Editing Blitzkrieg (section)

===Western Front, 1944–1945===
Allied armies began using combined-arms formations and deep-penetration strategies that Germany had used in the opening years of the war. Many Allied operations [[North African campaign|in the Western Desert]] and on the Eastern Front, relied on firepower to establish breakthroughs by fast-moving armored units. The artillery-based tactics were also decisive in Western Front operations after 1944's [[Operation Overlord]], and the British Commonwealth and American armies developed flexible and powerful systems for using artillery support. What the Soviets lacked in flexibility, they made up for in number of [[Katyusha rocket launcher|rocket launchers]], guns and mortars. The Germans never achieved the kind of fire concentrations that their enemies were achieving 1944.{{sfn|Keegan|2005|p=48}}

After the Allied landings in [[Normandy Landings|Normandy]] (June 1944), the Germans began a counter-offensive to overwhelm the landing force with armored attacks, but they failed because of a lack of co-ordination and to Allied superiority in anti-tank defense and in the air. The most notable attempt to use deep-penetration operations in Normandy was [[Operation Luttich]] at Mortain, which only hastened the [[Falaise Pocket]] and the destruction of German forces in Normandy. The Mortain counter-attack was defeated by the American 12th Army Group with little effect on its own offensive operations.{{sfn|Keegan|2005|pp=632–633}}

The last German offensive on the Western front, the [[Battle of the Bulge]] (Operation Wacht am Rhein), was an offensive launched towards the port of [[Antwerp]] in December 1944. Launched in poor weather against a thinly-held Allied sector, it achieved surprise and initial success as Allied air-power was grounded due to cloud cover. Determined defense by American troops in places throughout the Ardennes, the lack of good roads and German supply shortages caused delays. Allied forces deployed to the flanks of the German penetration, and as soon as the skies cleared, Allied aircraft returned to the battlefield. Allied counter-attacks soon forced back the Germans, who abandoned much equipment for lack of fuel.{{citation needed|date= July 2013 |reason=invalid ref: Holmes not found in bibliography}}