The German Army launched the attack on December 6, 1944 and drove into and Allied lines about 100 miles throughout the next eleven days. A few key U.S. defensive stands held Hitler's armies up and ultimately allowed reinforcements to come. One of these was the battle of St. Vith. There the U.S. Seventh Armored and 106th Infantry divisions fought off the German advance and forced the attacks to take a route around, costing them invaluable time and resources. St. Vith was a major crossroads city leading to Antwerp, Hitler's main objective. Bastogne, another important crossroad would not fall to the German's either. An important supply link for either side, the German's fiercely attacked it and the American's fiercely defended it. Reinforcements from the 101st Airborne Infantry division moved in to help defend the city even as the German army was encircling it. The division was trapped without proper winter clothing, weaponry, or medical supplies and with no way to receive supplies or transport the wounded out (Battle). The German commander of forces in the area demanded surrender of the 101st, to which General Anthony McAuliffe, commander of the 101st gave the one word reply, "Nuts."" The German lieutenant who had given the message asked his escort, Colonel Joseph Harper what exactly "nuts- meant; Harper replied, "It means, go to Hell- (Ambrose2 224-5). The 101st fought off the German siege and were relieved by the 4th Armored division on December 26, although "no member of the 101st has ever agreed that the division needed to be rescued!- (Ambrose1 191). The critical points forced the German advance to slow and thus allowed American and Allied forces to pour into the area.
The second key to the success of Hitler's offensive was accuracy. His troops had to hit the precise areas where the Allies were the weakest in order to inflict maximum damage and move quickest. They also had to be accurate in order to reach the crossroads towns and take them quickly as well as to find the roads large and passable enough for their tanks to pass through (Ambrose2).
The Battle of the Buldge was the last of the German attacks. ... The Battle of the Buldge was the largest land battle of World War 2. More then a million men participated in this battle, 600,000 germans, 500,000 Americans and 55,000 British armies were fighting. ... After fierce battles the German forces were pushed back and gave up all the land they had conquered in the beginning of the battle. ...
