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[[Image:Bulge.jpg|thumb|300=px]]

[[Image:Bulge.jpg|thumb|300=px]]

'''The Battle of the Bulge''' (December 16-26, 1944), also known as the Ardennes Campaign, was the last major German counteroffensive against advancing Allied troops during World War II.  Hitler caught the American forces by surprise and inflicted heavy casualties. It was bitterly cold.

'''The Battle of the Bulge''' (December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945), also known as the Ardennes Campaign, was the last major German offensive of World War II.  Hitler caught American forces by surprise and inflicted heavy casualties.

The German forces advanced through wooded and hilly country in [[Luxembourg]] and [[Belgium]] with the goal of reaching [[Antwerp]].  The Nazis amassed three armies for a massive attack against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest.  The Nazis surrounded the [[101st Airborne Division]] in southern [[Belgium]], and demanded their surrender. The Americans refused to surrender.

The German forces advanced through wooded and hilly country in [[Luxembourg]] and [[Belgium]] with the goal of reaching [[Antwerp]].  They amassed three armies for a massive attack against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest.  The Nazis surrounded the [[101st Airborne Division]] and elements of the 10th Armored Division in and around the vital crossroads town of Bastogne in southern [[Belgium]], and demanded their surrender. The 101st acting commander, BG Anthony McAuliffe, responded with one word: "Nuts."

[[Image:Wwmapbuldge.jpg|right|thumb]]

[[Image:Wwmapbuldge.jpg|right|thumb]]

Allied resistance, including an heroic effort by the [[101st Airborne Division]], slowed the [[German]] forces just enough to prevent the Germans from making to Antwerp. US forces were placed under the command of the British Field Marshal Berrnard Montgomery in an attempt to stabilise the situation. US [[3rd Army]] forces then counterattacked with powerful [[Sherman Tank]]s.

Allied resistance, including the extraordinary effort at Bastogne, slowed the [[German]] forces just enough to prevent the Germans from reaching Antwerp. The 1st and 9th US Armies were temporarily placed under the command of British Field Marshal Berrnard Montgomery in an attempt to stabilize the situation. The tide of battle turned after the US [[3rd Army]] under LTG George S. Patton linked up with the 101st Airborne on Dec. 26, 1944.  By the time Patton's forces linked up with LTG Courtney H. Hodges's US 1st Army on Jan. 16, 1945, the Germans had been beaten back nearly to the point from which they launched their attack four weeks earlier.  

[[Image:BattleBulge.jpg|left|thumb]]

[[Image:BattleBulge.jpg|left|thumb]]

General Eisenhower proclaimed, "By rushing out from his fixed defenses the enemy may give us the chance to turn his great gamble into his worst defeat. So I call upon every man, of all the Allies, to rise now to new heights of courage ... with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory." This battle was the largest ever fought by the U.S. Army. Nearly 600,000 American Soldiers alone fought in this historical battle.

General Eisenhower proclaimed, "By rushing out from his fixed defenses the enemy may give us the chance to turn his great gamble into his worst defeat. So I call upon every man, of all the Allies, to rise now to new heights of courage ... with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory." This battle was the largest ever fought by the U.S. Army. Nearly 600,000 American Soldiers alone fought in this historic battle.

[[Image:st_at_bulge.jpg|right|thumb]]

[[Image:st_at_bulge.jpg|right|thumb]]

[[category:wars]]

[[category:wars]]