Author(s): Patrick Delaforce

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The Allies had thought after their success in Normandy in the summer of 1944, that the war would be 'over by Christmas'. In the late autumn, despite the relative failure of the Arnhem operation, the Allied armies were poised to smash the Siegfried Line and invade the Third Reich. The vital port of Antwerp was at long last disgorging supplies, ULTRA was not forecasting any particular problems and a feeling of complacency persuaded Eisenhower and Montgomery to relax. However, Adolf Hitler, Germany's indomitable Fuehrer, had decided in the summer of 1944 to take an incredible gamble. If it had succeeded he would have seized the crucial supply port of Antwerp, and divided and cut off the whole British and Canadian 21st Army Group as well as at least one of the American armies. The end-game could have meant their surrender or at best a second 'Dunkirk' and Hitler could have negotiated a peace treaty with the UK and USA leaving his still very strong armed forces to continue a defensive war against Russia. Out of the blue Hitler's superbly well-concealed Panzer army struck in the Ardennes in mid-December. Thick fog and low cloud prevented air reconnaissance.