BATTLE OF THE BULGE. The German supreme commander in the west, Gen. Karl von Rundstedt, under orders from Hitler, dislocated Allied preparations by a sudden drive against thinly held American lines in the Belgian and Luxembourg sector. Suffering heavy losses, the Allied forces were driven back to the Meuse, but they rallied to attack strongly on both sides of the bulge, and the Germans were checked before the close of December. | 1 |
With the opening of 1945, the American, British, and French drives into Germany from the west, coordinated with the rapid and powerful Russian thrusts from the Danube Valley, Poland, and East Prussia, fused into one vast combined operation. | 2 |