The
Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German
offensive campaign launched through the densely forested
Ardennes region of
Wallonia in Belgium, France, and
Luxembourg on the
Western Front toward the end of
World War II in Europe. The surprise attack caught the
Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces on the western front, and Germany was largely unable to replace them. German personnel, and later Luftwaffe aircraft (in
the concluding stages of the engagement), also sustained heavy losses.