AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Although it retained most of its armor, there were not enough infantry units because of the defensive needs in the East. These 30 newly rebuilt divisions used some of the last reserves of the German Army. Among them were "Volksgrenadier" units formed from a mix of veterans and recruits formerly regarded as too young or too old to fight. Training time, equipment and supplies were inadequate during the preparations. German fuel supplies were inadequate. Materials and supplies that could not be transported by rail had to be horse-drawn to conserve fuel. The mechanized and panzer divisions would depend heavily on captured fuel. As a result, the start of the attack was delayed from 27 November to 16 December.
Before the offensive the Allies were not aware of German troop movement. During the liberation of France, the French resistance had provided information about German movements. Once they reached the German border, this information was not available. In France, orders had been relayed within the German army using radio messages coded by the Enigma machine. These could be picked up and decoded by Allied code-breakers at Bletchley Park, to give the intelligence known as ULTRA.
In Germany such orders were typically transmitted using telephone and teleprinter, and a special radio silence order was made on all communications about the attack. The major crackdown in the "Wehrmacht" after the 20 July plot to kill Hitler resulted in much tighter security and fewer information leaks. The foggy autumn weather also prevented Allied reconnaissance aircraft from seeing the Germans on the ground.
German units in the area were given charcoal instead of wood for cooking fires to cut down on smoke and reduce chances of Allied observers realizing a troop build up was underway.
Allied High Command considered the Ardennes a quiet sector. Allied intelligence services said that the Germans were unable to launch any major attacks this late in the war. The Allies thought that the Germans were getting ready for defence. The Allies thought that a new defensive army was being formed around Düsseldorf in the northern Rhine. The Germans tricked the Allies by increasing the number of flak batteries in the area and making more radio transmissions in the area.
The attack, when it came, completely surprised the Allied forces. The U.S. Third Army intelligence chief, Colonel Oscar Koch, the U.S. First Army intelligence chief and the SHAEF intelligence officer had warned that the Germans might attack the U.S. VIII Corps area. These warnings were ignored by the U.S. 12th Army Group.
Because the Ardennes was considered a quiet sector, the Allies used it as a training ground for new units and a rest area. The U.S. units deployed in the Ardennes thus were a mixture of inexperienced troops (such as the U.S. 99th and 106th "Golden Lions" Divisions), and veteran troops sent to that sector to rest (the 28th Infantry Division).
Two major special operations were planned for the attack. By October it was decided that Otto Skorzeny, the German commando was to lead a task force of English-speaking German soldiers. These soldiers were to be dressed in American and British uniforms. They would go behind American lines and change signposts, misdirect traffic, cause disruption and seize bridges across the Meuse River between Liège and Namur.
By late November, another special operation was added: Col. Friedrich August von der Heydte was to lead a "Fallschirmjäger" (paratrooper) "Kampfgruppe" in Operation Stösser, a night-time paratroop drop behind the Allied lines aimed at capturing an important road near Malmedy.
German intelligence had set 20 December as the expected date for the start of the upcoming Soviet attack.
After the 20 July plot attempt to kill Hitler's life, and the advance of the Red Army, Hitler and his staff left the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia. After a brief visit to Berlin, Hitler travelled on his "Führersonderzug" (train) to Giessen on 11 December, taking up residence in the Adlerhorst command complex at Kransberg Castle.
Von Rundstedt set up his operational headquarters near Limburg, close enough for the generals and Panzer Corps commanders who were to lead the attack to visit Alderhost.
In a personal conversation on 13 December between Walther Model and Friedrich von der Heydte, who was put in charge of Operation "Stösser", von der Heydte gave Operation "Stösser" less than a 10% chance of succeeding. Model told him it was necessary to make the attempt.
On 16 December 1944, at 5:30 am, the Germans began the attack with a 90-minute artillery attack using 1,600 artillery pieces. The Americans thought was that this was an attack resulting from the Allies' recent attack in the Wahlerscheid sector to the north.
In the northern sector Dietrich's 6th Panzer Army was held up for almost 24 hours by a single platoon and four U.S. Forward Artillery Observers. They then attacked Losheim Gap and Elsenborn Ridge to get through to Liège and Antwerp.
Heavy snowstorms occurred in the Ardennes area. This kept the Allied aircraft grounded, but it also slowed the German advance. There were massive traffic jams and fuel shortages.
von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army attacked towards Bastogne and St. Vith. In the south, Brandenberger's Seventh Army moved towards Luxembourg.
Only one month before 250 members of the Waffen-SS had tried to recapture the town of Vianden from the Luxembourgish resistance during the Battle of Vianden. The SS lost.
The battle for Elsenborn Ridge was an important part of the Battle of the Bulge. The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division (LSSAH).
The division made up the lead unit for the entire German 6th Panzer Army. SS Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper led Kampfgruppe Peiper, consisting of 4,800 men and 600 vehicles.
The attacks by the Sixth Panzer Army's infantry units in the north did badly because of strong resistance by the U.S. 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions.
On the first day, a German battalion of 500 men was held up for 10 hours. The infantry of the 9th Fallschirmjaeger Regiment, 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division had been ordered to attack the village first.
A single 18-man platoon from the 99th Infantry Division and four Forward Air Controllers held up the battalion of about 500 German paratroopers until sunset causing 92 casualties among the Germans.
This stopped the German advance. Kampfgruppe Peiper, at the head of the SS Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich's Sixth Panzer Army had been ordered to take the Losheim-Losheimergraben road. Peiper did not begin his advance until nearly 4:00 pm, more than 16 hours behind schedule.
Kampfgruppe Peiper reached Bucholz Station in the early morning of 17 December and captured portions of the 3rd Battalion of the 394th Infantry Regiment. They seized a U.S. fuel depot at Büllingen, where they refuelled before continuing westward.
To the north, the 277th Volksgrenadier Division attempted to break through the U.S. 99th Infantry Division and positions of 2nd Infantry Division.
The 12th SS Panzer Division, reinforced by additional infantry (Panzergrenadier and Volksgenadier) divisions, took Losheimergraben and attacked the villages of Rocherath and Krinkelt.
Their intention was to control the villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt which would clear a path to Elsenborn Ridge. This would give the Germans control of the roads to the south and west and ensure supply to Kampfgruppe Peiper's armored force.
The American defense prevented the Germans from reaching the supplies near the Belgian cities of Liège and Spa. After more than ten days of battle, they pushed the Americans out of the villages, but were unable to move them from the ridge. The V Corps of the First U.S. Army prevented the German forces from reaching the roads to their west.
The 99th Infantry Division was outnumbered but it caused a lot of German dead and wounded. The division lost about 20% of its strength, including 465 killed and 2,524 evacuated due to wounds, injuries or fatigue. German losses were much higher. In the northern sector, this included more than 4,000 deaths and the destruction of sixty tanks and big guns. Historian John S.D. Eisenhower wrote, "... the action of the 2nd and 99th Divisions on the northern shoulder could be considered the most decisive of the Ardennes campaign."
Kampfgruppe Peiper entered Honsfield, one of the 99th Division's rest centres. They killed many, destroyed a number of American armored units and vehicles, and took several dozen prisoners who were murdered. Peiper easily captured the town and of fuel for his vehicles. Peiper then advanced north-west towards Büllingen. Peiper turned south to detour around Hünningen.
At 12:30 on 17 December, Kampfgruppe Peiper was near the hamlet of Baugnez when he met the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, U.S. 7th Armored Division. After a battle the Americans surrendered. They were sent to stand in a field. The SS troopers suddenly opened fire on the prisoners. A few survived, and news of the killings of prisoners of war was sent through Allied lines. Following the end of the war, soldiers and officers of Kampfgruppe Peiper, including Joachim Peiper and SS general Sepp Dietrich, were put on trial at the Malmedy massacre trial.
Following the Malmedy massacre, on New Year's Day 1945, after having previously received orders to take no prisoners, American soldiers shot sixty German prisoners of war near the Belgian village of Chenogne (8 km from Bastogne).
By the evening the Germans had pushed north to fight the U.S. 99th Infantry Division. Peiper's forces were late because of the American resistance and because when the Americans fell back, they blew up bridges and emptied fuel storaged.
Peiper's unit was delayed and his vehicles needed fuel. They took 36 hours to advance from Eifel to Stavelot.
Kampfgruppe Peiper attacked Stavelot on 18 December but was unable to capture the town before the Americans emptied a large fuel depot. Three tanks attempted to take the bridge, but the lead tank was disabled by a mine. 60 grenadiers advanced forward but were stopped by American fire. After a tank battle the next day, the Germans entered the village when
Peiper rushed toward the bridge at Trois-Ponts, leaving the most of his force in Stavelot. When they reached it at 1130 on 18 December, retreating U.S. engineers blew it up.
Peiper went north. At Cheneux, he was attacked by American fighter-bombers, destroying two tanks and five halftracks. The group got moving at dusk at 1600. Of the two bridges now remaining between Kampfgruppe Peiper and the Meuse, the bridge over the Lienne was blown by the Americans as the Germans approached.
Peiper turned north and stopped his forces in the woods between La Gleize and Stoumont. He learned that Stoumont was strongly held and that the Americans were bringing up new troops from Spa.
To Peiper's south, the advance of Kampfgruppe Hansen had stopped. SS Sturmbannführer Knittel crossed the bridge at Stavelot, but the Americans recaptured Stavelot. Peiper and Knittel both were at risk of being cut off.
At dawn on 19 December, Peiper attacked the American defenders of Stoumont. He sent infantry from the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment in an attack and a company of Fallschirmjäger. He followed this with a Panzer attack, gaining the eastern edge of the town.
An American tank battalion arrived but Peiper finally captured Stoumont at 1030. Knittel joined up with Peiper and reported the Americans had recaptured Stavelot to their east. Peiper ordered Knittel to retake Stavelot.
He thought Kampfgruppe did not have enough fuel to cross the bridge west of Stoumont. On the same evening the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division under Maj. Gen. James Gavin arrived at La Gleize.
Kampfgruppe Sandig, which had been ordered to take Stavelot, launched another attack without success. Sixth Panzer Army commander SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich ordered Hermann Prieß, commanding officer of the I SS Panzer Corps, to help Peiper's Kampfgruppe, but Prieß was unable to break through.
Small units of the U.S. 2nd Battalion of the 119th Regiment attacked the Kampfgruppe Peiper during the morning of 21 December. They were pushed back and a number captured, including their battalion commander, Maj. Hal McCown.
Attempting to withdraw from Cheneux, American paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division engaged the Germans in violent fighting. The Americans shelled Kampfgruppe Peiper on 22 December.
Although the Germans had run out of food and had no fuel, they continued to fight. A Luftwaffe resupply mission went badly, parachuting supplies to American troops in Stoumont.
In La Gleize, Peiper set up defences. He decided to break through back to the German lines on 23 December. The men of the "Kampfgruppe" abandoned their vehicles and heavy equipment.
Operation Stösser was a paratroop drop into the American rear in the High Fens (; ; ) area. The goal was the "Baraque Michel" crossroads.
It was the German paratroopers' only nighttime drop during World War II. The II Parachute Corps sent 100 men from each of its regiments. They had little time to train together.
The parachute drop was a failure. Von der Heydte ended up with around 300 troops. Their force was too small and too weak to counter the Allies. They withdrew towards Germany and attacked the rear of the American lines. Only about 100 of his tired men finally reached the German rear.
Another, much smaller massacre was committed in Wereth, Belgium, on 17 December 1944. Eleven black American soldiers, after surrendering, were tortured and then shot by men of the 1st SS Panzer Division, belonging to Kampfgruppe Knittel. Men from Third Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion were responsible.
The Germans did better when the Fifth Panzer Army attacked positions held by the U.S. 28th and 106th Infantry Divisions. The Germans lacked the strength that they had in the north, but they still had more troops and weapons than the 28th and 106th divisions. They surrounded two regiments (422nd and 423rd) of the 106th Division and forced their surrender.
The official U.S. Army history states: "At least seven thousand [men] were lost here and the figure probably is closer to eight or nine thousand."
In St. Vith, it was hard for von Manteuffel's and Dietrich's forces. The defenders resisted the German attacks. This slowed down the German advance.
Montgomery ordered St. Vith to be evacuated on 21 December. U.S. troops got into trenches, which made the German advance hard. By 23 December, U.S. troops were ordered to retreat west of the Salm River. Since the German plan called for the capture of St. Vith by 18:00 on 17 December, they were behind schedule.
To protect the river crossings on the Meuse, Montgomery ordered units to hold the bridges on 19 December.
The German advance in the center was the most successful. Fifth Panzer Army was led by the 2nd Panzer Division while Panzer Lehr Division came up from the south. The Ourthe River was passed at Ourtheville on 21 December.
Lack of fuel held up the advance for one day, but on 23 December the attack continued towards the towns of Hargimont and Marche.
Hargimont was captured the same day, but Marche was defended by the American 84th Division. Gen. Lüttwitz, commander of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, ordered the Division to turn west towards Dinant and the Meuse. 2nd Panzer Division was still advancing quickly.
On 22/23 December the woods of Foy-Notre-Dame were reached, near Dinant. On 24 December the furthest point was reached. Panzer Lehr Division took the town of Celles. Farther north, parts of 2nd Panzer Division were close to the Meuse.
An Allied force prevented the German forces from approaching the Dinant bridge. By late Christmas Eve the advance in this sector was stopped by Allied forces.
For Operation Greif, Otto Skorzeny got English-speaking Germans in American uniforms behind the Allied lines. Although they failed to take the bridges over the Meuse, they caused confusion and rumors spread quickly. Even General George Patton was worried and described the situation to General Dwight Eisenhower.
Checkpoints were set up all over the Allied rear, greatly slowing the movement of soldiers and equipment. American MPs at these checkpoints asked troops about things that every American was expected to know.
The tightened security made things very hard for the German soldiers to move about, and a number of them were captured. Even during interrogation, they spread lies. when asked about their mission, some of them claimed they had been told to go to Paris to either kill or capture General Dwight Eisenhower.
Security around the general was greatly increased, and Eisenhower was kept in his headquarters.
Because Skorzeny's men were captured in American uniforms, they were executed as spies. This was the standard practice of every army at the time. Skorzeny said that he was told by German legal experts that as long he doesn't order his men to fight in combat while wearing American uniforms, such a tactic was a legitimate trick.
Skorzeny and his men wore their German uniforms underneath their American ones in case of capture. Skorzeny was tried by an American military tribunal in 1947 at the Dachau Trials for violating the laws of war from his leadership of Operation Greif, but was acquitted.
In Operation Währung, a small number of German agents went behind Allied lines in American uniforms. They tried to bribe rail and port workers to cause problems with Allied supply operations. However, this operation was a failure.
Further south attacking divisions crossed the River Our. The 112th Infantry Regiment kept German troops from using the Our River bridges around Ouren for two days, before withdrawing.
The 109th and 110th Regiments of the 28th Division did badly. They had so few troops that the Germans got around their positions. Both resisted and slowed down the German schedule by several days. Panzer groups captured villages and advanced near Bastogne within four days.
The battles for the villages and American strongpoints, and transport confusion on the German side, slowed the attack down. This allowed the 101st Airborne Division to reach Bastogne on 19 December. The defense of Bastogne made it impossible for the Germans to take the town. The "panzers" went past on either side, cutting off Bastogne on 20 December.
In the south, Brandenberger's three infantry divisions were stopped by divisions of the U.S. VIII Corps. Only the 5th Parachute Division of Brandenberger's command was able to move forward.
Eisenhower and his commanders realized by 17 December that the fighting in the Ardennes was a major offensive and not a small attack, and they ordered many new troops to the area.
Within a week 250,000 troops had been sent. Gen. Gavin of the 82nd Airborne Division ordered the 101st to hold Bastogne. The 82nd had to battle the SS Panzer Divisions.
By the time the senior Allied commanders met on 19 December, the town of Bastogne and its 11 roads had been held by the Germans for several days.
Two separate westbound German columns got stopped by defensive positions up to ten miles from the town.
Gen. Eisenhower realized that the Allies could destroy German forces much more easily when they were out in the open. Patton had ordered his staff to prepare three plans for a northward turn.
On 20 December, Eisenhower removed the First and Ninth U.S. Armies from Gen. Bradley's 12th Army Group and placed them under Montgomery's 21st Army Group.
By 21 December the Germans had surrounded Bastogne, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. Conditions inside the town were tough. Food was scarce, and by 22 December artillery ammunition was restricted to 10 rounds per gun per day.
The weather cleared the next day, however, and supplies (ammunition) were dropped over four of the next five days.
Despite German attacks, the town held. The German commander, Lt. Gen. Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, requested Bastogne's surrender. When Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe was told of the Nazi demand that he surrender, he refused.
Both 2nd Panzer and Panzer Lehr moved forward from Bastogne after 21 December. The 26th VG received one panzergrenadier regiment on Christmas Eve for its attack the next day. Because it lacked troops and those of the 26th VG Division were tired, the XLVII Panzer Corps concentrated its attack on several locations on the west side.
The attack was defeated and all the tanks destroyed. The next day, 26 December, Gen. Patton's 4th Armored Division broke through and opened a passage to Bastogne.
On 23 December, the weather conditions started improving, allowing the Allied air forces to attack. They bombed the German supply points in their rear. P-47 Thunderbolts started attacking the German troops on the roads.
Allied air forces also helped the defenders of Bastogne, dropping medicine, food, blankets, and ammunition. A team of volunteer surgeons flew in by military glider and began operating.
By 24 December, the German advance was stopped near the Meuse. Units of the British XXX Corps were holding the bridges at Dinant, Givet, and Namur and U.S. units were about to take over.
The Germans had no supplies, and shortages of fuel and ammunition were becoming serious. Up to this point the German losses had been light, especially in armor, which was almost unharmed with the exception of Peiper's losses.
On the evening of 24 December, General Hasso von Manteuffel recommended to Hitler a stop to all operations and a withdrawal. Hitler said no.
However, confusion at the Allied command prevented a strong response. In the center, on Christmas Eve, the 2nd Armored Division attempted to attack the 2nd Panzer Division at the Meuse.
The 4th Cavalry Group attacked the 9th Panzer Division at Marche. As result, parts of the 2nd Panzer Division were cut off. On 26 and 27 December the trapped units of 2nd Panzer Division made two break-out attempts.
Further Allied attacks near Marche led the Germans to know that no further action towards the Meuse was possible.
In the south, Patton's Third Army was battling to help the US troops in Bastogne. At 16:50 on 26 December, the Company D, 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th Armored Division, reached Bastogne, ending the siege.
On 1 January, in an attempt to keep the offensive going, the Germans launched two new operations. At 09:15, the "Luftwaffe" launched "Unternehmen Bodenplatte" (Operation Baseplate), a major campaign against Allied airfields in the Low Countries. Hundreds of planes attacked Allied airfields, destroying or severely damaging some 465 aircraft. However, the "Luftwaffe" lost 277 planes, 62 to Allied fighters and 172 mostly because of an unexpectedly high number of Allied flak guns, set up to protect against German V-1 flying bomb attacks and using proximity fused shells, but also by friendly fire from the German flak guns that were uninformed of the pending large-scale German air operation. The Germans suffered heavy losses at an airfield named Y-29, losing 24 of their own planes while downing only one American plane. While the Allies recovered from their losses in just days, the operation left the "Luftwaffe" weak and ineffective for the remainder of the war.
On the same day, German Army Group G ("Heeresgruppe G") and Army Group Upper Rhine ("Heeresgruppe Oberrhein") launched a major offensive against the thinly stretched, line of the Seventh U.S. Army. This offensive, known as "Unternehmen Nordwind" (Operation North Wind), was the last major German offensive of the war on the Western Front. The weakened Seventh Army had, at Eisenhower's orders, sent troops, equipment, and supplies north to reinforce the American armies in the Ardennes, and the offensive left it in dire straits.
By 15 January, Seventh Army's VI Corps was fighting on three sides in Alsace. With casualties mounting, and running short on replacements, tanks, ammunition, and supplies, Seventh Army was forced to withdraw to defensive positions on the south bank of the Moder River on 21 January. The German offensive drew to a close on 25 January. In the bitter, desperate fighting of Operation Nordwind, VI Corps, which had borne the brunt of the fighting, suffered a total of 14,716 casualties. The total for Seventh Army for January was 11,609. Total casualties included at least 9,000 wounded. First, Third and Seventh Armies suffered a total of 17,000 hospitalized from the cold.
While the German offensive had ground to a halt, they still controlled a dangerous salient in the Allied line. Patton's Third Army in the south, centered around Bastogne, would attack north, Montgomery's forces in the north would strike south, and the two forces planned to meet at Houffalize.
The temperature during January 1945 was extremely low. Weapons had to be maintained and truck engines run every half-hour to prevent their oil from congealing. The offensive went forward regardless.
Eisenhower wanted Montgomery to go on the counter offensive on 1 January, with the aim of meeting up with Patton's advancing Third Army and cutting off most of the attacking Germans, trapping them in a pocket. However, Montgomery, refusing to risk underprepared infantry in a snowstorm for a strategically unimportant area, did not launch the attack until 3 January, by which time substantial numbers of German troops had already managed to fall back successfully, but at the cost of losing most of their heavy equipment.
At the start of the offensive, the First and Third U.S. Armies were separated by about . American progress in the south was also restricted to about a kilometer a day. The majority of the German force executed a successful fighting withdrawal and escaped the battle area, although the fuel situation had become so dire that most of the German armor had to be abandoned. On 7 January 1945, Hitler agreed to withdraw all forces from the Ardennes, including the "SS Panzer" divisions, thus ending all offensive operations. However, considerable fighting went on for another 3 weeks; St. Vith was recaptured by the Americans on 23 January and the last German units participating in the offensive did not return to their start line until 25 January.
Winston Churchill, addressing the House of Commons following the Battle of the Bulge said, "This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever-famous American victory."
As the Ardennes battles began, Montgomery commanded of the American First and Ninth armies. This was approved by Eisenhower, as the northern armies had lost all communications with Bradley, who was based in Luxembourg. The northern side had lost all communications with the US command and with nearby units. Without radio or telephone communication Montgomery managed to improvise a way of communicating orders.
This change of leadership did not become known until a message was released.
Montgomery asked Churchill if he could explain the situation.
On the same day as Hitler's withdrawal order, 7 January, Montgomery held his press conference. Montgomery praised the "courage and good fighting quality" of the Americans. He also praised Eisenhower.
Then Montgomery described the battle for a half-hour. Coming to the end of his speech he said he had used the whole power of the British Group of Armies. He called the battle "the most interesting, I think possibly one of the most interesting and tricky battles I have ever handled."
Despite his positive remarks about American soldiers, the Americans thought he took credit for the success of the campaign. They thought he made it sound like he had rescued the Americans.
Patton and Eisenhower both felt he did not describe the share of the fighting played by the British and Americans in the Ardennes. They thought that he did not tell about the part played by Bradley, Patton and other American commanders. Montgomery did not mention of any American general beside Eisenhower. This was seen as insulting.
Montgomery saw his error and later wrote: "I think now that I should never have held that press conference."
Bradley and Patton both threatened to resign unless Montgomery's command was changed. Eisenhower had decided to fire Montgomery. Eisenhower allowed Montgomery to apologize.
Casualty estimates from the battle vary widely. The official U.S. account lists 80,987 American casualties, while other estimates range from 70,000 to 108,000. According to the U.S. Department of Defense the American forces suffered 89,500 casualties including 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded and 23,000 missing.
An official report by the United States Department of the Army lists some 108,347 casualties, including 19,246 killed, 62,489 wounded and 26,612 captured and missing. The Battle of the Bulge was the most violent battle that U.S. forces experienced in World War II; the 19,000 American dead were unsurpassed by those of any other engagement. British losses totaled 1,400.
The German High Command's official figure for the campaign was 84,834 casualties, and other estimates range between 60,000 and 100,000.
The Allies continued to push on in the battle. In early February, the Allies launched an attack all along the Western front: in the north under Montgomery toward Aachen; in the center, under Courtney Hodges; and in the south, under Patton.
The German losses in the battle were serious in several ways. The last of the German reserves were now gone, the Luftwaffe had been destroyed and the remaining German forces in the West were being pushed back to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
The initial success of Hitler's Ardennes offensive, launched 16 December 1944, caused Churchill to ask Stalin on 6 January 1945 for Soviet help by launching a Soviet attack. On Friday, 12 January, the Soviets began the Vistula–Oder Offensive, planned to begin on 20 January.
During World War II, most U.S. black soldiers still served only as truck drivers and as stevedores. In the midst of the Battle of the Bulge, General Eisenhower was short of replacement troops so he allowed African American soldiers to join the white military units to fight in combat for the first time. More than 2,000 black soldiers had volunteered to go to the front.
This was an important step toward a racially integrated United States military. A total of 708 African Americans were killed in combat during World War II.
Nothing is a concept of being without any form of matter.
The Moon is Earth's largest natural satellite. We usually see it in the night sky. Some other planets also have moons or natural satellites.
Our moon is about a quarter the size of the Earth. Because it is far away it looks small, about half a degree wide. The gravity on the moon is one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. It means that something will be one-sixth as heavy on the Moon than on Earth. The Moon is a rocky and dusty place. The Moon moves slowly away from the earth at a rate of 3.8 cm per year, due to the effect of .
Because the moon is round, half of it is lit up by the sun. As it goes around (or orbits) the Earth, sometimes the side that people on Earth can see is all lit brightly. Other times only a small part of the side we see is lit. This is because the Moon does not send out its own light. People only see the parts that are being lit by sunlight. These different stages are called Phases of the Moon.
It takes the Moon about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) to complete the cycle, from big and bright to small and dim and back to big and bright. The phase when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun is called the "new moon". The next phase of the moon is called the "waxing crescent", followed by the "first quarter", "waxing gibbous", then to a full moon. A full Moon occurs when the moon and sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. As the Moon continues its orbit it becomes a "waning gibbous", "third quarter", "waning crescent", and finally back to a new moon. People used the moon to measure time. A month is approximately equal in time to a lunar cycle.
The moon always shows the same side to Earth. Astronomers call this phenomenon tidal locking. This means that half of it can never be seen from Earth. The side facing away from Earth is called the far side or dark side of the Moon even though the sun does shine on it—we just never see it lit.
Before people stood on the Moon, the United States and the USSR sent robots to the Moon. These robots would orbit the Moon or land on its surface. The robots were the first man-made objects to touch the Moon.
Humans finally landed on the Moon on July 21, 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their lunar ship (the "Eagle") on the surface of the moon. Then, as half the world watched him on television, Armstrong climbed down the ladder of the "Eagle" and was the first human to touch the Moon as he said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
Even though their footprints were left on the moon a long time ago, it is likely that they are still there, as there is no wind or rain, making erosion extremely slow. The footprints do not get filled in or smoothed out.
More people landed on the moon between 1969 and 1972, when the last spaceship, Apollo 17 visited. Eugene Cernan of Apollo 17 was the last person to touch the moon.
Because it is smaller, the Moon has less gravity than Earth (only 1/6 of the amount on Earth). So if a person weighs 120 kg on Earth, the person would only weigh 20 kg on the moon. But even though the Moon's gravity is weaker than the Earth's gravity, it is still there. If person dropped a ball while standing on the moon, it would still fall down. However, it would fall "much" more slowly. A person who jumped as high as possible on the moon would jump higher than on Earth, but still fall back to the ground. Because the Moon has no atmosphere, there is no air resistance, so a feather will fall as fast as a hammer.
Without an atmosphere, the environment is not protected from heat or cold. Astronauts wore spacesuits, and carried oxygen to breathe. The suit weighed about as much as the astronaut. The Moon's gravity is weak, so it was not as heavy as on Earth.
In the Earth, the sky is blue because the blue rays of the sun bounce off the gases in the atmosphere, making it look like blue light is coming from the sky. But on the moon, because there is no atmosphere, the sky looks black, even in the daytime. There is no atmosphere to protect the moon from the rocks that fall from outer space, and these meteorites crash right into the moon and make wide, shallow holes called craters. The moon has thousands of them. Newer craters gradually wear away the older ones.
The giant impact hypothesis is that the Moon was created out of the debris from a collision between the young Earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet. This is the favored scientific hypothesis for the formation of the Moon.
In 2009 NASA said that they had found a lot of water on the moon. The water is not liquid but is in the form of hydrates and hydroxides. Liquid water cannot exist on the Moon because photodissociation quickly breaks down the molecules. However, from the image NASA received, there is a history of water existence.
During the Cold War, the United States Army thought about making a military post on the Moon, able to attack targets on Earth. They also considered conducting a nuclear weapon test on the Moon. The United States Air Force had similar plans. However, both plans were brushed-off as NASA moved from a military to a civilian-based agency.
Even though the Soviet Union left remains on the Moon, and the United States left a few flags, no country has control over the Moon. The U.S. and Soviet Union both signed the Outer Space Treaty, which calls the Moon and all of outer space the "province of all mankind". This treaty also banned all use of the military of the Moon, including nuclear weapons tests and military bases.
Will Ryan (Born November 13, 1939) is an American voice actor, singer, comedian, musician, composer, writer and producer from Cleveland, Ohio. His music career first began when he was in high school. He then signed the first of two recording contracts with CBS Records.
He got back into music and after moving to California. He began to write and record wacky songs for Disney. He did the voice of Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore in Disney Channel's "Welcome to Pooh Corner". Since 1988 he has done the voice of Eugene Meltsner (and other characters: Harlow Doyle, Officer O'Ryan, Officer David Harley, etc.) for the Focus on the Family radio series "Adventures in Odyssey".
He also voiced Rabbit in "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore". He was also the original voice of Petrie in "The Land Before Time".
Captivity (animal)
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the southeastern United States.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States (also known as Indians) are the indigenous peoples from the areas of North America now part of the continental United States, including parts of Alaska. The Cherokee were the first Native Americans to be recognized as US citizens. In the 19th century white colonists called the Cherokee one of the Five Civilized Tribes. The others were Chicksaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole.
There are about 310 Indian reservations in the US. Most Native Americans do not live on a reservation anymore.
Native Americans are affected by some problems more than White Americans. For example Native Americans are six times more likely to suffer from alcoholism than average. About 24% live in extreme poverty. Native American and Native Alaskan women are more likely to be targets of sexual violence than other women.
Brian Cowen
Brian Cowen (born 10 January 1960) was the Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland. He became the taoiseach on 7 May 2008, after Bertie Ahern, he resigned after losing a general election on 9 March 2011. He was the leader of a political party called Fianna Fáil. They were in a coalition government with the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats. Independent TDs (Irish members of parliament) also support his government.
A web chat is a chat system to exchange information via the Web. People use a web browser to communicate with others. Apart from the browser you do not need anything else, which makes a web chat easy to use and ideal for people not very experienced with computers.
On the technical side web chats are often written with Java, Flash or Ajax.
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a grand prix motor race organised in Great Britain by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1950 and after that every year since today.
"A green background indicates an event which was part of the pre-war World Manufacturers' Championship.<br>
"A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship."
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Built by Cosworth, funded by Ford
<nowiki>**</nowiki> Between 1999-2005 built by Ilmor, funded by Mercedes
A green background indicates an event which was part of the AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship."<br>
"A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.
Ob River
The Ob is a river in Siberia. Together with the Lena and the Jenissei, it is one of the most important rivers of Siberia. Depending upon how its length is measured, it can be between 3.650 km and 6.210 km long. Some important cities on the banks of the river include Novosibirsk(Russia's third largest city), Barnaul, Kolpashevo, Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk, Beryozovo, Labytnangi, and Salekhard. The Irtysh is the Ob river's main tributary. Other tributaries include the Omsk, Parabel, Chaya, Tobol and Ishim.
Deductive reasoning
Deduction is one of the two main types of reasoning. The other is induction. In deduction, we apply a general rule to a particular case.
Deductive arguments are attempts to show that a conclusion must follow from a set of premises or hypotheses. A deductive argument is valid if the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises.
Aristotle, the first person we know who wrote down laws of deduction, gives this example of deduction:
The first two statements are called "premises". The last statement is called the "conclusion". The conclusion is taken from the premises.
Deductive reasoning is often called "top-down logic", whereas inductive reasoning is called "bottom-up reasoning".
Induction is one of the main forms of logical reasoning. The other is deduction. In induction, we find a general rule by using a large number of particular cases. For example, watching water in many different situations, we can conclude that water always flows downhill.
Induction is not the method of science, but it can be the starting-point for science. Everyone can see that the sun, moon and stars appear to move across the sky. Early civilisations thought this meant they revolved around the Earth, because that is what they always seem to do. We now know this is quite wrong, but discovering the real explanation was the start of modern science (see Copernicus, Galileo and heliocentrism). What they did was to work out an alternative theory or hypothesis, which eventually was shown to be a much better explanation of all the observations. That is real science, but the observations of the heavens, which started with the Babylonians, showed the regularity which needed to be explained. What science did was to prove the obvious explanation was not the right one.
Another example is the work of Darwin, who spent half his life collecting interesting facts about animals and plants. If he had stopped there, his name might not be known today. What he did was suggest a way in which all these facts could be explained. It was an hypothesis which could be, and was, tested in every way possible. It is well known now that the theory of evolution by natural selection best explains the way the living world has come to be as we see it. Again, real science was built on a collection of facts which needed an explanation. The philosophy of science is about testing hypotheses, rather than collecting facts, though facts are the basis of all science.
Induction, the collecting of facts, is not by itself science. The philosopher Hume said it meant “instances of which we have had no experience resemble those of which we have had experience”. Later, John Stuart Mill raised the question “Why is a single instance, in some cases, sufficient for a complete induction, while in others [many examples] go such a little way towards establishing a universal proposition?” Philosophers usually think the real issue is: what distinguishes good from bad inductions? A way to say it is: "If all known "As" are "B", then "probably" all "As" whatever are "B"".
Inductive reasoning allows for a false conclusion even if all the premises are true. This is illustrated in the following example:
1. Humans exist.2. Birds also exist.3. Therefore, birds are human.
This example shows that even though all the premises are correct, the conclusion can be false.
Discussions suitable for students of philosophy can be found in the usual places, especially:
Scientific theory
In everyday speech, the word "theory" is used as a "best guess". In modern science, a scientific theory is a tested and expanded hypothesis that explains many experiments. It fits ideas together in a framework. If anyone finds a case where all or part of a scientific theory is false, then that theory is either changed or thrown out.
An example of a scientific theory that underwent many changes is the germ theory of disease. In ancient times, people believed that diseases were caused by the gods, or by curses, or by improper behavior. Germs (microorganisms) were unknown, because germs are too small to see. With the invention of the microscope, germs were discovered, and the germ theory of disease was proposed. Thanks to the germ theory of disease, many diseases can now be cured. However, the germ theory of disease had to be modified, because some diseases are not caused by germs. The flu and scurvy are examples of diseases that are not caused by bacteria, but viruses or poor nutrition. Scientists modified the germ theory of disease, so that today we would state that theory as "Some diseases are caused by germs".
To be a scientific theory, a theory must be tested a large number of times, by different scientists in different places, and must pass the test every time. The theory must be stated exactly, sometimes using mathematics. And it must fit in with all of the other scientific theories. Science has many branches. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy are some of the major branches of science. A scientific theory in one branch of science must hold true in all of the other branches of science. For example, the atomic theory of matter, that all matter is made up of atoms, was discovered using physics, but the chemicals used in chemistry, the living tissue used in biology, the rocks studied in geology, and the planets studied in astronomy are all made up of atoms. The atomic theory of matter holds in every area of science.
Sometimes scientists come up with a theory that is wrong. The discovery of an exception to a scientific theory is a major event, and a scientist can become famous by discovering an exception to a rule. Einstein became famous for his theory of relativity, which found an exception to Isaac Newton's laws of motion. Newton's theory, which had been accepted for hundreds of years, had to be changed, and has been changed.
Here is a list of some of the major theories of modern science. These theories have been tested thousands of times, and no exception has been found.
Marin-Epagnier
Marin-Epagnier is a former municipality in the district of Neuchâtel in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. In 1888, the formerly independent municipality merged with Epagnier and Marin to form Marin-Epagnier. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Marin-Epagnier and Thielle-Wavre joined together and became the new municipality of La Tène.
It lies at the northeastern tip of Lake Neuchâtel close to Biel, at the boundary between French- and German-speaking regions, and at a knot of highways.
The Iron Age archaeological site of La Tène is within Marin-Epagnier's communal boundaries. "(See also La Tène culture.)" La Tène is a village at the eastern end of the Lake Neuchâtel (Lac de Neuchâtel), a lake in Switzerland. La Tène has a sandy beach, unique in Switzerland.
Magdalenenberg
Magdalenenberg is the name for a tumulus grave. It dates from the Iron Age. It lies at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, in Germany. The nobleman who is buried there was part of the Hallstatt culture. With a volume of 33.000 cubic metres it is the biggest grave from that time in Central Europe.
Sacred Cenote
Cenote
A cenote is a type of sinkhole that contains groundwater. It is typical in the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula and some nearby Caribbean islands. The term comes from a word used by the lowland Yucatec Maya to refer to any location where groundwater can be got at.
Cenotes are surface connections to underground water bodies. While the most well-known cenotes are large open water pools measuring tens of metres in diameter, such as those at Chichén Itzá, most cenotes are smaller sheltered sites and do not necessarily have any surface exposed water. The term cenote has also been used to describe similar karst features in other countries such as Cuba and Australia, in addition to the more generic term of sinkholes.
Cenote water is often very clear, as the water comes from rain water infiltrating slowly through the ground. The groundwater flow rate within a cenote may be very slow at velocities ranging from 1 to 1000 meters per year. Cenotes around the world attract cave divers. They have explored extensive flooded cave systems, some of which have been investigated for 100 kilometers or more.
Cenotes in or near the Yukatán may have been caused by the Chicxulub meteor impact 60 million years ago.
Yucatán Peninsula:
Central and Northern Region:
Monkton, Kent
Monkton is an English village on the Canterbury-Ramsgate road. It is at the southwestern edge of the Isle of Thanet, Kent near St Nicholas at Wade and Minster-in-Thanet. The church there is dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Inside the Church is a plaque, commemorating a local soldier, Euncie Rochelle, who died in the Iraq war. Monkton is no longer thought of as a village in its own right and is usually assumed to be part of neighbouring village Minster-in-Thanet.