzer Division were cut off. Von der Heydte was given only eight days to prepare prior to the assault. [95], By 21 December the Germans had surrounded Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division, the all African American 969th Artillery Battalion, and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. Chronologie. „Nach einer entscheidenden Niederlage der Verbündeten wäre das Reich dann in der Lage“, fasst der Militärhistoriker Detlef Vogel im Standardwerk „Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg“ zusammen, „der erwarteten sowjetischen Winteroffensive zu begegnen.“. It was Germany’s attempt to seize the port of Antwerp in order to severely disrupt Allied supplies and cause a political rift between United States and British leadership. Indeed, General Bradley and his American commanders were already starting their counterattack by the time Montgomery was given command of 1st and 9th U.S. [132], German armored losses to all causes were between 527 and 554, with 324 tanks being lost in combat. German personnel and, later, Luftwaffe aircraft (in the concluding stages of the engagement) also sustained heavy losses. Following this, 60 grenadiers advanced forward but were stopped by concentrated American defensive fire. [114]:224 Dietrich's decision unknowingly played into American hands, as Robertson had already decided to abandon the villages. Der Plan war die ureigenste Idee des „Führers“. Model told him it was necessary to make the attempt: "It must be done because this offensive is the last chance to conclude the war favorably. ". On 26 December the lead element of Patton's U.S. Third Army reached Bastogne from the south, ending the siege. The Seventh Army, under General Erich Brandenberger, was assigned to the southernmost sector, near the Luxembourgish city of Echternach, with the task of protecting the flank. [150], At Bletchley Park, F. L. Lucas and Peter Calvocoressi of Hut 3 were tasked by General Nye (as part of the enquiry set up by the Chiefs of Staff) with writing a report on the lessons to be learned from the handling of pre-battle Ultra. After the breakout from Normandy at the end of July 1944 and the Allied landings in southern France on 15 August 1944, the Allies advanced towards Germany more quickly than anticipated. In the south, Brandenberger's Seventh Army pushed towards Luxembourg in its efforts to secure the flank from Allied attacks. At 16:50 on 26 December, the lead element, Company D, 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th Armored Division, reached Bastogne, ending the siege.