Christer Bergstrom - The Ardennes, 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive

Previous books by Christer Bergstrm

Luftstrid ver Kanalen, 1983

Mot avgrunden: spelet som ledde till andra vrldskriget, 1991

Luftwaffe Fighter Aircraft in Profile, 1997

Deutsche Jagdflugzeuge, 1999

Black Cross/Red Star: the Air War over the Eastern Front, Vol. 1, 2000

Black Cross/Red Star: the Air War over the Eastern Front, Vol. 2, 2001

More Luftwaffe Fighter Aircraft in Profile, 2002

Graf & Grislawski: a Pair of Aces, 2003

Jagdwaffe: Barbarossa - the Invasion of Russia, 2003

Jagdwaffe: The War in Russia January-October 1942, 2003

Jagdwaffe: The War in Russia November 1942-December 1943, 2004

Jagdwaffe: War in the East 1944-1945, 2005

Black Cross/Red Star: the Air War over the Eastern Front, Vol. 3, 2006

Luftstrid ver Kanalen, 2006

Barbarossa: The Air Battle, 2007

Stalingrad: The Air Battle, 2007

Kursk: The Air Battle, 2008

Hans-Ekkehard Bob, 2008

Max-Hellmuth Ostermann, 2008

Bagration to Berlin, 2008

Andra vrldskriget s alla frstr nya rn om andra vrldskriget, 2009

Hitlers underhuggare, 2010

Copyright 2014 Christer Bergstrm

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to

This edition of The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive first published 2014

First published in Swedish by Vaktel Frlag 2013.

Original Swedish edition: Ardennerna 1944-1945: Hitlers vinteroffensiv

2013 and 2014 Christer Bergstrm

English translation copyright 2014 Christer Bergstrm

Cover design: Claes Sundin,

Color illustrations: Claes Sundin,

Layout: Rocco Gustafsson,

Maps: Samuel Svrd,

Cover photo: NARA, 111-SC-199509, NARA, III-SC-197561

Printing: Printon Publishing House, Estonia.

ISBN 978-1-61200-277-4

eISBN 9781612003153

Vaktel Frlag

Box 3027, S-630 03 Eskilstuna

Sweden

www.vaktelforlag.se

Casemate Publishers

908 Darby Road, Havertown,

PA 19083, USA

www.casematepublishers.com

Casemate UK

10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford,

OX1 2EW, United Kingdom

www.casematepublishers.co.uk

This book is dedicated to the Allied soldiers who liberated Belgium and Luxembourg a second time in the winter of 1944/1945, and all victims of the Ardennes Battle.

Contents

Maps

Overview of the Battlefield cover inside

Appendices

GLOSSARY AND GUIDE TO ABBREVIATIONS

Ia , German operations officer.

Ic , German intelligence officer.

2nd Tactical Air Force , British tactical air corps, comprised of around 1,500 aircraft.

2nd TAF , abbreviation of 2nd Tactical Air Force.

3m Regiments de Chasseurs Parachutistes , French 3rd Paratroop Regiment.

4e Bataillon dInfanterie de lAir de lArmee de lAir , French 4th Airborne Battalion.

9th Air Force , U.S. tactical air corps comprised of around 2,000 aircraft.

IX Troop Carrier Command , U.S. airborne troop transport command on the Western Front.

A 4 (Aggregat 4), German ballistic flying bomb, also called V 2.

A-20 Havoc , U.S. twin-engine Douglas attack bomber.

A-26 Invader, U.S. twin-engine Douglas attack bomber.

Abteilung , battalion in German cavalry, armored troops, antitank troops, artillery and signal units.

Adlerhorst , (Eagles Nest), Hitlers headquarters on the Western Front, in Schloss Ziegenberg near Bad Nauheim.

Air Chief Marshal , military rank in the Royal Air Force, the equivalence of the German Generaloberst.

Air Division , unit in the US Air Force, comprised of several Groups.

Air Vice Marshal , military rank in the Royal Air Force, the equivalence of the German Generalleutnant.

APCBC (Armour Piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped), British armor-piercing shell.

APDS (Armour-piercing discarding sabot), British armorpiercing shell.

Ar 234 , German twin-engine jet-propelled Arado bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.

Arm , military unit comprised of two or more corps.

Armee , army (German).

Armeegruppe , army group (German).

Armeekorps , army corps (German).

Armeeoberkommando , the headquarters of a German numbered army.

Armored Cavalry Squadron , the reconnaissance battalion of a U.S. armored division.

Armoured Brigade (British), usually comprised of three British Tank Regiments with an assigned strength of 49 tanks apiece.

Armoured Division , (British), in December 1944 with an assigned strength of 343 tanks.

Army group , military formation, comprised of two or more armies.

Artillerie , artillery (German).

Assault gun , armored tracked combat vehicle, tasked to support the infantry with a cannon firing explosive shells. The German StuG III was a combined assault gun and tank destroyer.

Aufklrungs-Abteilung , German reconnaissance battalion.

Ausf. (Ausfhrung), model (German).

B-17 Flying Fortress (Bomber-17), U.S. Boeing four-engine heavy bomber.

B-24 Liberator (Bomber-24), U.S. Consolidated four-engine heavy bomber.

B-26 Marauder (Bomber-26), U.S., Martin twin-engine medium bomber.

BArch , Bundesarchiv.

Bataillon , battalion (German).

Battalion , military unit, sub-unit to a brigade or a regiment, with an assigned strength of 860 men in both the German and the U.S. armed forces.

Bazooka , American anti-tank weapon.

Bf (Bayerische Flugzeugwerke), alternative designation of certain German Messerschmitt aircraft.

Bf 109 , German Messerschmitt single-engine fighter.

Bletchley Park , the place outside of London where the British decrypted German Enigma coded messages,

Bomber Command , the strategic bomber force of the Royal Air Force.

Bomb Group , also Bombardment Group, U.S. air unit with an assigned strength of (regarding Heavy Bomb Group) 72 bombers, or) regarding Medium Bomb Groups or Light Bomb Groups) 96 bombers.

Bomb Squadron , U.S. aviation unit; three Bomb Squadrons formed a Bomb Group.

Brigade , (brigade) German military unit of varied size, between a companys size and that of a half division.

C-47 (Carrier-47), U.S. Douglas twin-engine transport plane.

Cavalry Group , American mechanized and armored regiment.

Cavalry (Reconnaissance) Squadron , U.S. equivalence of an armored reconnaissance battalion.

CCA (Combat Command A), see Combat Command.

CCB (Combat Command B), see Combat Command.

CCR (Combat Command Reserve), see Combat Command.

CCS (Combined Chiefs of Staff) Allied top military command.

Chaffee M24 , U.S. light tank.

Combat Command , a sub-unit of an American armored division, comprised of one tank battalion, an armored infantry battalion, an artillery battalion, and a platoon of antitank guns or tank destroyers.

Combat Command Reserve , see Combat Command.

Company , military unit, sub-unit to a battalion, with an assigned strength of around 200 men in both the German and the American armies.

Consumption unit (Verbrauchseinheit), German military term for in principle full fuel tank for all vehicles in a military unit.