Hitler attempted to redo the successful armored advance through the Ardennes Forest in December, 1944 as he had done so in 1940. The biggest reasons it didn't work were: Winter, poor-quality troops, Allied air superiority, and bad strategy. My question is how could the Bulge have worked and if it did, what effect would it have on the Western Front and outcome of the war?
How could the Bulge have worked?
- Thread starter Yuhi33
- Start date
Well lets define success for the Germans here. What are their objectives? They're already on the most defendable position in the West they can hope for (even if thats not saying much), so they cant try to push the frontline to a more defendable area. The allied supply hubs are too far away to attempt to launch an attack to disrupt their supply situation. And an operation designed to attempted merely to kill/capture a lot of allied troops would require an insane K/D ratio to be counted as a success. There is nothing the Battle of the Bulge could have succeeded in, even if the parameters and plans were greatly changed.
Sure, merely staying on the defensive would mean Germany is eventually killed by inches on the Western Front, but attacking wouldnt gain them much ether.
Sure, merely staying on the defensive would mean Germany is eventually killed by inches on the Western Front, but attacking wouldnt gain them much ether.
As far as I know, the German plan was to take Antwerp and the supplies there , then make a beeline for the channel and cut off a whole lot of Allied troops.
I could be wrong, but I just don't think there were enough Allied supplies to capture to keep the offensive going for too long. That said, I believe with a little luck the Germans could get close to Antwerp. They would never take it since the Allies would pull every available soldier possible to defend their one major supply port that wasn't rubble. They fight in the city and the Germans are in trouble. Like Stalingrad showed, you can't blitz through a city and they would bog down, take far to many casualties, and run out of supplies.
Then they run into MAJOR trouble. Trouble spelled P-a-t-t-o-n. OTL it took him 2-3 weeks(?) to turn and counterattack the German flank and relieve Bastonge. The German objective is Antwerp and no one at this point is going to disobey Hitler, especially if they think they are on the verge of a major victory. The Germans will need everything they can get to take Antwerp and that leaves Patton (or Monty if you're a Brit sine no one can agree that both could do something productive simultaneously) with very little in his way.
The German "bulge" gets cut off and is completely screwed. The western Stalingrad, you could say. So the war ends up ending earlier with Germany loosing a huge number of irreplaceable equipment and men (many of whom are the best Germany had left)
Edit: Or just don't attack, but I assume you meant the best outcome of operation Wacht am dem Rhine, not the best thing the Germans can possibly do at the end of 1944. Besides, by this point the Germans had a propensity for NOT doing the best thing.
I could be wrong, but I just don't think there were enough Allied supplies to capture to keep the offensive going for too long. That said, I believe with a little luck the Germans could get close to Antwerp. They would never take it since the Allies would pull every available soldier possible to defend their one major supply port that wasn't rubble. They fight in the city and the Germans are in trouble. Like Stalingrad showed, you can't blitz through a city and they would bog down, take far to many casualties, and run out of supplies.
Then they run into MAJOR trouble. Trouble spelled P-a-t-t-o-n. OTL it took him 2-3 weeks(?) to turn and counterattack the German flank and relieve Bastonge. The German objective is Antwerp and no one at this point is going to disobey Hitler, especially if they think they are on the verge of a major victory. The Germans will need everything they can get to take Antwerp and that leaves Patton (or Monty if you're a Brit sine no one can agree that both could do something productive simultaneously) with very little in his way.
The German "bulge" gets cut off and is completely screwed. The western Stalingrad, you could say. So the war ends up ending earlier with Germany loosing a huge number of irreplaceable equipment and men (many of whom are the best Germany had left)
Edit: Or just don't attack, but I assume you meant the best outcome of operation Wacht am dem Rhine, not the best thing the Germans can possibly do at the end of 1944. Besides, by this point the Germans had a propensity for NOT doing the best thing.
Yeah, pretty much at this point the best the Germans can hope for is too dig in and make the Allies (both east and west) bleed. The Rhine River will be great for that when it comes too facing the Western Allies, but they don't have any such barriers when it comes to the Soviet Juggernaut waiting for them on the other side...
Oh yeah, i forgot to mention that. Alternative Objective: Decisive Victory that will stall the Western Front a Year.
Errrrm, thats not going to happen.
iddt3
Donor
Redirect all that men, material and fuel eastward, more of germany is taken by the west and less by the sub-human slavs. A great "victory" for aryan arms.
Maybe if they smashed Bastogne with artillery the way they said they were going to, but didn't...
iddt3
Donor
That doesn't really affect the ultimate outcome though, and that artillery has to be diverted from somewhere.
Cook
Banned
The 900 V2 missiles fired at Antwerp not enough for you? More V2s were fired at Antwerp than at London.
The Bulge could have been much worse for Germany. The weather could have cooperated for the Allies from day one, and 3rd Army could have gone for an encirclement instead of simply restoring the pre-offensive lines.
It's interesting that his generals didn't kill him at that point, but I guess most of the ones willing to try had been killed or were about to be. One of Rommel's last comments on Hitler occurred after he heard he was sending forces from the East for one last major battle with the Allies.
"That fool, that insufferable crazy fool."
The Battle of the Bulge was moronic. Germany's best hope for the future was the Western Allies taking as much of central Europe as they could. Instead Hitler takes the view that if Germany doesn't win Getmany deserves to be destroyed.
"That fool, that insufferable crazy fool."
The Battle of the Bulge was moronic. Germany's best hope for the future was the Western Allies taking as much of central Europe as they could. Instead Hitler takes the view that if Germany doesn't win Getmany deserves to be destroyed.
iddt3
Donor
Look, we Americans don't get many big battles, let alone ones that aren't curbstomps. cut us some slack if we make a big deal about it.