German Propaganda Footage about the Ardennes Offensive- 4 January 1945

The Ardennes Offensive, in English also known as “Battle of the Bulge”, officially called “Operation Wacht am Rhein” was one of the last major German offensives of WWII. Driven by wrong political and diplomatic conclusions, Hitler believed that the Coalition of the Western Allies was close to collapsing in mid/late 1944, and all that was needed was one crucial victory. He therefore ordered the last German reserves to be mobilized for a large offensive in the Ardennes region, which was planned from September 1944 onwards. The goal was to inflict a major loss on the Allies and capture the important port of Antwerp. Three German armies, the 6th and 5th Tank Armies and the 7th Army, totaling around 220,000 soldiers, 550 tanks and 700 assault guns, attacked on December 16th, 1944, in the Ardennes region in Belgium/Luxembourg. The Allies, who didn’t thought Germany was still able of launching a major offensive, had only weak forces in that area, around four divisions and a few other unit