The Battle of the Bulge itself was often very chaotic and disorganized. It spread across an 80-mile front and invloved hundreds of thousands of people over the course of a month. So there is a mass of detail about such an event. These are a few ways of organizing this data, so that the relative place of any one person or unit or town can be seen in one or more perspectives of the whole.

Axes of Attack (Geographical - North/South)

Hitler's plan (the attack was conceived and directed by him, and not by Von Runstedt) was for the main assault to be in the center, carrying through to Antwerp, Belgium, cutting off the British, Canadian and Ninth US Army troops to the north. On the right and the left, the plan was to protect the flanks of the assault force and prevent American reinforcements from coming to the aid of their comrades in the central axis of the attack. Thus one central organizing theme of this page is along these three axes.

Stages of the Battle (Chronological)

Another principal is that events fall into roughly five periods:

1. Dec. 16: The initial attack (and events leading up to it);l shoulders form
2. Dec. 17-21: The fall of St. Vith and destruction of Kampfgruppe Peiper; shoulders hold
3. Dec. 21-28?: The last of the offensive: the battle at the tip of the Bulge; shoulders hold
4. Dec. 29-Jan. 16: Closing the western center of the salient
5. Jan. 17-25: Closing the rest of the salient