Information about Hitler's last battle
Planned consequences: Allied logistics base destroyed, troops collapsed, European war situation reversed, Ardennes counterattacked: German elite failed in its last strike. Reason: General Barton, the town fortress, sent troops to help. At the beginning of 2005, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Ardennes in World War II, US President Bush issued a statement saying that the Ardennes counterattack was the largest ground battle that the US military participated in during World War II, which completely shattered Nazi Germany's dream of accumulating the last elite forces to stage a great reversal of the war on the Western Front. From then on, the western allied forces set foot on Nazi land. The operation code-named "Project Griffin" attacked the allied forces seven inches away from British Prime Minister Churchill. Later, when evaluating the strategic intention of the German army, he could not help but admire: "This action is similar to Napoleon's raid on the Prazan Plateau in the Battle of Austerlitz, cutting off and destroying the circuitous movement of the Austrian-Russian Coalition forces and breaking through its central position." 19441February 12 On the night, the senior commander of the German western front was suddenly summoned to the headquarters of Marshal Lunsted, the commander-in-chief of the western front. Commanders were told that their Fuehrer had made a bold counterattack plan. When the allied forces thought that the German army had lost its momentum and failed to take precautions after landing in Normandy six months ago, they sent assault troops to the Belgian port of Antwerp, the logistics supply base of the allied forces, to force the allied forces to retreat and alleviate the threat of West Germany. The code name of the plan is "Griffin Plan". Hitler's plan is surprisingly bold. Once it is successful, the whole war will be greatly reversed. Not only that, the attack point of the "Griffin Plan" was very accurate, and it hit the seven-inch key of the Allies at once. In order to capture Antwerp, the Germans had to break through the Allied lines. Hitler chose the Ardennes Heights as the breakthrough point, from which the Germans broke through the familiar land of Feng Shui westward. Ingersoll, an American journalist, described the scene like this: "The Germans broke through our 80-kilometer defense line, and they rushed to the breach, just like the flood rushing out of the blasted dam. Americans are desperately fleeing along all the roads leading to the West. " Hitler planned to transfer troops from the eastern front and form a local advantage in the western front. Hitler believes that "(Allies) will not expect that we will launch a surprise attack. Therefore, making full use of the enemy's unsuspecting factors and launching a sudden attack in a climate where enemy planes cannot take off, we are expected to make a rapid breakthrough. " At dawn on February 6, 65438, tens of thousands of guns fired at German positions, and V- 1 missiles with long tails roared through the sky in the early morning and fired at allied positions. Shortly after the attack, the Germans broke through the American defense. When the allied officers and men who were still asleep were awakened by the sound of guns and rushed to the position sleepily, they suddenly found that the German offensive troops of 14 Division had rushed out of the Ardennes forest filled with morning fog, and the allied defense line soon collapsed. On the second day after the battle, the German 5th Panzer Corps surrounded two regiments of the US Army 106 Division, forcing more than 7,000 US troops to surrender. This is the most serious failure of the American army after the landing in Normandy, and everything seems to indicate that Hitler's plan will succeed. Due to the sudden launch of the campaign, the Allied High Command didn't know the news of the German counterattack until that afternoon. At dusk the next day, the German vanguard troops had penetrated more than 30 kilometers into Belgian territory and arrived near the headquarters of General hodges of the US 1 Army. "There is only one obstacle between German tanks and Antwerp, and that is Bastoni," said von Mantefer, commander of the German vanguard, the focus of the Ardennes counterattack in Bastoni. Although the German counterattack in Ardennes was successful, the two ends of the breakthrough area were still the positions held by the Allies, and the German counterattack troops could only advance along a narrow breakthrough area. In front of this narrow strip, there is a small town called Bastoni. At this time, this small town across the German road became the focus of the campaign. 65438+February 2 1, the Germans tightened the encirclement and forced the US troops to retreat step by step. 12 On February 22nd, the American defense line seemed to be on the verge of collapse. On 22nd 10: 30, Ludwig issued an ultimatum to the US military: surrender immediately or be completely wiped out. A few hours later, he received a reply from General McCorvey, the commander of the US military. This letter was listed in the Guinness Book of Records and became "the shortest message in the world" after the war. It has only one word: "Nut!" At the same time, General Patton is leading his American 3rd Army to rescue Bastoni. Eisenhower gave him the shortest command: "Hurry!" On the morning of February 23rd, 65438+, the fighter planes of the 8th Air Force of the United States once again covered the sky in Western Europe. The heavy bombing forced the German armored forces to be unable to move during the day. The C-47 transport plane dropped hundreds of parachutes, and the defenders who fought for many days finally got machine gun bullets, medical supplies ... and even Christmas gifts from the sky. On Christmas Day, the Germans attacked, and the result was "empty at both ends". In the face of the heroic performance of the US military in the battle, British Prime Minister Churchill could not help but admire: "There is no doubt that this is the greatest battle of the Americans in the war." On Christmas Day, the Germans launched a powerful attack, and finally broke through the American defense line in western Bastoni. Along this incision, the German infantry kept advancing until it was 3 kilometers away from the city center. At the critical moment in Bastoni, Barton ordered the tank to throw off the infantry and insert it from a gap in the German defense line. At this time, the Germans had to stop the Third Army, keep the siege momentum, and finally ended up empty. The day after Christmas, American tanks finally entered Bastoni to join forces with the defenders. Subsequently, American infantry arrived one after another. 1945 65438+1On October 3rd, the angry Hitler concentrated nine divisions to continue to storm Bastoni, which was the most intense battle in Ardennes' counterattack. But at this time, Bastoni has been reinforced by General Barton, and the German attack has made no progress. Not only that, at this time, the Germans were trapped in a narrow corridor, and if they did not retreat in time, they would be surrounded by allies. 65438+ 10/6, just one month after launching the Ardennes counterattack, the Germans returned to the position where they started a month ago, and the small town of Bastoni, which is in the trend of German attack, still stands tall. According to American media reports, there were more than 80,000 American casualties in the Battle of Ardennes, including19,000 casualties, and German casualties exceeded100,000 casualties. Only four months after the battle, the "Millennium Empire" that Hitler tried to build vanished.