During most of the eleven months between D-day and V-E day in Europe, the U S Army was carrying on highly successful offensive operations. As a consequence, the American soldier was buoyed with success, imbued with the idea that his enemy could not strike him a really heavy counterblow, and sustained by the conviction that the war was nearly won. This volume deals with the crucial period of the European campaign conducted in the Belgian Ardennes and Luxembourg, generally known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The Origins
Planning the Counteroffensive
Troops and Terrain
Preparations
The Sixth Panzer Army Attack
The German Northern Shoulder is Jammed
Breakthrough at the Schnee Eifel
The Fifth Panzer Army Attacks the 28th Infantry Division
The Attack by the German Left Wing
The German Southern Shoulder is Jammed
The 1st Ss Panzer Division’s Dash Westward, and Operation Greif
The First Attacks at St. Vith
Viii Corps Attempts to Delay the Enemy
The VII Corps Barrier Lines
The German Salient Expands to the West
One Threat Subsides; Another Emerges
St. Vith is Lost
The VII Corps Moves to Blunt the Salient
The Battle of Bastogne
The XII Corps Attacks the Southern Shoulder
The III Corps’ Counterattack Toward Bastogne
The Battle Before the Meuse
The Battle Between the Salm and the Ourthe
The Third Army Offensive