Elsenborn Ridge - Strategy and Leadership

Strategy and Leadership

The plan and timing for the Ardennes attack sprang purely from the mind of Adolf Hitler. He believed a critical fault line existed between the British and American military commands, and that a heavy blow on the Western Front would shatter this alliance. Planning for the “Watch on the Rhine” offensive emphasized secrecy and the commitment of overwhelming force. Due to the use of landline communications within Germany, motorized runners carrying orders, and draconian threats from Hitler, the timing and mass of the attack was not detected by ULTRA codebreakers and achieved complete surprise. The allied leadership never saw it coming.

Hitler had always resented the blue-blood Prussian leadership of the German army. So, when selecting leadership for the attack, he felt that the implementation of this decisive blow should be entrusted to his own private army, the Waffen SS. Ever since German regular Army officers attempted to assassinate him, he had increasingly trusted only the Waffen SS. After the invasion of Normandy, the SS armored units had suffered significant leadership casualties. These losses included SS Major General Kurt Meyer, commander of the 12th SS Panzer Division, captured by Belgian partisans on September 6, 1944. The tactical efficiency of these units were somewhat reduced. The strong right flank of the assault was therefore composed mostly of SS Divisions under the command of Sepp Dietrich, a political ally of Hitler, and a loyal follower from the early days of the rise of National Socialism in Germany. The leadership composition of the Sixth Panzer Division had a distinctly political theme. It was also more lavishly equipped than 5th Panzer Army to the south, and given the shortest route to the ultimate objective of the offensive, Antwerp.

None of the German field commanders entrusted with planning and executing the offensive believed it was possible to capture Antwerp. Even Sepp Dietrich, commanding the strongest arm of the attack, felt that the Ardennes was a poor area for armored warfare, and that the inexperienced Volksgrenadier units would clog the roads that the tanks would need for their rapid advance. In this Dietrich was proved correct. The horse drawn artillery and rocket units were a significant obstacle to the tanks. Other than making futile objections to Hitler in private, he generally stayed out of the planning for the offensive. Model and Manteuffel, the technical experts from the eastern front, took the view that a limited offensive with the goal of surrounding and crushing the American 1st Army would be the best the offensive could hope for. These revisions shared the same fate as Dietrich’s objections. In the end, the headlong drive on Elsenborn Ridge would not benefit from support from German units that had already bypassed the ridge. The decision to stop the attacks on the twin villages and change the axis of the attacks southward to the hamlet of Domäne Bütgenbach, was also made by Dietrich. This decision played into American hands, as Robertson had already decided to abandon the villages. However, the staff planning and organization of the attack was well done; most of the units committed to the offensive reached their jump off points undetected and were well organized and supplied for the attack.

On the American side, most of the upper levels of leadership above division level took themselves out of the battle due to poor handling of intelligence, and the decision not to provide a mobile reserve force for meeting unforeseen contingencies. One of the fault lines between the British and American high commands was General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s commitment to a broad front advance with no strategic reserve. This view was opposed by the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, who promoted a rapid advance on a narrow front, with the other allied armies in reserve. This basic disagreement was the wedge Hitler hoped to exploit with his counteroffensive, and the fact that a breakthrough was achieved seemed to justify the British objections. Also the British remembered a similar German armored counterattack at Kasserine Pass in North Africa, where the American army was routed by the German strike, once again confirming the British conservative view of strategy. The abrasive British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery was quick to widen this gap with characteristically inflammatory correspondence and public pronouncements, and a major break with the U.S. command seemed in the offing. Major General Freddie de Guingand, a staff member of Montgomery’s 21st Army Group, brilliantly rose to the occasion, and personally smoothed over the crisis on December 30.

Fortunately for the defense of Elsenborn ridge, Gerow, the commander of the American 5th Corps recognized the magnitude of the attack. He ordered the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division to stop its attack toward Wahlerscheid and pull back to the high ground of Elsenborn Ridge. Robertson, Commander of the 2nd Division, was skillful enough to make this difficult maneuver, and consolidate a defense line that held the line before the ridge. Another important contribution was that of Colonel Oscar A. Axelson, who released the proximity fuse for immediate use by the artillery, despite its secret status. This technical edge made U.S. artillery much more effective than it would have been. From the standpoint of leadership though, the fact that General Robertson was willing to undertake the responsibility of holding the line, and stand that line himself seemed to tip the balance of victory on Elsenborn Ridge.