Friends of Padre Steve’s World,
On December 15th 1944 Allied commanders, planners and troops were preparing for Christmas while preparing for attacks to further degrade German capabilities before the coming offensives of 1945. Few credited the Germans with the capability to go on the offensive and German deception efforts which were masterminded by Hitler himself lulled the Allies at every level into a complacency which was nearly disastrous.
The intelligence failures were systemic and widespread but not all can be blamed on the intelligence staffs. Two other factors were the assumption at that highest levels that Germany was all but beaten and that the reinstatement of Field Marshall Gerd Von Rundstedt as the commander of OB West meant that the Germans would conduct themselves in a conventional manner, tough defense and local counter attacks to husband their remaining forces for the decisive battles to come. They also did not know that Hitler was now for all practical purposes directing operations and that he was determined to turn the tables on the Allies.
So here is an older article that I wrote some time ago about the battle that ensured, the legendary Battle of the Bulge.
Peace
Padre Steve+
Adolf Hitler gathered with the Chiefs of Oberkommando des Wehrmachton September 16th 1944 at his “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters in East Prussia. The situation was critical; he had recently survived an assassination attempt by Army officers led by Colonel Klaus Von Staufenberg at his Wolf’s Lair headquarters in East Prussia. When the assassination attempt took place the German situation in Normandy was critical. The Americans broke out of the Bocage at St. Lo and spread out across Brittany and the interior of France with Patton’s 3rd Army leading the way. Even as his commanders in the West pleaded for permission to withdraw to the Seine Hitler forbade withdraw and ordered a counter attack at Mortain to try to close the gap in the German line and isolate American forces. When the German offensive failed the German front collapsed. 40,000 troops, hundreds of tanks and thousands of vehicles were…
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