This Day in History: December 16, 1944

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by Simonov

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This Day in History

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On December 16, 1944, the Battle of the Bulge begins as German forces launch an offensive against the Allies in the Ardennes. Known as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine) by the Germans, the goal of the operation to prevent the Allies from using the port at Antwerp, divide and encircle multiple Allied armies, and ultimately force the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty and thus allowing Nazi Germany to focus its attention on the advancing Soviet forces on the Eastern Front. Thanks to the surprise nature of the German offensive, the German forces were able to initially make territorial gains along the center of the front: however, fierce Allied resistance at Elsenborn Ridge in the north and at Bastogne further south disrupted the German battle plans. The Allies at Elsenborn Ridge and Bastogne denied the Germans use of supply and transportation routes which were considered critical to the German offensive, slowing them down and forcing them to eventually lose their momentum. This delay provided the Allies with the crucial time necessary to reinforce their lines and combined with clearing weather conditions which allowed increased aerial support for the Allies to result in a German defeat.

Another element of the German offensive, Operation Bodenplatte, was launched on January 1, 1945, and consisted of a mass assault against the Allied air forces in order to cripple them and provide air superiority to the Germans during the last phases of the Battle of the Bulge. The objective was to destroy the Allies on the ground before they could fight back. Unfortunately for the Luftwaffe, their success was rather limited. Few aircrew were lost by the Allies and what aircraft were lost were quickly replaced; however, German losses were far more damaging as many aircraft and aircrew, men which they could ill afford to lose, were lost during the course of the Bodenplatte. The failure of the operation is also credited to varying extents for destroying the Luftwaffe's inability to provide any significant resistance to subsequent Allied operations and firmly placed air superiority in the hands of the Allies for the remainder of the war.

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