Anticipating the upcoming Battle of the Bulge: Do you know if anyone on the Allies’ side actually predicted an all-out German winter offensive on the western front? If so, did anyone get either the date or location correct, even roughly? I recall the ‘Patton’ movie attributed such a prediction to him, but was it in fact true of anyone?
The short answer is yes, some intelligence officers predicted a German winter offensive, but not with great exactitude. When I check my sources at home this evening, I will provide more detail.
My memory says that it was Patton’s intelligence people who warned of a German attack in the Ardennes.
The First Army G-2 Col. “Monk” Dickson probably came closest to predicting the Ardennes offensive. He had the number of divisions about right but was looking at north of Aachen IIRC.
There was quite a bit of intel that was available to twig the Allies that something was in the works but I think the Allies were convinced that the Germans were beaten.
Also the German security measures were very effective as none of the rank and file soldiers were even aware of the offensive until just before the attack began.
If you can get hold of “a Time for Trumpets” by Charles MacDonald one of the very first chapters deals with the intelligence efforts of both the Allies and the Germans
Regards
alfa6 ;>}