Were the Allies too lax and complacent during Battle of Bulge military built-up?

Question

Esp. the higher command.

Answer 1

Despite the common perception SHAEF was not as ignorant as portrayed. Eisenhower and Bradley had conferred on the possibility of a German counterattack. Since the Western Allies generally only had a parity of ground forces with the Germans in Europe between the breakout and the Rhine barrier in 45 they could not be strong everywhere. A conscious decision was made to hold the Ardennes more lightly as the terrain favored the defender and the location was neither vital nor in direct relation to an area that was vital. The main mistake was in underestimating the size of a probable counterattack. The German offensive was vastly greater than anyone expected.

Answer 2

I think if you look back at battles during WWII a lot of them where considered a cake walk, a little too cocky at times especially with the US forces. After D-Day and the allied forces began to move into Europe we started to feel we had a win win situation forgetting there was still a huge force to conquer. Sure some soldiers surrendered but a lot where still loyal to Hitler and we assumed they would just step aside once they saw us. This gave Hitler time to regroup and build their forces back up once we felt we would win. You see this many times in sports when another team lets down their guard when they feel they have it won. Germany had virtually no air force left and we ruled the skies so how could we lose.

So yes we were very Lax-ed just before the Battle of the Bulge and did almost lose our offensive lines, the good thing was we controlled the oil and fuel depots.

Answer 3

bastogne was a key hub, it had like 7 different roads that led to other parts of europe, hitler threw many reserve divisions into the fray,and the allied leaders did not expect such a force to be thrown at them there at that time. also the famous "nuts" was the reply when the allies were asked for the surrender, that was the last time the germans had a major offensive . i would not say the allies were not lax so much as caught unprepared as to the volume of nazi troops thrown at them

Answer 4

I should say so!
In fact, Eisenhower had all records of the period destroyed so as not to show just HOW lax and complacent SHAEF had been.

Answer 5

Yes. But the weather favored the Germans

Answer 6

We won the war, they did a hell of a job. It's easy to be an armchair General after the fact.