This month marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge—one of the most important events of World War II. What follows is a brief account of certain details that show the significance of the Battle of the Bulge.
Why It’s Called “Battle of the Bulge”
To understand where the word “bulge” comes from, picture a map of Belgium,
Luxemburg, and northern France in late 1944, with a vertical battle line drawn
down the middle of it. This line was the front, with American and British
troops on one side and Germany’s army on the other.
Hitler’s Final Push
On December 16, 1944, Adolf Hitler tried to smash through this
line and reconquer Western Europe, just as he had done in 1940, at the
beginning of the war. For the first several days of the battle, it looked like
he might be successful. The battle line “bulged” westward as the German army
advanced in infamous, blitzkrieg style.
The attack happened so quickly that thousands of American soldiers were cut off from the main body of the United States Army. This is what happened in the Belgium city of Bastogne. On the morning of December 22, German soldiers waving white flags approached the American camp there, with a demand that the Americans surrender. The American commander in charge sent the messengers back with a typed response that was only one-word long. “NUTS!” it said.
The German military leaders had a difficult time understanding the
message, but the fact that the Americans continued fighting made the meaning
fairly obvious. As it turned out, the troops in Bastogne were soon rescued by United
States General George S. Patton and his fast-moving 3rd Army.
In the end, the battle line bulged—hence the name—but it never
actually broke. American and British soldiers pushed back, and the quest to
liberate Europe from Nazi control went on.
What about the Battle Was Unique?
Casualties
For the United States, it was the largest and deadliest battle of the war, resulting in nearly 90,000 casualties. The battle was just as deadly for Germany, however. It was the “decisive struggle that broke the back of the Nazi war machine,” as one historian put it, commenting on the significance of the Battle of the Bulge. The Nazi army spent the remaining five months of the war retreating to Berlin.
Forest of Ardennes and Bad Weather
As movies, photographs, and documentaries show, much of the Battle
of the Bulge took place in the Forest of Ardennes, in snow and freezing rain
and in arctic-like cold. Many soldiers quickly succumbed to illnesses such as
pneumonia and trench foot and had to be evacuated.
The German army, for its part, was counting on the bad weather to help them. Initially it did. Thick cloud cover kept American air support—fighters and bombers and even reconnaissance planes—out of the sky. On Christmas morning, the clouds disappeared, however, and from then on, American war planes were in complete command of the air.
Learn More about Your Ancestors Who Lived through World War II
Were any of your ancestors involved in the Battle of the Bulge? If they were in western Europe from December 1944 to January 1945, then the answer is likely yes! Search our World War II records to learn more about your ancestor’s participation in the war.
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It’s not uncommon to know that one of your ancestors participated
in an important historical event but not to have any photographs or stories to
show for it. If that is the situation you find yourself in, try documenting
your ancestor’s experience another way—with stories and photographs that you
find on the Internet.
For example, you could collect a few newspaper articles about the
Battle of the Bulge and
save them as PDFs that you upload to your ancestor’s profile
page. You could do the same for photographs
and other images you come across.
Even though these items don’t come directly from your ancestor, they will still add color and excitement to his or her story. And did you know that learning about the challenges your ancestor had to face can help you and the other members of your family with the challenges you face? It’s true, so be sure to preserve the memories—even if you have to be creative in how you document them.
Source: Family Search
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