Veterans Commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s Last Major Attack on the Western Front

Veterans and dignitaries gathered in Belgium and Luxembourg this month to reflect on the deadly World War II conflict that paved the way for a full Nazi defeat

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

December 20, 2024

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On December 16, 1944, more than 200,000 German soldiers launched a surprise attack on Allied troops in a forested region of Belgium and Luxembourg known as the Ardennes. The ensuing World War II conflict—which lasted until January 25, 1945—became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

In the end, the Allies managed to quash Adolf Hitler’s last-ditch effort to win the war. But their victory, which paved the way for a full Nazi defeat, came at a high cost: More than 75,000 American troops were killed, wounded or went missing in the conflict.

This month marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Bulge. Some of the few surviving American veterans gathered in Belgium and Luxembourg last weekend—along with American lawmakers and other dignitaries—for several commemorative events.

Now in their late 90s and early 100s, the aging former service members hope to keep the Battle of the Bulge’s memory alive to “prevent any future war,” as David Marshall, a 100-year-old veteran who manned a mortar during the conflict, told the Associated Press’ Virginia Mayo and Bryan Carter last week.

Other veterans echoed that sentiment, including Joseph R. Picard, who was just 19 when he fought in the deadly battle.

“[Younger Americans] don’t know much about it,” Picard told Stars and Stripes’ Phillip Walter Wellman at an event in Bastogne, Belgium, on December 14. “And you know what they say: If you don’t keep the story alive, it’s going to happen again. We don’t want it to happen again.”

Living History: Battle of the Bulge (Part 3)

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Earlier this year, veterans and officials commemorated the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy—an invasion that would ultimately set the stage for the Battle of the Bulge. On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 American, British and Canadian soldiers arrived on a 50-mile stretch of France’s coastline in what was the largest amphibious attack in history.

Over that summer, Allied troops slowly advanced into northern France and Belgium. The Allies liberated Paris in August 1944, then headed east toward the border with Germany.

The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler’s counteroffensive. German soldiers initially outnumbered Allied forces and were able to penetrate the front line so deeply they made a large bump, or bulge, which is how the battle got its name.

But soon, reinforcements showed up. Fighting in cold, snowy weather, the Allies held on and eventually retook the ground they had lost.

The frigid winter conditions are what many surviving veterans remember most to this day.

“It started out rainy and foggy, but it got colder,” American veteran Harry Miller tells the Washington Post’s David Kindy. “Then we had snow up to our hips. I had an overcoat that was like a horse blanket. When it got wet, it was heavy and cumbersome. We slept under tanks or on the ground. It was so cold and miserable.”

By the end of January 1945, the Allies had succeeded in pushing the Nazis back to Germany. The Germans suffered between 80,000 and 100,000 casualties in the battle and used up much of their supply of weapons, vehicles and other equipment.

“That was the beginning of the end of the war in Europe,” says Mike Malone, director of veterans affairs for the Best Defense Foundation, a nonprofit that supports American veterans, to the Asbury Park Press’ Jerry Carino. “It was an incredible outpouring of grit from these guys, who were 18 and 19 years old and barely had enough clothes on during this freezing winter.”

Winston Churchill, then the British prime minister, described the Battle of the Bulge as “the greatest American battle of the war” and a conflict that would “be regarded as an ever-famous American victory.”

One of the most memorable moments of the conflict occurred just before Christmas in Bastogne, when the Germans demanded that the American troops surrender. American Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe famously replied “NUTS!”

“So there would be no misinterpretation, an officer translated … ‘It means the same as ‘Go to Hell,’” according to a January 1945 issue of Time magazine.

After a commemorative parade in Bastogne earlier this month, attendees honored this reply by tossing nuts from the balcony of the city’s town hall.

This year’s commemorative World War II events were special because “Normandy, D-Day and [the Battle of the Bulge] are the last anniversaries that we’ll be celebrating because there won't be any veterans five years from now,” American veteran Jack Moran tells WCVB’s Shaun Chaiyabhat.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.