![]() ![]() ![]() On December 21st, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, commander of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, placed all of his fighter-bombers at the Americans’ disposal. They remained in the area for two weeks, holding and taking back ground from the retreating German forces.įinally, the Royal Canadian Air Force fought in the Battle of the Bulge. “But the weather was so bad they couldn’t fly, so we went in as ground troops.” On January 2nd, 1945, the battalion took up positions near Rochefort, near the easternmost extent of the German advance. “They were going to jump us in,” Private Merv Loucks recalled. On Christmas Eve they rushed to Folkstone, on the English Channel, and prepared to sail for Belgium with the rest of the 6th Airborne Division. The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, which last saw combat in August, had an entirely different experience. The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada did not have Christmas dinner until December 29th and 30th. In some cases, the army postponed Christmas celebrations in case of a German attack. In the days after the battle began, Canadian troops in the Nijmegen salient received word of the German offensive. They would have also expected a local supporting attack through the Netherlands. If the German spearhead had gotten closer, the Canadians and their British allies would have had to stop it. ![]() The First Canadian Army was responsible for the city of Antwerp. The German offensive had far-reaching effects. The Germans suffered just as heavily - between 65,000 and 85,000 - costing them valuable reserves for the coming invasion of Germany. By late January, the Americans had eliminated the bulge and restored the line at the cost of 75,000 casualties. Most will be familiar with the story of the 101st Airborne Division’s stand at Bastogne and General George S. The Ardennes was a quiet sector, and the Germans managed to push American troops back in the first days, creating a bulge in the Allied line. Three German armies assembled in secret to strike through the Ardennes, a forested and hilly region located where the French, Belgian, Luxembourger, and German borders meet. Its origins lay with Adolf Hitler, who hoped to split Allied forces in the west with a Blitzkrieg-like assault aimed at the recently opened port of Antwerp. Fought between December 16th, 1944 and January 28th, 1945, the Battle of the Bulge was the greatest battle America fought during the Second World War. ![]()
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