German Units
The units responsible for seizing the northern sector of the offensive were specially chosen by Adolf Hitler and given priority for supply and equipment. Sepp Dietrich’s Sixth Panzer Army was given the lead role in the overall battle. It was made up of the best-equipped elite SS armored divisions on the western front. The panzer divisions were led by the 1st SS Panzer Division, which had been formed from Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard regiment. It had the primary responsibility for breaking through the Allied lines and reaching the Meuse River and Antwerp, Belgium. The 2nd SS Panzer Division was an elite Waffen-SS division amongst the thirty-eight Waffen-SS divisions, the 9th SS Panzer Division was an armored division formed of 18 year old German conscripts led by a cadre of experienced staff from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Major General Engel’s 12th SS Panzer Division, a German Waffen SS armoured division whose junior officers and enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while the senior NCOs and officers were generally veterans of the Eastern Front.
The armoured units were supported by the 12th SS Panzer Division (Hitler Youth)—plus the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division, the 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division, and four Volksgrenadier (Infantry) divisions: the 277th; the 326th, which was designated to take the area north and south of Monschau, which Field Marshal Model had directed should be spared destruction; and the 246th, which was tasked with taking Höfen and Monschau and nearby villages and then driving northwest to seize the Eupen road. The attack west was led by Kampfgruppe SS Standartenführer Joachim Peiper's 1st SS Panzer Division was designated to advance on rollbahn B, a route that would lead them through Spa, Belgium to Antwerp. The infantry would then secure the right flank of the attack route near Losheimergraben.
Read more about this topic: Elsenborn Ridge, Key Position in The Battle of The Bulge
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