Many have since claimed the Allies were blinded by their recent battlefield successes-they’d had the Germans on the defensive since D-Day-but the American high command also considered the inhospitable terrain of the Ardennes an unlikely site for a counterattack. Some American commanders also dismissed reports of increased German activity near the Ardennes, while others brushed off enemy prisoners who claimed that a major attack was in the offing. Allied commanders often moved on intelligence gleaned by “Ultra,” a British unit that decrypted Nazi radio transmissions, but the Germans operated under a veil of secrecy and typically communicated by phone when within their own borders. The Allies missed several early warning signs of an offensive.Įarly German gains in the Battle of the Bulge were largely due to the attack catching the Allies completely by surprise.
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