50 Fun Facts About Battle of the Bulge

What was the German codename for the Ardennes offensive?

'Watch on the Rhine' was chosen to suggest a defensive posture; Herbstnebel was Model's less ambitious alternative plan.

On what date did the German assault begin?

A 90-minute barrage from 1,600 guns opened it at 05:30 across an 80-mile front.

Which Belgian port was the ultimate objective of the offensive?

Hitler wanted to deny the Allies its use and trap four Allied armies without supplies.

Which US formation was using the Ardennes mainly as a rest area when the Germans struck?

The line was held by fatigued troops and green replacements like the 99th and 106th Divisions.

What was the farthest west the German offensive reached?

The US 2nd Armored Division stopped it there, south-east of Dinant, on 24 December.

Whose Third Army reached Bastogne from the south on 26 December, ending the siege?

Company D, 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th Armored Division was the lead element, arriving at 16:50.

Roughly how many men did the Germans commit to the offensive?

They also sent just over 1,400 tanks and armoured vehicles, 2,600 guns and 1,000 aircraft; 63,000–104,000 became casualties.

At least how many Allied soldiers were killed in the battle?

Total Allied casualties ran from 77,000 to more than 83,000; it was America's largest and bloodiest battle of the war.

The only deep-water port the Allies had captured by autumn 1944, wrecked by the Germans, was which?

Antwerp was taken intact in September but not operational until 28 November once the Scheldt was cleared.

What was the nickname of the Allied trucking system that supplied the front line?

It burned five times as much fuel to get supplies to the front near the Belgian border.

On what date did Hitler first outline his Ardennes counter-offensive to his generals?

The plan called for reaching the Meuse by day three and Antwerp by day four.

Which field marshal commanded German Army Group B, the force tasked with the attack?

He and von Rundstedt proposed a joint 'small solution' that stopped short of the Meuse; Hitler refused to listen.

Who coined the phrase 'Battle of the Bulge'?

It described how the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps.

Which SS commander led the 6th Panzer Army, given the lead role and the shortest route?

It contained the Leibstandarte and Hitlerjugend divisions and had priority for supply and equipment.

The Fifth Panzer Army in the middle sector was assigned to capture which city?

In practice his army drove on the road junctions of Bastogne and St. Vith.

By which day of the offensive was the Meuse, the halfway mark, supposed to be reached?

The staff estimated they had fuel for only a third to a half of the way to Antwerp in heavy combat.

German units assembling for the attack were issued what instead of wood for cooking fires?

It cut smoke and reduced the chance of Allied observers spotting the build-up.

Warned by SHAEF's intelligence chief of a possible attack, what was Omar Bradley's reply?

Brigadier General Kenneth Strong and Colonel Oscar Koch had both correctly predicted the blow.

Which SS commando, famous for rescuing Mussolini, led English-speaking Germans in US uniforms?

Operation Greif aimed to change signposts, misdirect traffic and seize Meuse bridges.

What was the codename of the night paratroop drop led by Colonel von der Heydte?

He gave it under a 10% chance of success; Model told him it must be tried as 'the last chance to conclude the war favorably'.

From which command complex near Giessen did Hitler direct the offensive?

He had overseen the 1940 campaign against France from the same site and believed in its omens.

How many artillery pieces fired the opening 90-minute barrage on 16 December?

It fell across a 130-kilometre front on troops facing the 6th Panzer Army.

A V-2 that destroyed the Cine Rex cinema ten hours into the assault killed how many people?

It was the highest death toll from a single rocket attack during the war.

Which position's defence by the 2nd and 99th Divisions is called the decisive part of the battle?

It forced the German spearhead onto worse routes further south and slowed the whole advance.

Kampfgruppe Peiper's Tiger II heavy tanks burned about how much fuel per mile?

The Germans had fuel for perhaps 90 to 100 miles, nowhere near enough to reach Antwerp.

How many men were in the 99th Division platoon that held up 500 German paratroopers at Lanzerath?

With four forward air controllers they held until about 16:00, inflicting 92 casualties.

At least how many American POWs were murdered by SS troops at the Baugnez crossroads on 17 December?

The killings became known as the Malmedy massacre; Peiper and Dietrich were tried for it after the war.

The Wereth 11, tortured and shot by SS men on 17 December, were what kind of troops?

The perpetrators, from Schnellgruppe Knittel of the 1st SS Panzer Division, were never punished.

Peiper seized a US fuel depot in Büllingen holding roughly how much gasoline?

It was a major prize, but retreating Americans elsewhere blew bridges and emptied dumps ahead of him.

Peiper's advance from the Eifel to Stavelot took 36 hours; how long had the same move taken in 1940?

Stiff resistance and blown bridges kept him behind his timetable throughout.

Of Kampfgruppe Peiper's 4,800 men, about how many escaped on foot from La Gleize on 23 December?

They abandoned their vehicles and heavy equipment after no relief force could reach them.

Which vital road junction, defended by the 7th Armored Division, was evacuated on 21 December?

Generals Hasbrouck and Jones slowed the Germans there considerably; the Americans retook it on 23 January.

How many hard-topped roads met at Bastogne, making it so valuable?

The town had previously housed the VIII Corps headquarters.

Which division formed the core of Bastogne's defence?

The all-African American 969th Artillery Battalion and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division fought alongside it.

What one-word reply did Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe send to the German surrender demand?

Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard thought his first reaction would be 'tough to beat', so it went out typed.

Which German general requested Bastogne's surrender?

His XLVII Panzer Corps lacked the troops to attack the whole perimeter at once.

By 22 December, artillery inside Bastogne was rationed to how many rounds per gun per day?

The weather cleared the next day and supplies were dropped on four of the following five days.

Where did senior Allied commanders meet on 19 December to plan their response?

Eisenhower told them the situation was 'one of opportunity for us and not of disaster'.

Patton astonished the 19 December meeting by promising to attack with two divisions within how long?

He had already ordered his staff to prepare the plans before he left.

On 20 December the US First and Ninth Armies were temporarily placed under which commander?

They had lost communications with Bradley's HQ in Luxembourg City; First Army reverted on 17 January.

Which British formation was sent to hold the Meuse bridges at Dinant, Givet and Namur?

Its 29th Armoured Brigade had to take back the tanks it had just handed in for re-equipping.

Captured Skorzeny commandos spread the rumour that their mission was to kill or capture whom?

Security was so tightened that the Supreme Commander was confined to his headquarters.

Skorzeny was tried by a US tribunal in 1947 at which proceedings, and acquitted?

Most of his men had worn German uniforms under their American ones; those caught were shot as spies.

On 1 January 1945 the Luftwaffe attacked Allied airfields in the Low Countries in which operation?

It destroyed or damaged some 465 Allied aircraft but cost 277 German planes, many to friendly flak.

Operation Nordwind, launched the same day in Alsace, struck which US force?

Weakened by sending troops north to the Ardennes, it fell back to the Moder River on 21 January.

Patton's troops and the northern US army linked up on 16 January 1945 by capturing which town?

Montgomery had delayed his attack from the north until 3 January rather than risk infantry in a snowstorm.

Who told the House of Commons the Bulge was 'undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war'?

He predicted it would be 'regarded as an ever-famous American victory'.

Near which village did US 11th Armored troops execute about sixty German POWs on New Year's Day 1945?

It followed news of the Malmedy massacre; the village lies 8 km from Bastogne.

Which general's force of four infantry divisions guarded the southern flank near Echternach?

Its four infantry divisions made little progress; only the 5th Parachute Division pushed 19 km.

On 24 December, which German commander urged a halt and withdrawal to the Westwall?

Hitler rejected the advice; he only agreed to pull back from the tip of the salient on 7/8 January.