[7]: 1–64 [11] The Germans had designated five routes, or rollbahns, through the sector near Elsenborn which would give them direct access to the road network leading to the port of Antwerp; capturing this would split the American and British armies.

You bear in yourselves a holy duty to give everything and to achieve the superhuman for our fatherland and our Fuhrer!The Sixth Panzer Army commanded by Dietrich comprised three corps containing nine divisions.

The 246th and 3rd Panzergrenadier Division were tasked with taking Höfen and Monschau and nearby villages and then driving northwest to seize the Eupen road, which would allow I SS Panzer Corps to attack west over Rollbahn B.

[12][18] I SS Panzer Corps, positioned south of LXVII Armeekorps, had the primary responsibility for breaking through the Allied lines and reaching the Meuse River and then Antwerp.

[16] To maximize the speed of the operation, and to avoid potential bottlenecks and logistical confusion, the two armored divisions of 1st SS Panzer Corps were assigned separate routes west.

[20] The plan also included Operation Stößer, a paratrooper drop behind American lines in the High Fens at the Baraque Michel crossroads 7 miles (11 km) north of Malmedy.

[12]: 216 Monschau, on the northernmost sector of the German attack, was an essential objective of their offensive; a key road led northwest 27 kilometres (17 mi) to Eupen where V Corps headquarters was located.

[1] 99th Infantry Division used the relatively quiet period to prepare an extensive defensive system, including redundant lines of communication, precise positioning of weapons to provide interlocking grazing fire, and aggressive patrols that kept the Germans off guard.

From there they would capture Bucholz Station and then drive 72 miles (116 km) through Honsfeld, Büllingen and a group of villages named Trois-Ponts, to Belgian Route Nationale N-23, and cross the River Meuse.

[7]: 75–106  The American troops in the forward positions near the International Highway were quickly overrun and killed, captured, or even ignored by the Germans, intent on keeping to their timetable for a rapid advance.

[7] The Germans' Operation Stößer was a plan to drop paratroopers in the American rear in the High Fens area, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Malmédy, and to seize the key Baraque Michel crossroads leading to Antwerp.

[35]: 218 The wide scattering of the drops led to considerable confusion among the Americans, as fallschirmjäger were reported all over the Ardennes, and the Allies believed a division-sized jump had taken place.

989th Infantry Regiment of 277th succeeded, after heavy and costly combat in the woods, in overrunning the forward American positions guarding the trails to the villages, capturing a large number of prisoners and leaving many small units isolated.

The German attack swiftly bogged down against the heavy small arms and machine gun fire from the prepared positions of 99th Infantry Division on their flanks.

[37] Held up by their inability to cross the railroad bridge that German engineers were slow to repair, and by the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon of 394th Infantry Regiment at Lanzerath Ridge, elements of 1st SS Panzer Division did not arrive in force at the 99th's positions until the afternoon of 17 December.

At 09:30 on 17 December, Peiper sent a section of the Kampfgruppe north to reconnoiter, but they encountered strong resistance, improvised by tank-destroyers of the 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion and lost two Panzer IVs.

[10]: 166–167  The American forces responded with a powerful artillery barrage supported by mortar fire, bazooka rockets, and anti-tank mines that repelled the German attack around midnight of 18 December.

All that day and night, the battle raged, with SS tank and assault guns hitting the villages from the east, supported by a barrage of nebelwerfer rockets.

The soft ground in front of the ridge was almost impassable, one Sturmgeschütz assault gun after another got stuck, and the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division lost 15 tanks that day to American artillery.

[6]: 51 At 17:30 that evening, the remaining troops of 393rd and 394th Infantry Regiments withdrew from their positions around the Baracken crossroads, just north of Krinkelt-Rocherath, and retreated along a boggy trail about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) toward Elsenborn Ridge.

On 23 December a cold wind from the northeast brought clear weather and froze the ground, allowing free movement of tracked vehicles and the return of effective air support.

The end of Battle of the Bulge is officially considered to be 16 January, exactly one month after the Germans launched it, but fighting continued for three more weeks until early February when the front lines were reestablished on the positions held on 16 December.

[47] The organized retreat of 2nd and 99th Divisions to the Elsenborn Ridge line and their subsequent stubborn defense blocked the 6th Panzer Army's access to key roads in northern Belgium that they were relying on to reach Antwerp.

"[31]: 224  Peiper's forces were plagued by overcrowding, flanking attacks, blown bridges, and lack of fuel,[31]: 463  meaning that the Germans were unable to repeat the rapid advances they achieved in 1940 in the same area.

"[14]: 8  After the war, Hasso von Manteuffel, Commanding General of the Fifth Panzer Army, wrote that the German counteroffensive "failed because our right flank near Monschau ran its head against a wall.

[10]: 410  During the battle, small American units, company and less in size, often acting independently, conducted fierce local counterattacks and mounted stubborn defenses, frustrating the Germans' plans for a rapid advance, and badly upsetting their timetable.

The rapid advance by the German forces that resulted in the town being surrounded, the spectacular resupply operations via parachute and glider, along with the fast action of General Patton's Third U.S. Army, all captured the public's imagination and were featured in newspaper articles and on radio.

[51]: 154–61 German tactics for the offensive involved an initial intense artillery barrage, followed by immediate infantry attacks by the volksgrenadier divisions supported with light assault guns such as the Sturmgeschütz IV.

This initial attack with relatively non-mobile[clarification needed] and more expendable troops were used to clear major roads for use by the SS panzer divisions, which would then rapidly move to capture bridges on the Meuse river for the final drive to Antwerp.

[60] Cpl Henry F. Warner of the 26th Infantry Regiment was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for single-handedly disabling several German tanks during a running battle near Bütgenbach.