He led an American style blitzkrieg through France, which would lead to the destruction of Germany's Western Front.Īt the end of 1944, Hitler's armies were swept out of France leaving them with their backs against the Rhine the last natural obstacle before the Allied armies advanced into the heart of Germany.Īllied victory euphoria could not have been greater at the end of 1944. On the western front American General George S Patton's Third Army broke out of the Normandy bridgehead. By destroying 28 out of the 34 divisions which made up their Army Group Center, the Red Army completely shattered the German Eastern Front, killing or wounding around 450,000 German soldiers. In the summer of 1944, the Soviet Union inflicted the most devastating defeat in German military history. In the east, the Red Army crushed German Army Group Center in Operation Bagration forcing its armies to retreat westward over 300 miles to the gates of Warsaw putting the Soviets within striking distance of Berlin. In the three months after the Normandy landings the Wehrmacht lost 589,425 men on the eastern front, and 156,726 in the west. Hitler's battered legions were now faced with a two-front war. On June 6, the regiment had consisted of 3,080 men. In later life, Salinger frequently mentioned Normandy, but he never spoke of the details- “as if,” his daughter later recalled, “I understood the implications, the unspoken.”Īfter meeting up with the regiment, Salinger would spend the next 26 days in combat. The experience of war gave his writing a depth and maturity it had lacked the legacy of that experience is present even in work that is not about war at all. On D-day as Salinger landed on Utah Beach and had six unpublished Caulfield stories in his possession, stories that would form the spine of The Catcher in the Rye. In June 1944, 156,000 British, Canadian, and American troops successfully landed in France on the beaches of Normandy along the English Channel.
#BLITZKRIEG 3 BATTLE OF THE BULGE SERIES#
In 1944 Hitler's armies were dealt a series of staggering defeats.
Afterward, Hitler could focus all his forces on the Red Army which was approaching the very gates of Berlin.ġ / 4 Downfall of the Third Reich: Salinger's Nig German armies would then proceed to encircle and Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favor.
Hitler's goal for the attack was to split the British and American line in half and capture the strategically important port city of Antwerp. Over 1600 American soldiers a day would die during the battle. The counter-offensive would become known by several different names, but it became best known as the "Battle of the Bulge." A phrase given to it by the American press who described the attack by the way the Allied front bulged inward on wartime news maps.īefore the battle ended it would involve over 600,000 American soldiers of which some 89,000 would become casualties of war. Hitler's plan was to kill as many American soldiers as possible, fracturing the Allied line and destroying all Allied armies along the western border of Germany. His last roll of the dice would take place in the remote forest of Belgium and Luxemburg. To their surprise Adolf Hitler still considered the war still winnable.
Bulge - as it Really Was, Simulating the Art of War - part 2, Confessions of a Game-aholic.On the home front to most Americans the war in Europe was over, most Allied leaders considered Germany defeated, virtually a house of cards on the verge of collapse. Luftwaffe, 1914, Anzio, Battle of the Bulge, Waterloo, Afrika Korps, Panzer Blitz, Stalingrad. Then there Was., The Honor System, The Omniscient Wargamer, Simulating the Art of War, Simutaneous Movement for the Masses. The Decisive Arm.ġ914, D-Day, Waterloo, Blitzkrieg, Afrika Korps, Battle of the Bulge, Stalingrad, Jutland, Midway.ĭ_Day, Waterloo, Tactics II, Stalingrad, Jutland. Panzer Blitz, Kriegspiel, Blitzkrieg, Anzio, Battle of the Bulge, Jutland, D-Day, Stalingrad.
Earliest Known "Troop Counters", Club of the Month, Realism and Play Balance, Offense vs Defense. For Want of a Horseshoe Nail, Concealed Movement Madness, Analysis of Terrain, Italy.1, Italy.2.īattle of the Bulge, Anzio, Jutland, Guadalcanal, Blitzkrieg, Waterloo. Avalon Hill | The General Magazine | v7 Avalon Hill | General magazine projectīattle of the Bulge, 1914, D_Day, Blitzkrieg, Anzio, Afrika Korps.