The Bulge

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 17 Oct 2022.  
Incomplete.

26 December 1944 - 2 January 1945
During the eight days from 26 December through 2 January, battlefield initiative passed from the Wehrmacht to the US Army. Additional US withdrawals were not from desperation.The few remaining local German offensives were easily checked.

Bulge Timeline, 25 December - 3 January:

• 25 December - Last German effort to reach the Meuse River fails near Celles. Click the left arrow in the above corner.
• 26 December - 3rd Armored Division seizes Grandmenil.
• 26 December - Late in the day, the first battalion from the Third Army's 4th Armored Division reaches the Bastogne perimeter.
• 27 December - Convoys reach Bastogne from the south.
• 27 December - 7th Armored Division recaptures Manhay.
• 28 December - The last German attack on V Corps on Elsenborn Ridge near Bullingen fails. (Date is sometimes given as 26 December)
• 28 December - Hitler orders a halt to the Wehrmacht advance.
• 30 December - Fifth Panzer Army attempts to encircle Bastogne.
• Hitler refuses to allow withdrawal from exposed positions in the Bulge.

Limit of German Advance, 29 December & 9 January

Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained webpage:
General sources for the Ardennes/The Bulge webpages: (C/O = courtesy of)

• http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Ardennes/index.html - The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (from the United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations series, by Hugh M. Cole).
• https://history.army.mil/catalog/pubs/72/72-26.html - Ardennes-Alsace (brochure from Campaigns of World War II: A World War II Commemorative Series, by Roger Cirillo).
• Ardennes-Alsace Brochure - This is Big Pigeon's copy of the above, provided for faster loading. 
• Printable Timeline with Situation Maps, https://www.loc.gov/collections/world-war-ii-maps-military-situation-maps-from-1944-to-1945/articles-and-essays/the-battle-of-the-bulge/printable-timeline/ - C/O Library of Congress, loc.gov. This timeline depicts the key events of "The Battle of the Bulge" which took place in northern France over the course of December 16, 1944 to January 18, 1945 as told through the daily situation maps made for the US Military VIII Corps.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge - long article with a few good maps.
• http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_bulge.html - good overview but a number of minor errors.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge_order_of_battle - detailed order of battle for an unspecified date late in the battle.
• Battle of St. Vith, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St._Vith. The majority of this long article relates to The Fall of the 106th Infantry Division.

Sources for the images used on this webpage:

• Limit of German Advance, 29 December & 9 January, map - https://www.military-history.org/feature/world-war-2/the-ardennes-1944.htm - C/O https://www.military-history.org.

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained:

• Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.

03-06 - The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained (five dead, updated 21 Dec 2022)
† McLoud, James Fredrick , served as Long Fred O, SN 37-442-043, US Army, Pott. Co. & Washington Co., OK

• 328th Inf. Regt., 26th Inf. Div., XII Corps, Third Army; KIA 27 Dec 1944 near Arsdorf, Luxembourg, S of Bastogne, Belgium; The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained.

† Plummer, Kenneth Frank, SN 37-680-558, US Army, Pott. Co.

• 424 Inf. Regt., 106 Inf. Div., XVIII Airborne Corps, First Army; attached to 7th Armored Div. at time of death; KIA 28 Dec 1944 near Manhay, W of Vielsalm, Belgium; The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained.
• Notes: When the German Ardennes Counteroffensive began on 16 Dec 1944, the 424th Inf. Regt. was at Winterspelt, over the German border SE of St. Vith, Belgium. The other two 106th Inf. Div. regiments, the 422nd and 423rd, in the Schnee Eifel to the north, were encircled and then surrendered on 19 December. Meanwhile, the 424th had withdrawn from Winterspelt NW across the Our River to St. Vith, where it was attached to the 7th Armored Division and joined the defense of St. Vith. Around 21 Dec, the 424th joined the American withdrawal from St. Vith further west to Manhay.

† Reifschneider, Donald Walter, SN 37-490-340, US Army, Montgomery Co.

• Hq. Co., 3rd Bn., 26th Inf. Regt., 1st Inf. Div., V Corps, First Army; KIA 30 Dec 1944 near Bütgenbach, N of St. Vith, Belgium; The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained.

† Stout, Richard Clyde, SN 37-692-125, US Army, Montgomery Co.

• unit unknown; KIA 26 Dec 1944 in Luxembourg, bullet wound; The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained.

† Vermuele, Lyle W., SN 37-694-509, US Army, Carroll Co.

• Co. B, 318th Inf. Regt., 80th Inf. Div., III or XII Corps, Third Army; DOW 27 Dec 1944 S of Bastogne, Belgium; The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > The Bulge Contained.