The Battle of Elsenborn Ridge refers to the northernmost German attacks during the Battle of the Bulge. The area from Elsenborn Ridge itself to Monschau was the only sector of the American front line attacked during the Battle of the Bulge in which the Germans failed to advance. The battle centred on the boomerang-shaped Elsenborn Ridge east of Elsenborn, Belgium. In this region, Elsenborn Ridge marks the westernmost ridge of the Ardennes, rising more than 2,000 feet (600 m) above sea level; unlike the uplands further north, east and south, it has been extensively logged. West of Elsenborn Ridge, where the land descends in gentle hills to the cities of Liège and Spa, was a network of Allied supply bases and a well-developed road network. The Germans planned on using two key routes through the area to seize Antwerp and force a separate peace with the United States and Britain. Capturing Monschau, the nearby village of Höfen, and the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt just east of Elsenborn Ridge, were key to the success of the German plans, and Hitler committed his best armored units to the area.
The untested troops of the US 99th Infantry Division had been placed in the sector during mid-November because the Allies thought that the area was unlikely to see battle. The division was stretched thin over a 22-mile (35 km) front, and all three regiments were in the line with no reserve. In early December, the 2nd Infantry Division was assigned to capture a road junction named Wahlerscheid, at the southern tip of the Hurtgen Forest. German forces counterattacked in what the Americans initially thought was a localized spoiling action, but was actually a leading element of the Battle of the Bulge. The 2nd Division consolidated its lines, pulling back into Hünningen, then Rocherath-Krinkelt, and finally to the dug-in positions held by the 99th Division at Elsenborn Ridge.
In a fierce battle lasting ten days, the American and German lines were often confused. During the first three days, the battle raged in and around Rocherath-Krinkelt. Attacking Elsenborn Ridge itself, the Germans employed effective combined arms tactics and penetrated the American lines several times, but their attacks were not well coordinated and were frustrated by the rugged terrain and the built-up area. To push the Germans back, the U.S. Army called in indirect fire on their own positions, and at one point rushed clerks and headquarters personnel to reinforce their lines. The Americans had positioned considerable artillery behind Elsenborn Ridge and these artillery batteries repeatedly pounded the German advance. The Germans, although possessing superior armor and numbers, were held in check by the Americans' well-prepared defensive positions, new proximity fuses for artillery shells, and innovative tactics, which included coordinated time on target artillery strikes.
The Sixth Panzer Army was unable to take its immediate objectives on the Meuse River. The stubborn American resistance forced Kampfgruppe Peiper to choose an alternative route well south of Monschau and Elsenborn Ridge. Peiper was able to advance about 46 kilometres (29 mi) west to Stoumont before his column was stopped by the 2nd Infantry Division, 30th Infantry Division, and the 82nd Airborne. In the end he ran out of fuel and ammunition. On 24 December, Peiper abandoned his vehicles and retreated with the remaining 800 men. German wounded and American prisoners were also left behind. According to Peiper, 717 men returned to the German lines out of about 3,000 at the beginning of the operation.
During the battle the Americans suffered approximately 5,000 casualties, and many more wounded; exact German losses are not known, but they included a significant amount of armored vehicles. While the Americans had considerable supplies and enough troops to replace their losses, German losses could not be replaced.
Background
"We gamble everything!" were the words used by Gerd von Rundstedt, commander-in-chief of the German Western Front, to describe Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Watch on the Rhine"). Adolf Hitler first officially outlined his surprise counter-offensive to his astonished generals on 16 September 1944. The assault's ambitious goal was to pierce the thinly held lines of the U.S. First Army between Monschau and Wasserbillig with Army Group B (Model) by the end of the first day, get the armor through the Ardennes by the end of the second day, reach the Meuse between Liège and Dinant by the third day, and seize Antwerp and the western bank of the Schelde estuary by the fourth day. The Germans had designated five routes, or rollbahns, through the sector near Elsenborn that would give them direct access to the road network leading to the port of Antwerp; capturing this would split the American and British armies. Hitler believed the attack would inflame rivalries between the Americans and the British, and that the two countries would negotiate a peace as a result. His generals tried to persuade him to set a less ambitious goal, but he was adamant. As they had done in 1914 and 1940, the Germans planned to attack through the Losheim Gap in Belgium.
German units
Sixth Panzer Army armored strength
Forces deployed north to south:
Hitler personally selected the best troops available and officers he trusted for the counter-offensive. The lead role was given to Sepp Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army, while 5th Panzer Army was to attack to their south, covering their flank. 6th Panzer Army was given priority for supply and equipment and was assigned the shortest route to the ultimate objective of the offensive, Antwerp. 6th Panzer Army included the elite of the Waffen-SS, and totalled four armored, or panzer, divisions and seven infantry divisions in three corps. 6th Panzer Army's 1,000-plus artillery pieces and 90 Tiger tanks made it the strongest force deployed. Although Dietrich's initial sector frontage was only 23 miles (37 km), his assault concentrated on less than half that ground. Relying on at least a 6:1 troop superiority at the breakthrough points, he expected to overwhelm the Americans and reach the Meuse River by nightfall of the third day. The German assault force also included many volksgrenadier units. These were new units formed in the fall of 1944 by conscripting boys and elderly men, men previously rejected as physically unfit for service, wounded soldiers returning from hospitals, and transfers from the quickly shrinking German navy and air force. They were usually organized around cadres of veterans.
Von Rundstedt believed the operation would decide the outcome of the war. A German document captured by the 394th Infantry Regiment on 16 December contained his orders:
Soldiers of the West Front: Your great hour has struck. Strong attacking armies are advancing today against the Anglo-Americans. I don't need to say more to you. You all feel it. Everything is at stake. You bear in yourselves a holy duty to give everything and to achieve the superhuman for our fatherland and our Fuhrer!
German dispositions
The Sixth Panzer Army commanded by Dietrich comprised three corps containing nine divisions.
- The LXVII Armeekorps included the 326th, 272nd and 246th Volksgrenadier divisions.
- I SS Panzer Corps had been formed from Hitler's personal bodyguard regiment. It included the 1st SS Panzer, 12th SS Panzer, 12th Volksgrenadier, 277th Volksgrenadier, and 3rd Fallschirmjäger divisions.
- II SS Panzer Corps were in reserve. It was made up of the 2nd SS and 9th SS Panzer divisions.
The LXVII Armeekorps commanded by General der Infanterie Otto Hitzfeld were ordered to the region around Monschau. Their sector covered about 32 kilometres (20 mi), from a point just south of Vossenack, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Monschau, to southeast of Camp d'Elsenborn in the south. The 326th was designated to take the area north and south of Monschau. The 246th and 3rd Panzergrenadier Division were tasked with taking Höfen and Monschau and nearby villages and then driving northwest to seize the Eupen road, which would allow I SS Panzer Corps to attack west over Rollbahn B.
I SS Panzer Corps, positioned south of LXVII Armeekorps, had the primary responsibility for breaking through the Allied lines and reaching the Meuse River and then Antwerp. Its 12th SS Panzer Division was composed of junior officers and enlisted men who had been drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while its senior non-commissioned officers and officers were generally veterans of the Eastern Front. It was assigned the job of breaking through to an east–west road in the northern sector of the Ardennes, code-named Rollbahn B, through Spa.
The 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division and 12th Volksgrenadier Division were responsible for opening the way to Rollbahn D for SS Standartenführer Joachim Peiper's Kampfgruppe Peiper, the lead element of 1st SS Panzer Division.
According to Dietrich's plan, LXVII Armeekorps would secure 6th Panzer Army's northern flank. By sidestepping Monschau to seize the area of poor roads, forested hills, and upland moors of the Hohe Venn, LXVII's divisions would block the main roads leading into the breakthrough area from the north and west. Simultaneously, I SS Panzer Corps to the south would use its three infantry divisions to punch holes in the American line and swing northwest to join the left flank of LXVII Corps. Together, the infantry divisions would form a solid shoulder, behind which the tanks of I and II SS Panzer Corps would advance along 6th Panzer Army's routes leading west and northwest.
To maximize the speed of the operation, and to avoid potential bottlenecks and logistical confusion, the two armored divisions of 1st SS Panzer Corps were assigned separate routes west. 12th SS Panzer Division was to utilize three routes (Rollbahn A, B and C) to the north through Elsenborn, Bütgenbach, Malmedy, Spa, and Liège. 1st SS Panzer Division was given two routes in the south (Rollbahn D and E) through Losheim, Lieugneville, Vielsalm, Werbomont and Huy. The German plan of advance included Rollbahn A passing through a crossroads in the center of Rocherath and Rollbahn B skirting the southern edge of Krinkelt and continuing on toward Wirtzfeld. The Germans' first objective was to break through the defending line of the inexperienced 99th Infantry Division and the positions of the battle-hardened 2nd Infantry Division. Once they broke through the Americans, they needed to seize Elsenborn Ridge so they could control the roads to the south and west and ensure supply to the German troops.
The plan also included Operation Stößer, a paratrooper drop behind American lines in the High Fens at the Baraque Michel crossroads 7 miles (11 km) north of Malmedy. Its objective was to seize terrain and bridges ahead of the main body after the two corps broke through the American defenses. The drop was set for 03:00 on 17 December and the units dropped were ordered to hold the crossroads for 24 hours until the arrival of 12th SS Panzer Division.
Dietrich planned to commit his third corps, II SS Panzer Corps in the second wave. Once I SS Panzer had broken the American lines, II SS Panzer would exploit the opening. Among the thirty-eight Waffen-SS divisions, these were among the most elite units.
Initial Allied positions
Monschau, on the northernmost sector of the German attack, was an essential objective of their offensive; a key road led northwest 27 kilometres (17 mi) to Eupen where V Corps headquarters was located. That same road continued 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) further to Liège where General Courtney Hodges maintained First Army Headquarters. This included several large supply depots in the Namur-Liège areas. On 16 December, the only combat unit guarding the highway to Eupen was 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron.
Except for their positions around Höfen, 99th Division and its three regiments, 393rd, 394th and 395th, were positioned within towns and villages to the east and south of Elsenborn Ridge and in the thick coniferous forest around them. The division had not yet fired its weapons in combat. There were insufficient troops to man defensive positions along the entire front, and the Americans could only maintain a series of strong points. Each regiment was responsible for protecting approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) of front, roughly equivalent to one front-line infantry man every 90 metres (300 ft). There were undefended gaps in many places along the line that could only be patrolled. There were no units in reserve. Lt. Col. McClernand Butler, commanding officer of the 395th, later wrote:
That is three to four times wider than recommended by Army textbooks. I never dreamed that we would have a defensive position of this size without any backup or help from our division or regiment. When I got to Höfen, I found the area too big to cover in one afternoon. So I stayed in the village overnight.
With such a long front to watch over, Maj. Gen. Walter E. Lauer found it necessary to place all three regiments of his division in the frontline. 1st and 3rd Battalions of 395th Infantry Regiment in the north, about 600 front-line infantry men, held a position about 6,000 yards (5,500 m) long and had no units in reserve. The infantry at Höfen occupied a line of foxholes along 900 metres (3,000 ft) of the front to the east of the village, backed up by dug-in support positions.
99th Infantry Division used the relatively quiet period to prepare an extensive defensive system, including redundant lines of communication, precise positioning of weapons to provide interlocking grazing fire, and aggressive patrols that kept the Germans off guard. They also carefully integrated artillery support; registered on likely targets based on probable enemy approaches. 393rd Regiment held the center and 394th watched over the south. By mid-December, the troops were well dug in and had wired their positions with barbed wire and trip flares. They covered their fox holes with felled timber. The weather was unusually calm and cold. Between 19 December 1944 and 31 January 1945, the average maximum temperature at the front lines in Europe was 33.5 °F. (0.83 °C.), and the average minimum temperature 22.6 °F. (−5.2 °C.).
The American defensive line in the Ardennes had a gap south of Losheimergraben. General Leonard T. Gerow, in command of V Corps, recognized it as a possible avenue of attack by the Germans. This area, which lay between V Corps and Troy H. Middleton's VIII Corps to its south, was undefended apart from jeep patrols.
Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads
The Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads, part of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, in turn part of the attempt to capture the Roer River dams, was fought at a crossroads near the Siegfried Line that ran along the Hoefen-Alzen and Dreiborn ridges, about 5.6 miles (9.0 km) north of Krinkelt-Rocherath. In early December, the experienced 2nd Infantry Division was tasked with capturing the crossroads. After attacking for two days without result, on 14 December two squads found a way through the well-emplaced German guns on the south side of the road. They cut the barbed wire and forged a path between the German defenses. They penetrated a trench line behind the pillboxes and held off German patrols for five hours, but when darkness fell they returned to the American lines. On 15 December, an American patrol advanced once more through the breach in the barbed wire and captured a portion of the trench line. They alerted the regimental command post, and Lieutenant Colonel Walter M. Higgins, Jr, commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, led two companies into the trenches behind the pillboxes. By the early morning of 16 December, 9th Infantry Regiment pressed the attack another 1,500 yards (1,400 m) against stubborn resistance, capturing the crossroads and the road network around it. They had insufficient TNT to destroy the pillboxes.