On This Day: Allies defeat Germans in Battle of the Bulge during one of coldest ever winters

JAN 25, 1945: Allied troops defeated the Nazis’ last major World War II offensive after the Battle of the Bulge ended on this day in 1945 during one the coldest winters in history.

They halted Adolf Hitler’s last desperate gamble to reverse the Wehrmacht’s fortunes after being pushed back to within a mile of the German frontier after D-Day.

Around 200,000 Germans – against 83,000 mostly American soldiers - created a 50-mile bend in the front line, hence the name Bulge for the six-week battle Belgium.

But incredible heroism, including an 18-man U.S. reconnaissance unit who held out against 500 German paratroopers for 12 hours, forced them to once again retreat.

A British Pathé newsreel, released on January 25, 1945 when the last German soldiers had returned to their start line, showed the dire, subzero conditions the troops faced.

Soldiers from the British Second Army are doing their best to defy cold in the snow-covered Ardennes forest, with shaving with ice-cold water.

American and British troops are also seen marching through the recently re-liberated town of La Roche-en-Ardennes, in the French-speaking part of Belgium.

And the report filmed a Belgian café who owner who foiled the Nazi advance by lying to the arriving Germans about the Americans having heavily mining the area.

During their bid to retake the ground they had lost, U.S. troops were shown uncovering the bodies of 84 captured compatriots murdered by an SS unit.

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The propaganda nature of the newsreel is revealed when ordinary German PoWs – not the Nazi shock troops who committed the crime – looking on “without emotion”.

But the battle, which began on December 16, 1944, had been incredibly ferocious and was the largest fought on the Western Front.

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Hitler believed that the less experienced Americans soldiers would collapse in the face of an overwhelming number of battle-hardened Germans.

He also gambled that the atrocious weather, the coldest winter in decades, would work in their favour as the Americans would struggle to launch air strikes.

Lastly, the Nazi dictator calculated correctly that there would be relatively few Allied troops defending the hilly and tree-covered Ardennes region.

The Allies believed that Germany would never launch an offensive through such tough terrain, despite invading France via the forest at the start of both world wars.

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And so the German attack did indeed surprise the Americans and British - and it achieved a lot of success initially.

Around 20,000 Americans were captured – notably 7,500 members of the 106th Infantry Division – during the early days of the battle.

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They included novelist Kurt Vonnegut who based his book Slaughterhouse Five on his experiences as a prisoner of war.

The Germans also caused widespread chaos and suspicion after English-speaking commandos impersonated U.S. troops by wearing captured uniforms.

Even General Omar Bradley himself had to prove his identity - by answering three questions about state capitals, American football and the movie star Betty Grable - before being allowed to pass a sentry point.

But the Allies also provided tremendous resistance.

Hastily assembled British forces held three Meuse River bridges and the U.S. 101st Airborne Division defended the fortress city of Bastogne against overwhelming odds.

More impressive yet was the then little known feat by the American Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division.

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The inexperienced unit of 18 men, led by Lieutenant Lyle Bouck, were awaiting infantry reinforcements when they faced the spearhead of the German attack.

Having been ordered to hold their ground at all cost, the platoon delayed the arrival of enemy tanks at Lanzerath Ridge by 24 hours – with only one killed.

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The 500-strong unit of elite German paratroopers – who sustained 92 casualties before capturing the unit – believed they were fighting hundreds in the snow-covered woods.

In the end, the Battle of the Bulge cost the Nazis dearly – losing 100,000 of their best troops and 600 tanks – and enabled the Allies to press on into Germany.

Within three and a half months Germany had been defeated and the war was over.