[henkster]

The American offensive north of Aachen continues. The Germans commit 9th Panzer and 15th Panzergrenadier Divisions in a counter attack. One other thing to notice in the upper right corner, is the HQ of "Gruppe von Manteuffel" which is formed from the HQ of 15th Army transferred from Holland. Gruppe von Manteuffel is a way of keeping the allies unaware of the transfer of 15th Army to the sector held by 5th Panzer Army. It takes the name of the commander of 5th Panzer Army to conceal the transfer of 5th Panzer Army HQ south to the Ardennes. Even at the height of this very heavy American offensive, the Germans are still carrying out their preparations for the Ardennes Offensive.

Here is the southern wing of that same major offensive.

Patton's Third Army approaches the Saar region. You will note that the three mobile formations of German First Army in this sector, 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, 21st Panzer Division, and Panzer Brigade 106, have a combined total of exactly two Panther tanks and one assault gun between them.

The southern wing of Patton's advance against 11th Panzer Division, which actually has 11 tanks and assault guns. The German map claims to have repulsed and American assault and taken 250 Americans as POWs. I'm not so sure this is accurate.

[PapaNew]

Some questions about the upcoming major German counterattack in the Ardennes.

Is there any evidence that anyone on the Allied side had a whiff of the planned German counterattack? If not now, is there evidence someone later thought this would happen before the actual counterattack but was ignored?

Why the Ardennes? Was that for some reason a region not covered by the Allied push?

Is there evidence the Germans actually had a chance of winning this thing if the Allies with the critical aid of Allied reinforcements had not successfully repelled the counterattack? Even if the Germans had managed to punch through, couldn’t the Allies have closed in around the German offensive creating a huge trap, especially with the help of Allied air superiority? Maybe it was doomed from the start.