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Closeup of the Ardennes campaign, which includes the Battle of the Bulge |
Flanking the map of the Ardennes and Rhineland campaigns is an inscription in both
French and English. The English explanatory inscription:
ON 16 DECEMBER 1944 THE ENEMY MADE ITS LAST CONCERTED EFFORT
TO STAVE OFF DEFEAT BY UNLEASHING THREE ARMIES ON A NARROW
FRONT. PREPARED IN GREATEST SECRECY AND LAUNCHED UNDER
COVER OF FOG AND RAIN, ITS ATTACK IN THE ARDENNES WAS INITIALLY
SUCCESSFUL. BREAKING THROUGH ON A 45-MILE FRONT, ITS FORCES
PENETRATED OVER 60 MILES, BUT AMERICAN SOLDIERS, FIGHTING
VALIANTLY, HELD THE CRITICAL SHOULDERS OF THE SALIENT.
17
REACTING PROMPTLY AND DECISIVELY, THE ALLIES RUSHED ALL
AVAILABLE RESERVES TO THE SCENE. A FURIOUS STRUGGLE DEVELOPED
AT ST. VITH WHERE THE ENEMY ADVANCE WAS STUBBORNLY DELAYED.
AT BASTOGNE, ALTHOUGH SURROUNDED FOR FIVE DAYS, AMERICAN
TROOPS, WITH THE HELP OF SUPPLIES DROPPED BY IX TROOP CARRIER
COMMAND AIRCRAFT, MAINTAINED THEIR DEFENSE. ON 22 DECEMBER
THE THIRD ARMY COUNTERATTACKED THE SOUTHERN FLANK OF THE
PENETRATION. THE NEXT DAY THE SKIES CLEARED AND THE EIGHTH AND
NINTH FORCES PLUNGED INTO THE BATTLE. THE THIRD ARMY
CONTINUED ITS ADVANCE THROUGH BITTERLY COLD WEATHER,
REACHING BASTOGNE ON 26 DECEMBER. THE FIRST ARMY’S
COUNTERATTACK CAME ON 3 JANUARY 1945; ON THE 16TH THE TWO
ARMIES MET AT HOUFFALIZE. THE SALIENT WAS REDUCED BY 25
JANUARY.
IN FEBRUARY THE THIRD ARMY FORCED ITS WAY THROUGH THE
SIEGFRIED LINE, CAPTURED TRIER, AND BY 5 MARCH HAD ESTABLISHED
BRIDGEHEADS ACROSS THE KYLL. THE NEXT DAY IT LAUNCHED ITS
ATTACK NORTH OF THE MOSELLE. PRECEDED BY AIRCRAFT OF THE
NINTH AIR FORCE, ITS GROUND TROOPS SWEPT FORWARD TO JOIN THE
FIRST ARMY ON THE RHINE. THEM, ON 13 MARCH, AMERICAN FORCES
SOUTH OF THE MOSELLE ADVANCED; THOSE WEST OF KOBLENZ SWUNG
TO THE SOUTHEAST TO JOIN THIS ASSAULT. HAVING CLEARED THE WEST
BANK BY 21 MARCH, THE THIRD ARMY RUSHED ACROSS THE RHINE AT
OPPENHEIM THE NEXT NIGHT.
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