CMH Publication 7-8
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF MILITARY HISTORY
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
WASHINGTON, D.C., 2000
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 65-60001
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402
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Washington and Lee University
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Industrial College of the Armed Forces
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Swarthmore College
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U.S. Continental Army Command
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University of Oregon
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U.S. Army War College
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Duke University
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U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
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United States Military Academy
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| Chief Historian | Stetson Conn |
| Chief, Histories Division | Col. Albert W. Jones |
| Chief, Editorial and Graphics Division | Col. Walter B. McKenzie |
| Editor-in-Chief | Joseph R. Friedman |
| Foreword | vii | ||
| Preface | ix | ||
| Chapter | Page | ||
| I. | THE ORIGINS | 1 | |
| Hitler's Perspective, September 1944 | 3 | ||
| How the Plan Was Born | 9 | ||
| II. | PLANNING THE COUNTEROFFENSIVE | 19 | |
| Details of the Plan | 19 | ||
| The Big Solution | 27 | ||
| A Double Envelopment? | 29 | ||
| III. | TROOPS AND TERRAIN | 33 | |
| The Order of Battle | 33 | ||
| The Allies Return to the Attack | 36 | ||
| The Terrain | 39 | ||
| IV. | PREPARATIONS | 48 | |
| Deception and Camouflage | 48 | ||
| The Western Front in Early December | 51 | ||
| The Intelligence Failure | 56 | ||
| The German Concentration | 63 | ||
| V. | THE SIXTH PANZER ARMY ATTACK | 75 | |
| The 99th Division Sector | 77 | ||
| The Initial Attack, 16 December | 80 | ||
| The First Attacks in the Monschau-Höfen Sector Are Repulsed, 16 December | 86 | ||
| The German Effort Continues, 17-18 December | 90 | ||
| Losheimergraben is Lost | 92 | ||
| The German Attack Toward Rocherath and Krinkelt, 16-17 December | 95 | ||
| The 395th Infantry Conforms to the Withdrawal | 101 | ||
| The 2d Division Gives Up the Wahlerscheid Attack | 103 | ||
| The 394th Infantry Abandons the Mürringen Position | 105 | ||
| VI. | THE GERMAN NORTHERN SHOULDER IS JAMMED | 107 | |
| The 2d Division Withdraws | 107 | ||
| The 1st Infantry Division Sends Reinforcements to Butgenbach | 112 | ||
| The Defense of the Twin Villages, 18 December | 113 | ||
| The Last Attack at Höfen Fails, 18 December | 119 | ||
| The 2d Division Withdraws to the Elsenborn Line, 19 December | 120 | ||
| The Enemy Tries the Western Flank, 19-23 December | 128 | ||
| VII. | BREAKTHROUGH AT THE SCHNEE EIFEL | 136 | |
| Introductory Note | 136 | ||
| Dispositions of the 106th Infantry Division | 137 | ||
| Enemy Preparations for Another Cannae | 142 | ||
| The Attack in the Losheim Gap | 145 | ||
| The Attack Hits the 106th Division | 151 | ||
| The 424th Infantry and CCB, 9th Armored | 158 | ||
| Cannae in the Schnee Eifel | 161 | ||
| The Question of Air Resupply | 171 | ||
| VIII. | THE FIFTH PANZER ARMY ATTACKS THE 28TH INFANTRY DIVISION | 173 | |
| The 110th Infantry Sector, 16-18 December | 176 | ||
| The 112th Infantry Sector, 16-20 December | 193 | ||
| The Fall of Wiltz | 205 | ||
| IX. | THE ATTACK BY THE GERMAN LEFT WING: 16-20 DECEMBER | 212 | |
| The 109th Infantry Defense on the Sauer and Our Rivers, 16-20 December | 214 | ||
| Elements of the 9th Armored Division Battle at the Sauer, 16-20 December | 227 | ||
| X. | THE GERMAN SOUTHERN SHOULDER IS JAMMED | 238 | |
| The German Thrust Begins | 240 | ||
| Southern Flank--A Summing Up | 258 | ||
| XI. | THE 1ST SS PANZER DIVISION'S DASH WESTWARD, AND OPERATION GREIF | 259 | |
| Kampfgruppe Peiper on the Move | 260 | ||
| Operation Greif | 269 | ||
| XII. | THE FIRST ATTACKS AT ST. VITH | 272 | |
| The 7th Armored Division Move to St. Vith | 273 | ||
| The Enemy Strikes at the St. Vith Perimeter | 280 | ||
| XIII. | VIII CORPS ATTEMPTS TO DELAY THE ENEMY | 294 | |
| CCR, 9th Armored Division, and the Road to Bastogne | 294 | ||
| The Advance of the XLVII Panzer Corps | 298 | ||
| Team Cherry on the Longvilly Road | 300 | ||
| The 101st Airborne Division Moves Into Bastogne | 305 | ||
| XIV. | THE VIII CORPS BARRIER LINES | 310 | |
| Middleton's First Moves | 311 | ||
| The Gap North of Bastogne | 316 | ||
| Defense Southwest of Bastogne | 322 | ||
| Renewed Drive Around Bastogne | 323 | ||
| XV. | THE GERMAN SALIENT EXPANDS TO THE WEST | 330 | |
| The 30th Division Meets Peiper | 334 | ||
| The West Flank of the XVIII Airborne Corps, 20 December | 352 | ||
| Action in Front of the XVIII Airborne Corps Right Wing, 20 December | 354 | ||
| The Net Closes on Peiper | 359 | ||
| XVI. | ONE THREAT SUBSIDES; ANOTHER EMERGES | 368 | |
| The Attempt To Relieve Peiper's Kampfgruppe | 368 | ||
| The 3d Armored Division is Checked, 21-23 December | 377 | ||
| The Fight at the Baraque de Fraiture Crossroads, 23 December | 388 | ||
| XVII. | ST. VITH IS LOST | 393 | |
| The Defenders of St. Vith Pass to the XVIII Airborne Corps | 393 | ||
| The Enemy Closes on the St. Vith Salient | 401 | ||
| The Final Withdrawal From the St. Vith Sector | 407 | ||
| XVIII. | THE VII CORPS MOVES TO BLUNT THE SALIENT | 423 | |
| Division of the Battlefield | 423 | ||
| The VII Corps Assembles | 427 | ||
| German Armor Advances on the VII Corps | 435 | ||
| The Main Battle is Joined, 24 and 25 December | 438 | ||
| XIX. | THE BATTLE OF BASTOGNE | 445 | |
| The Initial Deployment East of Bastogne | 445 | ||
| Bastogne is Encircled | 459 | ||
| The Enemy Begins a Concentric Attack | 464 | ||
| The Battle on Christmas Day | 478 | ||
| XX. | THE XII CORPS ATTACKS THE SOUTHERN SHOULDER | 482 | |
| The End of the Defensive Battle, 22 December | 482 | ||
| The XII Corps Moves to Luxembourg | 485 | ||
| The XII Corps' Counterattack | 489 | ||
| XXI. | THE III CORPS' COUNTERATTACK TOWARD BASTOGNE | 509 | |
| Preparations for the Attack | 509 | ||
| The 80th Division Advance | 515 | ||
| The 26th Infantry Division Attack | 520 | ||
| The 4th Armored Division Attack | 523 | ||
| The 80th Division Battle in the Woods, 25-26 December | 532 | ||
| The 26th Division Fight for a Bridgehead on the Sure, 24-27 December | 540 | ||
| The 4th Armored Division Reaches Bastogne | 547 | ||
| XXII. | THE BATTLE BEFORE THE MEUSE | 556 | |
| The Meuse River Line | 556 | ||
| The Meuse Seems Within Reach | 562 | ||
| The Celles Pocket | 565 | ||
| The Fight at Humain | 570 | ||
| The Fight at Verdenne | 574 | ||
| XXIII. | THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE SALM AND THE OUR: 24 DECEMBER-2 JANUARY | 578 | |
| The Battle at the Manhay Crossroads | 583 | ||
| The Fight in the Aisne Valley | 593 | ||
| The 2d SS Panzer is Halted | 595 | ||
| The 82d Airborne Withdraws From the Salm River Line | 598 | ||
| "The Sad Sack Affair" | 601 | ||
| The Elsenborn Shoulder | 603 | ||
| XXIV. | THE THIRD ARMY OFFENSIVE | 606 | |
| Widening the Bastogne Corridor | 606 | ||
| The Opposing Grand Tactics | 610 | ||
| The Sibret-Villeroux Actions | 615 | ||
| The Two Attacks Collide | 617 | ||
| The III Corps Joins the Attack | 627 | ||
| The Lone Battle of the 26th Division | 637 | ||
| The VIII Corps' Attack Continues | 643 | ||
| XXV. | EPILOGUE | 649 | |
| The Weather | 649 | ||
| The Opposing Troop Strengths | 650 | ||
| The Opposing Weapons | 651 | ||
| The Artillery Arm in the Ardennes | 656 | ||
| The Air Weapon | 660 | ||
| Logistics | 663 | ||
| The Turning Point in the Ardennes | 668 | ||
| The Place of the Ardennes Offensive in World War II | 673 | ||
| Appendix | Page | ||
| A. | TABLE OF EQUIVALENT RANKS | 677 | |
| B. | RECIPIENTS OF THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS | 678 | |
| BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE | 680 | ||
| GLOSSARY | 682 | ||
| BASIC MILITARY MAP SYMBOLS | 685 | ||
| INDEX | 689 | ||