On this day, 81 years ago, on December 16, 1944 (November 2, 1944 in the lunar calendar), the German army carried out the "Griffin" counterattack plan in the Ardennes. The German army engaged in counterattack was 250,000 people. On the night of December 12, 1944, senior German commanders on the Western Front were suddenly summoned to the headquarters of Marshal Rundstedt, commander-in-chief of the Western Front. The "Griffin" counterattack plan formulated by Hitler this time was bold, arrogant and simple: Didn't the Allies rely on sea supplies to maintain the front operations? Then we should send a surprise attack on Antwerp, the port of Belgium, seize the main maritime supply base of the Allies, and oppress the depleted Allies to retreat, remove the threat to Germany's western frontier, and then turn around and focus on dealing with the Russians. After the war, Allied generals commented that Hitler was surprisingly accurate in choosing this point because Eisenhower saw it this way: the Allies were unable to carry out any large-scale attack until Antwerp was repaired. To seize Antwerp, he had to break through the Allied defense line. With his habitual thinking, Hitler spotted an old place at a glance, which was the Ardennes Heights. The Adennes has been a strategic location in Central Europe since ancient times. It is located in southeastern Belgium, northern Luxembourg and northeastern France, covering an area of about 10,000 square kilometers. Because it was forested here, also known as the Ardennes Forest, Nazi Germany once used this strategic location. In June 1940, an army of tanks that suddenly rushed out of the Ardennes Forest broke through the French defense line and cut off the Allied troops 'retreat in Antwerp., thus leading to the retreat of Dunkirk and the surrender of France. Hitler regarded the Ardennes Forest as a blessed land for the German army, and this time he wanted to kill a team of strange soldiers and attack Antwerp. Since late autumn, he has been collecting remnants of soldiers for the "Griffin Project" and actually pieced together more than 2000 new or modified tanks, gathering the strength of 34 divisions. Goering also promised to muster up 3000 aircraft. What was the Allied Command doing at a time like this? Nothing was done. Western military historians were sorting out Allied Command documents for this period when they discovered an embarrassing letter from Eisenhower to Montgomery. The American general bet the British Marshal that the war could be ended before this Christmas, and he carefully set a small ransom for this. At that time, no one, whether Americans or British, expected that just before Christmas, the Allies would encounter the biggest crisis since the collapse of Dunkirk. Before dawn on December 16, the Ardenne counterattack began. German artillery roared, and V-1 rockets roared, trailing long tail flames and shooting in a large arc towards the Allied positions. The sound of the cannons awakened the allied forces from their sleep. As they rushed to the position sleepily, fourteen divisions of German offensive troops had rushed out of the misty Ardennes Forest. The Allied defense line soon collapsed. Commanding the attack was German Field Marshal Mulder. He was only 44 years old. Like Rommel, he was born in poverty and was not the solution for the officer corps. However, he was best at fighting in difficult situations and was called a "firefighter" by Hitler. Like previous "blitz", in his attack plan, the key to success or failure was sudden and speed. Different from the past, since the German army no longer has much stamina, the momentum formed by sudden and speed will not last long, and will gradually evolve into a battle for the road, and the most intense battle will be deduced at the intersection of the road. News of the German counterattack on the Ardennes did not reach the Allied Command until the afternoon of that day. However, several leaders of the allied forces did not understand the German army's intentions for a while and speculated for a long time but could not find it. It was not until dusk the next day that they understood the direction of the German assault. Antwerp! When they realized this, the German vanguard troops had penetrated more than 30 kilometers into Belgium and arrived near the headquarters of the U.S. First Army Group. What's more serious is that there is also a huge oil depot nearby. Fortunately, sporadic troops and reinforcements that were temporarily involved arrived one after another, which slowed down the German progress slightly. Just as the Allied Command was about to mobilize troops to plug the gap in the direction of the Ardennes Forest, military transportation in the already chaotic rear area was in chaos again. It turned out that a large number of German soldiers dressed in US military uniforms sneaked into the rear of the Allied forces, disguised as US military police, and were on duty at highway intersections. They pointed out the wrong direction to passing US military vehicles, intercepted US military personnel, and raised various difficult questions. If they could not answer, they would be punished as spies and shot on the spot. When the Allied Command discovered this situation, it was furious and ordered the military police to vigorously search for German soldiers wearing American uniforms. Once captured, they were immediately executed. A small number of those that were not immediately executed were also executed after interrogation. The execution of enemy spies on the battlefield is allowed under international law, but the execution of prisoners of war is not allowed under international law. But after the US military executed the German spy, Hitler ordered the German soldiers to take retaliatory actions and fully indulge their brutality. Not far from Malmed, 84 American soldiers captured in the battle were massacred by stormtroopers and found their bodies in the wilderness. It is necessary to mention that the post-war trial of this incident caused an uproar in the U.S. Congress, resulting in only a light penalty for those involved in this atrocity. Hitler boasted that the Ardennes counterattack was a success. The cow blows too early. The German counterattack only broke through a section of the Allied defense line. At both ends of the breached area, the Allied forces were still holding positions. Therefore, the Germans had to pour in through this opening and advance along a long and narrow breakthrough zone. In front of this narrow strip of land is a small town called Bastoni, which is the intersection of roads. From here, railways and highways stretch in all directions like spokes. Because it was behind the front line, the Allies did not station formed troops here, only some staff officers. From now on, this insignificant town will become a place where both sides will devote heavy troops to fight for because it stands on the road for the German army to advance. Von Mantefer, commander of the German vanguard force, claimed that there was now only one obstacle between the German tanks and Antwerp, and that was Bastoni. He ordered von Ludwig to lead his three divisions to capture Bastoni at all costs. The goal is an empty city without a single combatant. Aiming at this goal, the Germans and the Allies launched a marching match. On the morning of December 18, the Germans were 24 kilometers away from Bastoni, and by midnight, the distance had been shortened to 12 kilometers. But Americans have always been good runners. They are one step faster from the start. The U.S. 10th Armored Division reached Bastoni before the Germans. Then, the US 101st Airborne Division also arrived. They set off from France, 180 kilometers away. The big truck had its lights on and ran non-stop for 24 hours. Although the allied forces arrived one step earlier, they only had two insufficient divisions. Although the Germans were a step late, they had a huge advantage in numbers. They besieged the town, and the defenders received the following shooting order: "Fire in all directions!" On December 21, the German army tightened the encirclement while attacking, forcing the US military to retreat foot by foot. On December 22, the garrison seemed to have retreated to the end. At 10:30 a.m., Ludwig issued an ultimatum to the U.S. military: either surrender immediately or complete destruction. Hours passed and General McAuliffe, the commander of the U.S. military, replied. This letter was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the "World's Most Text Message" after the war. It had only one word: Bah! At this time, in the south, General Patton was leading the Third Corps to Bastoni. Eisenhower gave him the shortest order: Hurry! But no matter how fast, the Third Army would have to travel 160 kilometers on the frozen road. Just 30 kilometers from Bastoni, the Third Corps encountered another rare snowstorm, and the American soldiers were blocked by a severe cold they had never encountered. Bastoni was running out of ammunition and supplies and was in urgent need of airdrop supplies. But in the fog and ice and snow, it was impossible for the transport plane to even complete the take-off action. On the morning of December 23, there was still no sign of the plane in the gloomy sky, and the besieged soldiers thought they had been forgotten. The sky finally cleared up for the first time since the Germans launched the Ardenne Offensive. The C-47 transport aircraft dropped hundreds of parachutes, including mortar shells, machine gun bullets, gas masks, medical supplies, bandages, batteries, and first-aid plasma. There are also Christmas gifts falling down from the sky. The Air Force thought it through. This Christmas, they will not be able to go home for the New Year. But their fighting in the snow prevented Hitler from desperate and unable to give the special Christmas gift the Germans had promised. On Christmas Eve, everything seemed so quiet and uncomfortably quiet. This was the unique silence before the general offensive. Christmas is here. In the early morning of that day, the Germans launched a powerful offensive and finally broke through the U.S. defense line in western Bastoni. Following the tear, Nazi infantry surged in until they were stopped 3 kilometers from the city center. Bastoni is in urgent need! Patton led the 3rd Corps and pushed forward with all their might. The tanks shook off the infantry and penetrated through a gap in the German line. Now they were only a dozen kilometers away from their destination. The Germans are in trouble now. They wanted to stop the 3rd Army and maintain the momentum of attacking the city, but they fell short on both ends. On the second day of Christmas, tanks from the 3rd Corps rolled into Bastoni and joined the defenders. After the infantry arrived one after another, Bastoni finally recovered from such a strong defensive force that the Germans could not shake. What about Hitler? There is a face issue for him now. He had vowed to attack Antwerp, but he did not expect to be stopped in Bastoni, far away from the port of Antwerp. He couldn't swallow this anger and refused to listen to anyone's advice. On January 3, 1945, the German army concentrated nine divisions and continued to attack Bastoni, thus launching the most intense battle in the Ardennes counterattack. But by this time Bastoni had received reinforcements from Patton's 3rd Corps, and the Germans made no progress. Not only that, it broke into a long and narrow corridor. If it does not withdraw, it will be surrounded and annihilated by the allied forces that are gradually drawing closer. So, on January 16, 1945, exactly one month after the Ardennes counterattack was launched, the German army returned to the position where they had started a month ago. The Ardenne Offensive was the last German counterattack in World War II, ending with 120,000 casualties. Hitler fought hard and lost everything, and the "Griffin Project" was completely exhausted. A masterpiece of photography: German soldiers in the Ardennes counterattack The Germans issued an ultimatum to the U.S. troops in the encirclement. Standing beside Hitler was his subordinate Otto Skozeni, a Nazi officer who was famous for rescuing Mussolini in 1943. During the Ardenne counterattack, he commanded about 800 German soldiers who spoke English and wore U.S. military uniforms to infiltrate behind the U.S. defense line to harass, plunging the U.S. military into chaos for a time. Captured US troops