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The Battle of the Bulge is a timeless battle study because of its historic value for students of modern-day operations, tactics and doctrine. This famous battle embodies many principles and tenets of the operational art of war as practiced by Napoleon, such as manoevres sur les derriers (envelopment and placing forces behind the enemy astride his lines of communications), as well as the German blitzkrieg tactics, that also relied upon envelopment and destruction. In the Ardennes, the Germans attempted to cut the Allied lines of communications and paralyze and disrupt Allied forces. What defeated the Germans were the combined arms defenses of St. Vith and Bastogne that put the German lines of communications in jeopardy.
The St. Vith battle traded space for time-time needed to establish a hard shoulder defense on the northern flank of the Bulge. The successful defense of the transportation hub of Bastogne drew German units into killing zones and set back the German timetable. In both battles, a light-heavy mix of forces was used effectively. In the north, infantry and airborne troops backed up the 7th Armored Division in its mobile defense of St. Vith. The successful fighting withdrawal of the 7th Armored Division bought time to organize a cohesive defense on the north shoulder of the Bulge. This upset the timetable for the German offensive and the German forces never regained their momentum; thus, the German conditions for success were never realized. In the south, the remnants of the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions, plus their organic artillery and some VIII Corps Artillery units, provided the mobile counterattack force and firepower support for the besieged troops of the 101st Airborne Division surrounded in Bastogne.
The defense of Bastogne showed how a light division, augmented with heavy forces and fire support, was able to withstand the attack of armor-heavy German forces. This example was used as part of the rationale for the development of the U.S. light divisions and to justify their usefulness in a NATO environment. As a testament to the importance of a heavy-light force mix in mid- to high-intensity combat, heavy-light force mixes have been de rigeur for the scenarios of the Army's Battle Command Training Program's computer-driven, command post exercise war games. They have also proved effective...