General Patton Battle Of The Bulge Analysis

By the 26th of December, elements of Patton’s 3rd Corps and chiefly the 4th Armoured Division broke through the German lines and relieved Bastogne, as well as securing the vital road junction that would slow Hitlers offensive in its tracks. Following the relief of Bastogne, Patton and the Third army pressed on in continuing their counteroffensive to St.Vith, and to contain the German Easterly advance past the Meuse river. Later the same day, Allied headquarters received news that the German offensive had lost its vital impetus. Throughout the reminder of the Battle of the Bulge, which lasted until the 25th of January 1945, General Patton worked closely with General Bradley and played a key role in successfully pushing the Germans back into

the Rhineland, and reestablishing the Allied front line that was previous to Hitler’s offensive. During the course of the counteroffensive, Third Army fired a total of 1,485,166 rounds of ammunition into the Ardennes. Further, General Patton’s feat of moving the entire Third Army from the Saar offensive North to hit the Germans flank at Bastogne was an achievement that surprised even General Eisenhower. In George Patton's words, “During this operation the Third Army moved farther and faster and engaged more divisions in less time than any other army in the history of the United States- possibly the history of the world.” Since the end of the Second World War, many historians have debated why the Germans lost the Ardennes offensive and come to 3 chief reasons; the first being that the German army was too weak at that point in the war, the second being that the Germans couldn't capture the vital town of Bastogne, and lastly the inability to halt Patton and his Third Army from advancing. Moreover, on December 31, 1944, General Bradley submitted a report in which he described Patton’s Third Army’s performance as superior, and recommended him for command of an army group; two weeks later, General Eisenhower remarked that Patton was the fourth greatest contributor to the Allied victory in Europe. For these reasons, it can be justifiably argued that General Patton aided the Allied victory in the Ardennes tremendously.
It is worthwhile to discuss the influence that European weather had upon the planning of Hitler’s Wacht am Rhein offensive, and how Patton’s Third Army adapted. During the later months of 1944, central Europe was experiencing the harshest Winter in 38 years; Hitler and the Nazis would inevitably use this to their advantage. In the midst of the movement to Bastogne, General Patton even remarked about the weather in his memoirs; saying that he kept seeing black objects pointing out of the snow, and upon inspection, found them to be dead mens frozen toes. By 1944, the German Luftwaffe was dwarfed by the air superiority of the combined Allied airforce of the Americans and Royal Air Force of Great Britain. Hitler and his commanders knew that if their plan had any chance of success, they would need at least 10 days of low clouds and bad weather so that the Allied airforce wouldn't be able to inflict total destruction. Hitler’s initiative was originally planned for late November, however in search for the perfect weather conditions, the plan was pushed back until the 16th of December when it sufficed. Once the battle had commenced, Patton knew that in order to relieve Bastogne and defeat Hitler’s offensive, air support would be of great aid. In lieu of this, Patton order a prayer from his chaplain and distributed it onto cards for all of his men to pray; miraculously it worked, and better weather ensued a few days later. In the meantime, Patton's tanks struggled on the icy roads to Bastogne in the Ardennes forest, although the men developed a strategy to quickly and efficiently pull out stuck tanks and other vehicles (they couldn’t travel off the roads because the terrain was heavily vaulted and full of trees). Taking into consideration the weather and heavily forested terrain of the Ardennes, the ability for Patton's Third Army to effectively reach the Ardennes front in as little time as they did was a tremendous feat. It proves the testament of strength and ingenuity Patton’s Third Army possessed, as well as the kind of commander that General Patton was. It can then be said that characteristics such as these are what led to Patton’s successful counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge.
In conclusion, the Battle of the Bulge was one of the hardest fought battles of the Second World War.

Over the course of the 41 day conflict, General Patton’s Third U.S Army provided the main Allied counter attack against the German offensive. General Patton, who could be summed up by one of his own quotes, “The only way you can win a war is to attack and keep on attacking, and after you have done that, keep attacking some more,” was the brainchild behind the Allied counteroffensive. Even for Patton, the achievement of cancelling his current attack into the Saar, turning 90 degrees, and driving 100 miles North, all in 48 hours was impressive, let alone striking the ripe underbelly of the Germans flank. During the course of Patton’s assault on the German lines, he relieved Bastogne, worked with remnants of General Hodges First U.S Army and defeated Hitler’s offensive. Consequently, by the end of the Battle of the Bugle, Patton's Third Army would move farther and faster and engage more enemy divisions in less time than any other army in the history of the United States. Therefore, it can be justifiably argued that Patton’s third army provided the spearhead of Allied counter offence in the Battle of the Bulge, solidifying the Allies success in cutting off the Germans in the Ardennes, and defeating Hitlers last major offensive of the

war.