The Ardennes Offensive 16 December 1944-25 January 1945

At 0530hrs 16 December 1944, hell was unleashed upon an 80 mile wide swath of Allied lines in the form of a 90 minute artillery barrage by the Nazis. The Allied command wasn’t worried though. They thought they were facing a localized offensive by the 6^th SS Panzer Army. The Allied “brain” trust figured this was in response to the Americans temporarily breaching the Siegfried Line in the Wahlerscheid section days earlier. Of course these geniuses were wrong and the Nazis were launching a last ditch, desperate counter attack to land a “knock out” blow and gain the upper hand over Allied forces besieging Germany.