Operation Watch am Rhine

Tuesday morning 16 Decemberat 5:30 AM local time, in Bastogne, Belgium, bells will ring, as they do every year. These mark the start of one of the costliest battles in World War II.

Operation Watch am Rhine. The Ardennes Offensive. The Battle of the Bulge. It ran from 16 December 1944 through 25 January 1945.

This is how the National World War Two museum in New Orleans sums up The Battle of the Bulge.

On December 16, 1944, the German army launched a massive offensive in the Ardennes Forest. The Battle of the Bulge would be the largest engagement ever fought by the US Army—and ultimately hasten the end of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

It gave rise to some things like The Malmedy Massacre, in which eighty-four American POWs were murdered by the German SS.

This is the WW2 Tales video Germans Mocked Americans Trapped At Bastogne — Then Patton's Tanks Broke Through The Snow. It is 45 minutes long, so plan accordingly. I can't embed videos from WW2 Tales, but that link will get you there, and the video is less interesting than the audio in any case.

Winston Churchill addressing Parliament in January 1945 declared, "This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever famous American victory." Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery admitted, "The Americans at Bastogne wrote one of the finest chapters in military history. Their stand will be remembered as long as men honor courage."

Vincent Sparansa was an American paratroop who brought beer from the local brewery to wounded soldier in Bastogne. The town brewery created Airborne Beer in his honor. Vincent visited the town many times. His last visit was in 2019; he was 96 years old. He gave the following toast

To the boys who didn't come home, to the people who never forgot, to freedom.

For more on the Battle of Bulge from the view point of German Logistical nightmares, see Modern Warfare is Logistical Problem.