Elsenborn Ridge - Aftermath

Aftermath

At sunrise on December 27, 1944, Sepp Dietrich and his 6th Panzer Army were in a difficult situation. The high ground of Elsenborn Ridge and two of the three roads to Antwerp remained solidly in American fortified defense zones. The 12th SS Panzer Division, 3rd Panzergrenadier Division, and its supporting Volksgrenadier divisions had beaten themselves into a state of uselessness against the heavily fortified Elsenborn Ridge position. It was the only sector of the American front line on the Battle of the Bulge where the Germans failed to advance. Historian John S.D. Eisenhower noted, "...the action of the 2nd and 99th divisions on the northern shoulder could be considered the most decisive of the Ardennes campaign."

The organized retreat of the U.S. 2nd and 99th Divisions to the Elsenborn Ridge line and their subsequent stubborn defensive action blocked the 6th Panzer Army's access to key roads in northern Belgium that they were counting on to reach Antwerp. Kampfgruppe Peiper was forced to choose the more difficult rollbahn D to the south in its drive west to the Meuse River.

Kampfgruppe Peiper and the 1st SS Panzer Division chose an alternative route west, bypassing Elsenborn Ridge to the north, but later bogged down on the only available road, plagued by overcrowding, flanking attacks, blown bridges, and lack of fuel. The rapid advances seen in 1940, where General Heinz Guderian’s panzers swept from the Ardennes to the English Channel, were not to be repeated.

The cost of this relentless, close-quarters, intense combat was high for both sides, but the losses for Germany were irreplaceable. An exact casualty accounting for the Elsenborn Ridge battle itself is not precise. The U.S. Army's 2nd and 99th Infantry divisions later revealed their losses, while only the German's armored fighting vehicles losses are accounted for.

To the south of the 12th SS Panzer Division, the 5th Panzer Army led by Hasso von Manteuffel advanced over more accessible terrain and enjoyed much greater initial success. Despite more rapid advances, and inflicting more losses on the Americans, the 5th Panzer Army also bogged down before crossing the Meuse. Isolated, but strong pockets of resistance, traffic jams, supply problems, and American air power eventually stopped this arm of the offensive also.