Fall of Germany
Sept. 12 crossed the German border - the Allies were determined to invade Germany so they could not claim they had been betrayed by politicians (and had truly lost the war) the way they did after World War I
German forces were being slowly crushed between the advancing Soviets (east) and the British/Americans (west)
In the west the Allies had reached the Rhine River by Sept. 1944
*** When Allied armies reached the Rhine River the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest privates to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).
On Dec. 16, 1944 the final German offensive of the war, the Battle of the Bulge was launched
- Ardennes Forest
- Tried to split Allies in two and capture Antwerp
- German code word "Watch on the Rhine"
- 38 German divisions struck under fog cover
- 50 mile front
- overran several 1st Army positions
- drove Allies almost to the Meuse River
- surrounded Bastogne in the southern Ardennes
- 3rd Army (General George Patton) armored units pierced the German lines from the south and relieved Bastogne - *** I talked to a man who was with Patton's troops. His job was to retrieve the American dead. He told me they were always afraid they would be surrounded and cut off by the Germans because Patton moved so fast and got way out in front of the rest of the Allied forces.
- Got the name the Battle of the Bulge because of the bulging shape of the battleground on the map
- By early January 1945 the Allies had recovered all their lost ground
- Took 110,000 German prisoners and about 100,000 other casualties
- March 7, 1945 crossed the Rhine River
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