Siege of Bastogne

Siege of Bastogne
Part of the Ardennes Offensive (World War II)
101st Airborne Division troops watch as C-47s drop supplies over Bastogne, 26 December 1944
Date Siege: 20–26 December 1944 Counterattacks: Fighting ends 17 January 1945 Location Bastogne, Belgium 50°00′00″N 5°43′17″E / 50.0°N 5.7214°E / 50.0; 5.7214Coordinates: 50°00′00″N 5°43′17″E / 50.0°N 5.7214°E / 50.0; 5.7214 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Anthony McAuliffe (101st Airborne) William L. Roberts (Combat Command B (CCB), 10th Armored Division) Creighton Abrams (37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division) George S. Patton (Third Army)	Hasso von Manteuffel (5th Panzer Army) Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz (XLVII Panzer Corps) Wilhelm Mohnke (I SS Panzer Corps)
Units involved
Initially parts of: 101st Airborne Division CCB of the 10th Armored Division CCR of the 9th Armored Division 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion 35th and 158th Combat Engineer Battalions 58th and 420th Armored Field Artillery Battalions 755th and 969th Field Artillery Battalions of 8th Corps Team SNAFU Eventual Participants: 4th Armoured Division 26th Infantry Division 6th Armoured Division 11th Armoured Division 35th Infantry Division 87th Infantry Division 90th Infantry Division	Initially parts of: 26th Volksgrenadier Division 5th Parachute Division Panzer Lehr Division 2nd Panzer Division Total: All or parts of 7 divisions Eventual Participants: 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Führerbegleitbrigade 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
Strength
101st: 11,000 enlisted + 800 officers Remaining units: 11,000+ Total: 22,800+ men	54,000+ men
Casualties and losses
3,000+ total casualties (2,000 in the 101st)	unknown
Location within Belgium

The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbour at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the densely wooded Ardennes highlands converged on Bastogne (Bastnach in German), just a few miles away from the border with neighbouring Luxembourg, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack. The siege was from 20 to 27 December, until the besieged American forces were relieved by elements of General George Patton's Third Army.

After the successful invasion of Normandy and the subsequent eastward push through France, the Allied front lines extended from Nijmegen in the north down to neutral Switzerland in the south. The valuable port city of Antwerp had been captured during the push, and by the time winter arrived, the Allies even had control of German territory near the city of Aachen. Adolf Hitler soon laid out a plan to attack the Allied lines in Belgium and Luxembourg; 25 divisions would launch a surprise attack through the Ardennes, with the aim of crossing the Meuse River (called Maas in German and Flemish) and recapturing Antwerp. Despite major misgivings from his senior commanders, including Gerd von Rundstedt and Walther Model, the plan was not modified and the jump-off date was eventually set as 16 December 1944. Meanwhile, the Allied commanders considered the Ardennes area to be unsuitable for a large-scale German attack, mainly because of terrain issues. In addition, intelligence reports suggested that the only German divisions stationed in the area were weary, and in the weeks leading up to the assault, no Allied commander saw reason to believe that an attack was imminent. Bastogne, a hub city that commanded several important roads in the area, was defended mainly by the 28th Infantry Division, which had seen continuous fighting from 22 July to 19 November, before being assigned to this relatively quiet area. The Allies believed only an infantry division was present opposite the 28th Infantry, and they believed any attack along this sector would be limited in scale. The seven roads in and out of Bastogne were critical to the movement of German armor, making Allied retention of the roads imperative.