The only sector of the Battle of the Bulge where German forces completely failed to advance, protecting Allied supply lines toward Liège and Antwerp.
Key Facts
- Duration
- Ten days of fierce combat
- US 99th Division front width
- 22 miles (35 km)
- American casualties
- Approximately 5,000
- Peiper survivors returned
- 717 out of ~3,000
- Peiper's maximum advance west
- 46 kilometres (29 mi)
- Elsenborn Ridge elevation
- More than 2,000 feet (600 m)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Germany's Ardennes offensive sought to split Allied lines and seize Antwerp, requiring capture of key routes through Monschau and the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt. The thinly stretched US 99th Infantry Division held a 22-mile front, and the US 2nd Infantry Division was already committed northward at Wahlerscheid when the German assault opened in mid-December 1944.
Over ten days of combat, German forces including the Sixth Panzer Army repeatedly attacked Elsenborn Ridge using combined arms tactics, penetrating American lines several times. The 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions, supported by massed artillery employing proximity fuses and time-on-target strikes, repelled every assault. American commanders even committed clerks and headquarters staff to hold the line around Rocherath-Krinkelt.
The German failure at Elsenborn Ridge forced Kampfgruppe Peiper onto a southern route, where it eventually stalled at Stoumont and was cut off, with Peiper abandoning his vehicles on 24 December. German armored losses could not be replaced, Allied supply bases near Liège and Spa were preserved, and the northern shoulder of the Bulge held firm, contributing to the eventual defeat of the German offensive.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Jochen Peiper.