The artillery barrage lasted for an hour, and shortly afterwards German infantry from the 277th Volksgrenadier Division burst through the forest and headed at the positions of the 99th Infantry Division’s 395th Infantry Regiment near the village of Rocherath. In the northern portion of the American line, heavy artillery shells crashed around the positions of the un-tested 99th Infantry Division from Lanzerath in the south to the forested areas near Monschau in the north. At precisely 0530 hours, the forest erupted in an ear shattering German artillery barrage along a 100 mile front. Not so in the pre-dawn hours of December 16 in the Ardennes Forest. More often than not, the noises thought to have been heard aren’t anything at all, and the forest resumes its eerie silence. Even the most hardened veteran occasionally thinks he hears twigs snap, boots crush snow or other odd noises that can cause nerves to fray. The National WWII Museum Digital Collections.įorests, by nature, are eerily quiet at night. G, 2nd Btln, 9th Regt march back from the front at Elsenborn. The real crusher to the German offensive plans in the Ardennes occurred 46 miles north east of Bastogne, in a small area consisting of a copse of small villages and a piece of high ground called Elsenborn Ridge.Ģnd Division, Co. And while the defense of the “crossroads of hell” was gallant to be sure, it was not the back breaker that most people assume it to have been. Most of the publicity for the American victory falls on the shoulders of the 101st Airborne and the map grid that centers on the town of Bastogne. Images of picturesque Ardennes landscapes before Christmas, conifers with branches drooping from heavy snowfall and beleaguered American forces doggedly defending against a last gasp attack by a defeated enemy all dot the mind when thinking of the Bulge. Over 83,000 Americans were casualties during the battle which lasted from Decemuntil January 25, 1945, and as a result, the battle occupies a prominent place in our collective minds. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle ever fought by the United States Army.
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