Michael Peck
A Tale of Two Counteroffensives: The Battle of the Bulge and Ukraine’s Kursk Operation: This month marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. Though 1,500 miles separate the forests of the Ardennes and the steppes of Russia, there are similarities between the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes and Ukraine’s 2024 counteroffensive at Kursk.
Both operations were spurred by the same motivation: the specter of defeat. To all but the most fanatical Nazis, it was obvious by December 1944 that the Third Reich was doomed. In the east, the Red Army had reached the German border, while the Anglo-American armies had already crossed into western Germany. It was only a matter of time before those pincers crushed the Nazi eagle.
Desperate to seize any chance of victory, Hitler and his top aides planned a bold surprise attack. The counteroffensive would hit the Ardennes region of Belgium, which was weakly defended by inexperienced American divisions.
The goal was classic blitzkrieg. Fast-moving panzer (tank) divisions would cross the Meuse River, seize the vital port of Antwerp, and split and encircle the Allied armies on the Western Front. Hitler hoped this would compel the Western Allies to make a separate peace with Germany, who would then concentrate its forces against the Soviets.
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