10.+The+Battle+of+the+Bulge

Sharon Jankiewicz

Battle of the Bulge

Profile Name: First Lieutenant Alex Rider Birthday: June 26, 1919 Interests: reading, relaxing General Information: I was a soldier in the Battle of the Bulge.

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I remember like it was yesterday. The Battle of the Bulge was very important to the Allies' success in the war. I joined the army when I was young and soon I moved up the ranks. Following the invasion of Normandy in June of 1944, the Allies captured their first German city, Aachen in October ("Battle" 1; Danzer et al. 576). Hitler retaliated by marching to recapture the Allied supply port of Antwerp in Belgium ("Battle" 1; Danzer et al. 576; Leonard 1). He hoped for the separation of the American and British troops and the breakup of Allied supply lines ("Battle"; Danzer et al. 576).

It was a dark and stormy night. Thinking about it, it was so clichéd; Hitler waited for bad weather to cover his advances and there we were sitting in our tents in the Ardennes Forest on December 16 not even knowing Hitler had plowed 60 miles into our territory with his tanks ("Battle" 1; Danzer et al. 576; Leonard 1) and created the beginning of the aforementioned bulge in our lines. After the shock of being so suddenly attacked, we got our act together and fought back. Germans demanded the surrender of the town of Bastogne on December 22, but showing the true spirit of the American troops, General Anthony McAuliffe responded with just one word, "Nuts!" (Leonard 1). With this proclamation to the Germans, we endured the battle and we kept on pushing back against the Germans. Marching westward, Germans captured 120 American GIs near Malmédy and the SS gunned down the prisoners in a large field. The news of our losses cut deep to our hearts; I lost my good friend Jack Starbright and it was I who had to deliver the news to his family. Each one of us in the war lost more than our share of friends than anyone could imagine.

The weather finally cleared on Christmas Eve and with that supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower was able to send 10,000 bombers into the German airspace ("Battle"). General George S. Patton, Jr. moved his army and attacked the Germans from the South while at the same time the bombers attacked the troops and supply lines (Leonard 2). By December 26, the Germans could advance no more and they were stopped close by to the Neuse River. In the end after ten more days of fighting, the bulge of German troops was a considerable 60 miles in and 50 miles across, but it was no where near to what Hitler had expected and planned (Leonard 2). On the surface, neither party had made much ground, but it was a major defeat for the German army with the loss of 120,000 troops, 600 assault and tanks, and 1,600 planes that could not be replaced (Danzer et al. 576). A large majority of the Allied forces, mainly American, had been involved and there were 70,000 casualties and 20,000 dead (Leonard 2), but this decisive win was the final nail in the coffin for Germany and they were forced to surrender on May 8, 1945 ("Battle").

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Works Cited

Danzer, Gerald A. et. al. __The Americans__. Evanston: McDougal Little Inc., 2003

Leonard, Michael. "Battle of the Bulge." //Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945,// vol. 8. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 200. //American History Online//. Facts on FIle, Inc. Hunterdon Central Regional High School. 20 Oct 2008.

"Battle of the Bulge. __American History__. 2008. ABC-CLIO. Hunterdon County Lib. 20 Oct 2008.