Editing Battle of the Bulge (section)

==Attack in the south==
[[File:Battle of the Bulge 7th.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Erich Brandenberger]] led Seventh Army in the southernmost attack route.]]

Further south on Manteuffel's front, the main thrust was delivered by all attacking divisions crossing the [[River Our]], then increasing the pressure on the key road centers of St. Vith and Bastogne. The more experienced U.S. 28th Infantry Division put up a much more dogged defense than the inexperienced soldiers of the 106th Infantry Division. The [[112th Infantry Regiment (United States)|112th Infantry Regiment]] (the most northerly of the 28th Division's regiments), holding a continuous front east of the Our, kept German troops from seizing and using the Our River bridges around [[Ouren]] for two days, before withdrawing progressively westwards.

The 109th and 110th Regiments of the 28th Division fared worse, as they were spread so thinly that their positions were easily bypassed. Both offered stubborn resistance in the face of superior forces and threw the German schedule off by several days. The 110th's situation was by far the worst, as it was responsible for an {{convert|11|mi|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}} front while its 2nd Battalion was withheld as the divisional reserve. Panzer columns took the outlying villages and widely separated strong points in bitter fighting, and advanced to points near Bastogne within four days. The struggle for the villages and American strong points, plus transport confusion on the German side, slowed the attack sufficiently to allow the [[101st Airborne Division]] (reinforced by elements from the 9th and [[10th Armored Division (United States)|10th Armored Divisions]]) to reach Bastogne by truck on the morning of 19 December. The fierce defense of Bastogne, in which American paratroopers particularly distinguished themselves, made it impossible for the Germans to take the town with its important road junctions. The panzer columns swung past on either side, cutting off Bastogne on 20 December but failing to secure the vital crossroads.

Twenty years after the battle, General&nbsp;McAuliffe praised the men of the 10th Armored "Tiger" Division saying, "It's always seemed regrettable to me, that Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division didn't get the credit it deserved in the battle of Bastogne. All of the newspaper and radio talk was about the paratroopers. Actually, the 10th&nbsp;Armored Division was in there December 18th, a day before we were, and had some very hard fighting before we ever got into it, and I sincerely believe that we would never have been able to get into Bastogne if it had not been for the defensive fighting of the three elements of the 10th Armored Division who were first into Bastogne and protected the town from invasion by the Germans."<ref>{{Cite web |title=WWII 10th Armored Division in Bastogne by General McAuliffe |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnegZqpk7SA |website=YouTube}}</ref>

In the extreme south, Brandenberger's three infantry divisions were checked by divisions of the [[U.S. VIII Corps]] after an advance of {{convert|4|mi|abbr=on|order=flip}}; that front was then firmly held. Only the [[5th Parachute Division (Germany)|5th Parachute Division]] of Brandenberger's command was able to thrust forward {{convert|12|mi|abbr=on|order=flip}} on the inner flank to partially fulfill its assigned role. Eisenhower and his principal commanders realized by 17 December that the fighting in the Ardennes was a major offensive and not a local counterattack, and they ordered vast reinforcements to the area. Within a week 250,000 troops had been sent. General Gavin of the 82nd Airborne Division arrived on the scene first and ordered the 101st to hold Bastogne while the 82nd would take the more difficult task of facing the SS Panzer Divisions; it was also thrown into the battle north of the bulge, near Elsenborn Ridge.{{citation needed|date=August 2010}}

===Siege of Bastogne===
{{Main|Siege of Bastogne}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J28589, Kriegsgefangene amerikanische Soldaten.jpg|thumb|U.S. [[Prisoner of War|POWs]] on 22 December 1944]]

Senior Allied commanders met in a bunker in [[Verdun-sur-Meuse|Verdun]] on 19 December. By this time, the town of Bastogne and its network of 11 hard-topped roads leading through the widely forested mountainous terrain with deep river valleys and boggy mud of the Ardennes region was under severe threat. Bastogne had previously been the site of the [[VIII Corps (United States)|VIII Corps]] headquarters. Two separate westbound German columns that were to have bypassed the town to the south and north, the [[2nd Panzer Division]] and [[Panzer-Lehr-Division]] of XLVII Panzer Corps, as well as the Corps' infantry ([[26th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|26th Volksgrenadier Division]]), coming due west had been engaged and much slowed and frustrated in outlying battles at defensive positions up to {{convert|10|mi|order=flip|sp=us}} from the town proper, but these defensive positions were gradually being forced back onto and into the hasty defenses built within the municipality. Moreover, the sole corridor that was open (to the southeast) was threatened and it had been sporadically closed as the front shifted, and there was expectation that it would be completely closed sooner than later, given the strong likelihood that the town would soon be surrounded.{{citation needed|date=August 2010}}

Gen. Eisenhower, realizing that the Allies could destroy German forces much more easily when they were out in the open and on the offensive than if they were on the defensive, told his generals, "The present situation is to be regarded as one of opportunity for us and not of disaster. There will be only cheerful faces at this table." Patton, realizing what Eisenhower implied, responded, "Hell, let's have the guts to let the bastards go all the way to Paris. Then, we'll really cut 'em off and chew 'em up." Eisenhower, after saying he was not that optimistic, asked Patton how long it would take to turn his Third Army, located in northeastern France, north to counterattack. To the disbelief of the other generals present, Patton replied that he could attack with two divisions within 48 hours. Unknown to the other officers present, before he left, Patton had ordered his staff to prepare three contingency plans for a northward turn in at least corps strength. By the time Eisenhower asked him how long it would take, the movement was already underway.{{sfn|Ambrose|1998|p=208}} On 20 December, Eisenhower removed the First and Ninth U.S. Armies from Gen. Bradley's [[12th Army Group]] and placed them under Montgomery's [[British 21st Army Group|21st Army Group]].{{sfn|MacDonald|1984|p=422}}

[[File:German soldier Ardennes 1944.jpeg|thumb|upright|A German machine gunner marching through the Ardennes in December 1944]]

By 21 December the Germans had surrounded Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division, the all African American [[969th Artillery Battalion (United States)|969th Artillery Battalion]], and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. Conditions inside the perimeter were tough—most of the medical supplies and medical personnel had been captured. Food was scarce, and by 22 December artillery ammunition was restricted to 10 rounds per gun per day. The weather cleared the next day and supplies (primarily ammunition) were dropped over four of the next five days.<ref name="MarshallBastogne">{{harvnb|Marshall|1988|p=172|loc= [https://web.archive.org/web/20080408103155/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Bastogne/bast-21.htm Chapter 21: The Relief]}}</ref>

Despite determined German attacks, the perimeter held. The German commander, Lüttwitz,{{sfn|Marshall|1988|p=177}} requested Bastogne's surrender.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thedropzone.org/europe/Bulge/kinnard.html |title=NUTS! Revisited |publisher=The Drop Zone |access-date=23 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314212756/http://www.thedropzone.org/europe/Bulge/Kinnard.html |archive-date=14 March 2010 |url-status = dead|df=dmy-all }}<!-- This could use a better citation --></ref> When Brig. Gen. [[Anthony McAuliffe]], acting commander of the 101st, was told of the German demand to surrender, in frustration he responded, "Nuts!" After turning to other pressing issues, his staff reminded him that they should reply to the German demand. One officer, Lt. Col. [[Harry Kinnard]], noted that McAuliffe's initial reply would be "tough to beat." Thus McAuliffe wrote on the paper, which was typed up and delivered to the Germans, the line he made famous and a morale booster to his troops: "NUTS!"{{sfn|Ambrose|1992|loc=c. "Bastogne"}} That reply had to be explained, both to the Germans and to non-American Allies.{{efn|[[wikt:Nuts|Nuts]] can mean several things in [[American English]] slang. In this case it signified rejection, and was explained to the Germans as meaning "Go to Hell!"}}

Both 2nd Panzer and Panzer-Lehr division moved forward from Bastogne after 21 December, leaving only Panzer-Lehr division's 901st Regiment to assist the 26th Volksgrenadier-Division in attempting to capture the crossroads. The 26th VG received one {{Lang|de|Panzergrenadier|italic=no}} Regiment from the [[15th Panzergrenadier Division]] on Christmas Eve for its main assault the next day. Because it lacked sufficient troops and those of the 26th VG Division were near exhaustion, the XLVII Panzerkorps concentrated its assault on several individual locations on the west side of the perimeter in sequence rather than launching one simultaneous attack on all sides. The assault, despite initial success by its tanks in penetrating the American line, was defeated and all the tanks destroyed. On the following day of 26 December the spearhead of Gen. Patton's 4th Armored Division, supplemented by the 26th (Yankee) Infantry Division, broke through and opened a corridor to Bastogne.<ref name="MarshallBastogne"/>