The Battle of the Bulge 81 years ago today.

[MrChef]

81 years ago today, December 16, 1944 we take a moment to remember this Offensive and the men who were there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge

A huge Gamble, Overconfidence, Poor weather, Courage and Sacrifice.

Truly the "Greatest Generation".

[PainlessWolf]

MrChef!
Truly Overconfidence on both Sides at the Highest Levels of Command. The Allies were sure that the Wehrmacht was on the ropes as Hitler was equally sure that a Huge Offensive through the Ardennes would reap the same territorial rewards that the earlier one had achieved. Allow the Germans to capture Antwerp and cut off Allied Supplies and give Hitler time to rebuild his Armies by dragging out the War on the Western front so that negotiations to end it could begin with Germany in a more favorable position. A Huge Gamble paid for with more Lives lost and more Destruction. Equal Gallantry and Evil displayed in the churned up Muck and Ice of a European Winter. The Fascists of today should well remember that the World has not forgotten the Consequences of just letting them run amok in realpolitik no matter which flag they do this under.
regards,
Painless

[jarndice]

Nice summary Painless,
I served in that area for a combined total of five years and we never took leave back to the UK in November because flights would be cancelled due to thick fog so the attack was based on sound meteorological intell,
But militarily using all your reserves on such a gamble was lunacy,
Lose the Wacht on Rhein and you lose the war and so it came to pass.
The Eifel/Ardenne area was our last defence line in a USSR assault so we knew it well and the WW2 Dragons teeth were still extant and the local foresters never used chainsaws to manage the trees because many of them were the bearers of WW2 ammunition,
A natural place to defend against ground assault.
We did have the advantage over the allied soldiers of yore with our SS11 armed helicopters.

[michaelwhittmann]

Thank the US Army Engineers for blowing up bridges at Trois Ponts (over the Ambleve or Muese River ?)
Joachim Peiper stated, "The Damn Engineers".

[Stormbringer]

and i believe the allies destroyed some of their own fuel dumps as well to help stop them advancing