Chapter Seven
82nd Airborne went over to the offensive at the end of January 1945 and within a month it had smashed a hole in the Siegfried Line; the line of for tifications protecting Germany. 111-SC-199538
On New Year’s Day the Luftwaffe launched an attack designed to wipe out Allied air superiority and over 1,000 planes struck airfields across northern Europe. Although 300 Allied planes were destroyed, 230 German pilots were lost in the attack; the losses were never recovered, Goering’s force had been crippled.
On the ground all but three of the American Divisions in north-west Europe had been committed and with reinforcements running out, Eisenhower was looking for a quick counter-attack in order to engage the Panzers before they withdrew.
On the northern flank Montgomery was being cautious and while he waited for the right moment to strike, British XXX Corps crossed the Meuse as VII Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps prepared to advance towards St Vith. Meanwhile, to the south Patton forged ahead as his men tried to enlarge the Bastogne Salient in vicious fighting. Manteuffel was determined to hold his ground and increased the number of divisions against Third Army from three to nine; Fifth Panzer Army was not going to give up the chance of taking Bastogne without a fight. The road to Houffalize was soon littered with bodies and tanks as VIII Corps fought to reach First Army and as General Middleton engaged the bulk of Manteuffel’s forces, III Corps struck north east to try and cut off the German escape route.
First Army struck its blow on 3 January and as General Collins’ VII Corps, pushed towards Houffalize, General Ridgways’ XVIII Airborne Corps took up the slack. Armour could make no headway along the narrow roads leaving the infantry to fight against a determined enemy.
Day after day men and machines battled it out and advances were marked in metres rather than miles across the hills around Houffalize. Two weeks into the Allied offensive German resistance evaporated; the time to withdraw had arrived and as First and Third Armies finally met in the ruins of the town, General Bradley was able to order a general advance towards the Rhine. The Bulge was about to be removed, signalling the beginning of the end for the Germans.
Another final fling by Hitler, Operation Bodenplatte turned out to be the Luftwaffe’s swan song. A Focke-Wulf Fw190 prepares to take off in wintery conditions.
The counter-attack begins. General Hodges and General Patton gathered their reinforcements to begin reducing Fifth Panzer Army’s furthest penetration through the Ardennes. Men of the 84th Division plough their way through the snow en route to La Roche where First Army and Third Army would link up. 111-SC-198375
Constant patrolling in all weathers was the only way to gain accurate information on enemy movements. Here a combat patrol edges its way along a ditch near the Ondenval defile during 2nd Infantry Division’s advance towards St Vith. 111-SC-199162
Clear skies and a break in the weather allowed the United States Air Force to participate in the Allied counter-attack. Here a tank watches over a column of GIs belonging to the ‘Railsplitters’ as they march forward to reduce the La Roche Salient. 111-SC-198375a
After weeks on the defensive, 82nd Airborne was able to go over to the attack and Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division hug an M10 of the 636th Tank Battalion as they advance through wooded terrain. 111-SC-198614
Although the German offensive had been stopped, desperate fighting followed as the Americans pushed Army Group West out of the Ardennes. Paratroopers of 504 Regiment work in close cooperation with the crew of a Sherman tank from 740th Tank Battalion as they advance through woods on the Elsenborn Ridge. 111-SC-199509
A long line of GIs marches along a forest trail towards the front line. These men of the 75th Infantry Division are on their way to cut the vital road between St Vith and Houffalize. 111-SC-199406
The crew of a halftrack looks across at a burnt out Panzer IV as 35th Division passes through Foy. The tank was one of 12th SS Panzer Division’s, knocked out during a final attempt to reach Bastogne. 111-SC-199106
These men of 325th Glider Regiment are moving towards Heeresbach where the Panzers had advanced over a month before. Deep snow hampered movement and these GIs have improvised a sledge to carry heavy equipment. 111-SC-199507
Men of the 325 Glider Regiment line up their prisoners, along a forest track near Hierlot, taken when 82nd Airborne Division went onto the offensive. 111-SC-198639
Anxious moments as a patrol from 30th Division rescue a wounded buddy near Thirimont with the help of a straw covered sledge. 111-SC-199183
Two members of the 67 Armoured Regiment, Corporal James Gordon and Private Rainwater, inspect a Panther tank. The tank had to be abandoned by its crew in the face of 2nd Armoured Division’s advance after a shell jammed in the breech. 111-SC-198588
3rd Armoured Division captured these two German soldiers, apparently little more than boys, during its attack against the German salient west of Houffalize. Both youngsters are wearing GI shoes and leggings while the man on the left has stolen a pair of American trousers. 111-SC-198603
Houffalize had fallen to 116th Panzer Division without a fight on 19 December as the division headed west. On 16 January 2nd and 11th Armoured Divisions converged on the town and by nightfall they had driven 116th Panzer Division from the ruins, sealing the connection of First and Third Armies. 111-SC-199256
British Shermans of 33 Armoured Brigade at La Roche.
A Sturmgeschütz no longer a threat.This Stug III was just one of many hundreds of abandoned German vehicles to be found littering the Bulge battlefield.
