how many german tanks were used for the battle of the bulge

I want you to command a group of American and British troops and get them across the Meuse and seize one of the bridges. Hitler also remarked that small units disguised in enemy uniforms could cause great confusion among the enemy by giving false orders, upsetting communications, and misdirecting troops. Hitler informed him that he had decided that this could be accomplished more quickly and with fewer losses if Skorzeny and his men wore U.S. Skorzeny was to form a special brigade, Panzer Brigade 150, whose purpose would be to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. For this reason, he asked him to set up a similar unit.

Hitler informed Skorzeny that the Americans had used 3 captured German tanks with German markings in the Battle of Aachen. After congratulating Skorzeny, Hitler outlined the planned Ardennes Offensive and the role he was to play in it.

Following his return to Germany, Skorzeny was summoned to meet Hitler at his headquarters at Rastenburg in East Prussia on 22 October 1944. Skorzeny had become one of Hitler's favorites following the success of Operation Panzerfaust in which he had supervised the kidnapping of Miklós Horthy, Jr., the son of Hungary's Regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, to force Horthy's resignation. There was an earlier Nazi military operation that used this name, namely an anti-partisan operation conducted by the German Army, begun on 14 August 1942, in the vicinity of Orsha and Vitebsk in the Soviet Union.īackground Skorzeny with the liberated Mussolini Skorzeny's post-war trial set a precedent clarifying article 4 of the Geneva Convention: as the German soldiers removed the Allied uniforms before engaging in combat, they were not to be considered francs-tireurs. A lack of vehicles, uniforms and equipment limited the operation and it never achieved its original aim of securing the Meuse bridges. Army uniforms and using captured Allied vehicles, were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines. German soldiers, wearing captured British and U.S. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. Operation Greif English- Griffin ( German: Unternehmen Greif) was a special operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

How many german tanks were used for the battle of the bulge