Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge
Part of World War II
Date 16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945 Location The Ardennes, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany Result Allied Forces victory
Belligerents
United States United Kingdom Canada France Belgium Luxembourgish resistance	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Dwight D. Eisenhower Omar Bradley Courtney Hodges George Patton Bernard Montgomery	Adolf Hitler Walter Model Gerd von Rundstedt Hasso von Manteuffel Sepp Dietrich Erich Brandenberger

The Ardennes Offensive (December 1944–January 1945) was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes region of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front. The offensive was called Operation The Guard on the Rhine or Operation "Watch on the Rhine." by the Wehrmacht, and the Battle of the Ardennes by the United States Army. It is known to the general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge because the “bulge” was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allied Forces’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.

Literary comment

Most Harry Turtledove timelines involving WWII have a Point of Divergence either after January 1945, in which case the Battle of the Bulge has already happened, or before December 1944, in which case the Battle of the Bulge usually never comes to pass.

Battle of the Bulge in The Man With the Iron Heart

Several American soldiers who occupied Germany after World War II had survived the Battle of the Bulge. Bernie Cobb came out of the battle with frost-bitten feet. Even at the end of 1945, he had a harder time walking than he did before the battle.