Representatives of Allies countries and Germany gathered in Bastogne - a small town in the Belgian Ardennes - on Monday (December 16) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest single engagement for U.S. forces in World War Two.
On December 16, 1944, the Germans used the bad weather and forested hills to launch a surprise attack on the lightly defended 140 km (90 mile) front.
The six-week battle was dubbed the Battle of the Bulge because of the large dent German forces made in the front line as they pushed towards the northern Belgian port of Antwerp, hoping to cut Allied forces in two.
To commemorate 75 years since the beginning of the battle, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Polish President Andrzej Duda joined the Belgian royal couple for a ceremony also attended by representatives of other Allies countries and U.S. war veterans.
Esper paid a tribute to the American forces who fought in Bastogne and Steinmeier repeated Germany's recognition of its responsibility in the conflict, saying they would "pass it on".
The 1944 winter onslaught in the thickly wooded Ardennes region in southern Belgium was one of the bloodiest battles of World War Two, pitting crack German armoured divisions against unprepared and thinly spread U.S. defenders.
The Germans failed when U.S. resistance stiffened and they ran short of fuel to keep the advance going. Clearer weather finally allowed swarms of Allied planes to pound their armour.
The battle was the bloodiest for U.S. forces in World War Two, with almost 90,000 men killed, wounded or missing. There were 100,000 German casualties, one-third of the attacking force.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters