During their short history, airborne forces around the world have rightly earned a reputation as elite troops, and the part of that reputation that is due to defensive operations carried out under the worst possible conditions is not thin. Such were the magnificent efforts deployed at Cassino by the 1st Div. German Para and in Arnhem by the 1st Div. airborne troops.
Elite units, confident in their own superiority, the airborne troops during the Second World War seemed capable of exploits beyond their real possibilities, particularly in the event of defensive operations when all seemed lost; this is how the epic that was the resistance of the 101st Div. American airborne in Bastogne undoubtedly deserves to find a place among the achievements of the airborne troops.
At the end of 1944, the German armies were caught between two fires:in the East, the Soviets, numerous and well equipped, forced their way towards the center of Germany, while in the West the Allies pushed towards the last line of enemy defence:the Rhine. Adventurous as always, Hitler, refusing to hear any talk of surrender, decided to play it all on a last-ditch move against the Western Allies. The last large German armored formations, heavily reinforced, were to be concentrated in secret in the Ardennes, from where they were to rush in the direction of Antwerp, one of the most important Allied supply ports. The Allied forces having been cut in two again, as in 1940, the troops isolated to the north of the corridor traced by the Germans would then be destroyed. The plan was wildly ambitious, but if all had gone well the Allies would have been badly shaken. The success of the operation that would become the "Battle of the Bulge" depended entirely on three factors:a rapid initial breakthrough, the immediate capture of the major Allied fuel depots and communications nodes between Saint-Vith in the north and Bastogne. to the south, and then widening the gap so that the necessary German forces could surge through Belgium.
None of these conditions were to be fulfilled, and it was the brilliant defense of Bastogne by the 101st Div. airborne which cost the Germans the second.
The German offensive, which was launched by eight Panzer-divisions of the 6th S.S. and 5th Panzerarmies, broke through the weak American defenses on December 16, 1944. Allied intelligence had generally not believed in the possibility of a major German offensive, particularly in the Ardennes, and the sector was held only by formations of mediocre value and by units recovering from the efforts made in the during previous Allied offensives.
The ineffectiveness of the defenses which were poor in heavy weapons initially allowed the Germans to make rapid progress. During these terrible first hours, only the stubborn defense of the American 5th Corps to the north and of the 4th Div. of Inf. prevented the Germans from widening the breach as they had hoped.