Difference between revisions of "Battle of the Bulge"
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This battle was the largest ever fought by the U.S. Army. Nearly 600,000 American Soldiers alone fought in this historical battle. | This battle was the largest ever fought by the U.S. Army. Nearly 600,000 American Soldiers alone fought in this historical battle. | ||
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Revision as of 00:58, December 23, 2006
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 Allied forces by surprise and inflicted heavy causalties. It was bitterly cold.
The German forces snuck 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 101 Airborne Division in southern Belgium, and demanded their surrender. The Americans refused to surrvender
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. American General Patton directed the Third Army to pray, and then he counterattacked.
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.
File:Bulge.jpg
