Wacht Am Rhein
The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. was given a brief respite, but received virtually no reinforcements or equipment. The division was soon thrown back into battle and took part in the fighting withdrawal to the Franco-Belgian border. On 6 September, Kurt Meyer was captured by Belgian partisans. Meyer had removed his SS uniform and was wearing the uniform of a regular German army officer. In the confusion of the withdrawal, the division was unable to undertake a rescue attempt. Obersturmbannführer, Hubert Meyer was placed in command of the division.
In November 1944, the division was pulled out of the line and sent to Nienburg in Germany, where it was to be reformed. The majority of the much-needed reinforcements were transferred Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine personnel, and the reformed division would never match the elite status it had boasted in the spring of 1944. Late in the month, Hubert Meyer was replaced by Obersturmbannführer Hugo Kraas, and the division was attached to Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army, which was forming up for Operation Wacht am Rhein (the Second Battle of the Ardennes, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge), a large-scale offensive to recapture Antwerp, halt the Allied advance, and split the Anglo-American alliance.
The operation opened on 16 December 1944, with Kampfgruppe Peiper from the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler leading the assault, breaking through the American lines with some difficulty. The 12th SS, which was to follow the Kampfgruppe and exploit the breakthrough, became bogged down in traffic jams caused by the 12th Volksgrenadier-Division. When the division reached the front, it was met with heavy resistance from American troops stationed on the Elsenborn Ridge. Despite repeated intense efforts, the division could not budge the American defenders. As a result, the division was ordered to swing left and follow the advance line of the remainder of the 1st SS Panzer Division. American defenders prevented the division from reaching its objective, and after the destruction of Kampfgruppe Peiper, the advance of Dietrich's army altogether was stopped. As the year came to an end, so did the advance of the division. On 8 January Hitler admitted defeat and gave authorization to withdraw. The 12th SS was in a bad condition with a strength of 26 tanks and assault guns and an average of 120 men in each Panzergrenadier battalion. In total during the offensive the division had lost 9,870 men which included 328 officers and 1,698 NCO's By 28 January 1945, the 12th SS, along with all the German forces, had been pushed back to its starting positions.
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