Unternehmen Wacht Am Rhein Begins

On 15 Dec., the eve of the historic offensive, code-named Wacht Am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine) Hitler held a final conference with his staff at his new temporary headquarters, the Führerhauptquartier ‘Adlerhorst’, located bear Bad Nauheim, north of Frankfurt. Reports confirmed several days of bad weather could be expected, effectively grounding enemy aircraft. That evening he dined with his secretaries and as he retired at 0500 hours, one hundred miles to the west, thousands of German troops attacked along a weakly held eighty-five mile sector of the four hundred and fifty miles of British-American front.
Hitler’s last gamble in the West has begun.