16 December, 1944

Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the beginning of the military action known as the Battle of the Ardennes to the US Army, Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine) to the German military and The Battle of the Bulge to popular history.

From Wikipedia:

The goal of these operations as planned by the Germans was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis' favour. The Ardennes attack was planned in total secrecy in almost total radio silence. Even Ultra (the allies reading of secret German radio messages) revealed nothing about the up-coming buildup and offensive. Moreover, the degree of surprise achieved was compounded by Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with their own offensive plans, poor aerial reconnaissance, and the relative lack of combat contact by the US First Army. Allied intelligence failed completely to detect the upcoming offensive and almost complete surprise against a weak section of the Allies line was achieved at a time of heavy overcast when the Allies strong air forces would be grounded. The "bulge" refers to the "dent" the Germans initially put into the Allies' line of advance, as seen in maps presented in newspapers of the time.

The battle lasted from December 16, 1944 to January 25. 1945. It involved more than one million men. 560,000 Germans and 640,000 Americans along with nearly 60,000 British. Casualty estimates range from 70,000 to 104,000 for the Americans and from 60,000 to 100,000 for the Germans.

American casualties include those who perished in the Malmedy massacre in which around 150 unarmed allied POWs were murdered by elements of the 6th SS Panzer Army.

In the end the German offensive failed and the German military was never able to stage any major offensive operation again. From this point the Germans fought a long slow retreat until the fall of Berlin and the suicide of Hitler effectively brought the war to a close.