Battle of the Bulge effects on America and Germany?

Question

How were Germany and America affected after the Battle of the Bulge?

Answer 1

Americans were first in a state of shock, then anger, then relief when they finally pushed the Germans back.
For the Germans, it cost them any chance they had to have any type of Victory on the Western Front. From what I learned in history the attack was doomed to fail because of the uphill terrain the Germans were forced to use.That and they had no fuel reserves.

Answer 2

It hastened the German defeat. Germany's fortune in the war is as good as lost even when the Battle of the Bulge started. The Russians had pushed the Germans out of Poland and were now massing along the Polish-German border, preparing for a final assault on Berlin.

Hitler's decision to launch a counter-attack against the Americans at Ardennes (so-called the Bulge) is more of a political move. Because of Germany's long strings of defeats (the Germans were pushed out of Africa, then lost France, Italy, Russia, Poland), the Germans were in retreat on every front. What Hitler needed at this desperate time is a German victory in a small battle that will boost the sagging morale of the German troops and the nation as a whole. Hitler selected the Ardennes for such an operation. He knew that the Ardennes was thinly defended and was the weakest spot in the Anglo-American front. In his mind, such victory can easily be attained with minimum German casualty at the shortest possible time. However, Hitler's generals were all against such plan. Firstly, the Ardennes would not offer any strategic gain for the German military objectives. The generals were fully aware that even a sure German victory at Ardennes would never turn the tide of war to Germany's favor at all. Secondly, in order to launch the Ardennes operation, resources are needed to be allocated for it. This means pulling out entire German divisions and materiel from the other existing German fronts, especially the Eastern Front, and such an action will further reduce the strength of those fronts. Specifically, the generals were alarmed at the growing masses of Russian troops concentrating on the opposite side of the Vistula River along the Polish-German border, just 70 miles east of Berlin. The generals considered the defense of this front as the highest priority. However, Hitler's decision to launch the Ardennes operation prevailed over the protestations by his generals. This was how the Ardennes operation came into being.

Answer 3

Germany knew the war was over. The only reason they did not surrender was fear of how they would be treated. They may have hoped for a negotiated settlement but it had become clear that was not going to happen. Some military people may have preferred to die on their swords but most would be happy to see the end of war.
The U.S. was already confident of victory. Since Japan was going to be much more difficult to subdue, they just wanted quick victories to meet their goals.
More knowledge of the Holocaust became known after the Allies crossed into Germany. That added another priority to knocking out the Nazis.

Answer 4

The effect on Germany was to accelerate their demise by throwing away their last strategic reserves, which could've been better used to stem the Red Army tide (at least for a couple of weeks or more).

The effects on the Americans, i suppose, was to strengthen their resolve, especially after the Malmedy killings.

Answer 5

funny you would bring this up: hitler pulled a last ditch effort out of the hat, which had not been tried in over three centurys by a german leader in very bad weather, but america was fortunate to have had general george patton, whom believed in re-incarnation and read only the short despription of orders by general omar bradley to get ready for a meeting at verdune the next day on a brief that the 101st airborn was in trouble and he(according to the movie), immediately ordered his divisions to a 90 degree turn even before the meeting began, as usual, the british threw lots of doubt at george patton, whom walked with his men, rode with his men straight into bastone into some of the worst fighting in the worst blizzard in four centurys.after the fight, according to my brother's father-in-law(member of the 3rd army), that sof pushed us, even if we had bullet wounds in us and were going crazy, the guys completely lost it after the bulge,feet frozen, reporting to sick call and ordered back to the fighting and moving, per general patton, once in germany, the weather warmed up and his ten divisions moved very quickly way ahead of any political deals that general dwight d. eisenhower with general marshall or marshall zhukov of russia could have time to talk over.his was general patton, whom wanted hitler's head on a stake and then drive into and finish off russia.
few american people, realized that nearly twenty two years later,recognized that america once again wwas bogged down in another giant counter-offensive in the tet of vietnam, which turned out into a giant military victory for america and a political defeat in an election year

Answer 6

It destroyed the last significant German reserves and ensured the Allies would have an easy time invading the country.