Plot

High on cocaine, Hitler hatched a daring plan to change the course of the war. Colourised archive depicts the Germans' artillery barrage against the Allies.

After D-Day, Allies move westward towards Germany, but Hitler unexpectedly counter-attacks. Battle of the Bulge is one of the most titanic clashes of WW II

6th June 1944 was D-Day. The bombing campaign forces the Germans into submission. After 4 yrs, the allies are back in France. In the East, Nazis suffer huge losses against the Soviets. Germany is under attack from 2 fronts. 25th Aug, Allies liberate Paris. Brussels and Antwerp follow in early September. Port of Antwerp gives them fuel and supply pipeline. Bombing has cut the German supply lines and they are operating with just 25% of the supplies they need to fight the war. On 11th Sep, Allies enter Germany and take the border city of Aachen. Hitler needs to strike back and with such force so as to force the Allies to negotiate for peace. Allies aim to strike at the German industrial heartland, the Ruhr valley next. Hitler refuses to accept reality and identifies Antwerp as the key to turning the war back in his favor.

Hitler plans the offensive in winter, where Allies are disadvantaged and in bad weather, so allies cant use their air force. Forecast for next 10 days is for bad weather. The allies are training their troops in the densely forested Ardennes region. General Bradly is in charge as General Patton has been demoted for abusing his troops in the Sicily campaign (he struck 2 servicemen in hospital, who were probably shell shocked). But Eisenhower insists to keep Patton in Europe. Patton's troops always knew what to expect.. He was instrumental to the war effort in Europe. Bradley in comparison was complacent, while Patton kept the troops on their toes.

Bradley was so complacent that he was flying in USO entertainers like Marlene Dietrich to entertain the troops from boredom. It was winter, they were in a quiet sector, Germans were occupied, and Bradley never even thought that they would be the focus of a major offensive through the Ardennes. 16th Dec, 1944, 5:30 am, Germans attack. US positions are bombarded with artillery for 90 mins, followed by a tsunami of tanks. They had brand new king tiger tanks. Infantry was dressed in white for camouflage. But the attack in soft snow, in difficult terrain made no sense whatsoever. For the first 2 days, the Germans had the upper hand. Bradley was in Paris and heard about the attack 10 hrs after it started. Bradley thinks this is a minor, local attack. Eisenhower, however, believes Germans have no troops to spare and instinctively orders reinforcements. Germans have amassed 1500 troop trains and 500 train loads of supplies for their offensive. Americans could not believe that Germans had diverted so many troops from the Eastern front for this offensive.

To spread confusion, Germans have painted their tanks white, and have dropped their commando units behind enemy lines. The commandos are led by a nasty German Otto Skorzeny, who was also responsible for the liberation of Mussolini from his mountaintop prison. Skorzeny and his men posed as GIs and traveled in captured jeeps. They cut phone lines and sent reinforcements in the wrong direction. Skorzeny and his men spoke American and sowed a lot of mistrust amongst the troops and the enemy looked and spoke just other GIs. So, everybody was overlooking everybody else. Meanwhile the SS Panzer (led by the brutal Joachim Peiper) divisions are under pressure to move North towards Antwerp. To sow terror in the enemies, they start burning Belgian villages, with civilians locked inside. They also shoot all captured US soldiers. By 21st Dec, Germans have captured the strategically important town of St Vith and have laid siege to Bastogne. Bastogne was the hub for 7 major routes in Belgium and the US didn't want to give it up. They were also motivated by the treatment meted out to their comrades by Germans. Despite the -12 temperature, no food and dwindling ammunition, the US troops refuse to surrender. The Germans threaten to flatten the town, but the US still refuses to budge. On 22nd of December, the weather turns, the fog over the Ardennes clear and the Allies bring in their air power.

The Allied planes supply Bastogne with food and arms, while destroying German supply lines from the east, They made it impossible to supply the panzer division on the front-line. The German armies are now sitting ducks. The plan was bad to begin it as it depended on bad weather. This only reflected the mentality of Hitler at the time. So much so, that there was an attempt on his life, when an army officer brought a bomb to a meeting with Hitler (it was in a briefcase that was placed under the table). Due to the thick table, Hitler survives. He executes 200 senior army commanders behind the assassination attempt.

Theodore Morell was Hitler's physician and was giving him regular drugs (daily injections of Cocaine and Eukodal), that fueled the feeling of his own infallibility. Hitler's decisions are increasingly irrational and delusional. Hitler now only trusted his SS officers. His paranoia increases after the attempt on his life and in this state of mind he calls all his Western front commanders to his secret bunker the Eagle's Eyre on 12th of Dec. Hitler was only 55, but looked 80. he was collapsing. The generals knew that the plan had 0 chance of success, but still they go along with it and obey orders. The initial stages of the attack go smoothly, but once the air campaigns start, it turns into a disaster for the Germans. After the air raids, Patton brings up the reinforcements to help Bradley's armies. Patton uses his numerical superiority of Shermans to break through German lines and end the siege of Bastogne on 26th Dec 1944..

The Panzer divisions ran out of fuel without their supply lines and the commanders set fire to their vehicles and tanks before walking back East. It was a Blitzkrieg without petrol and hence it failed. It was poor planning that failed the offensive at Ardennes. On 8th Jan, 1945, Hitler orders a withdrawal to save what he can. Hitler retreats to his Reich Chancellory bunker in Berlin and never leaves. Russians capture Warsaw and cross the river Oder in Feb. They are 50 miles from Berlin. US soldiers shoot captured German soldiers, exactly like their comrades had been shot during the attack. Joachim Peiper is captured and sentenced to 11 yrs in prison. He goes to live in France and is assassinated in 1976

US lose 8000 soldiers, 40,000 wounded and 21,000 MIA. Costliest battle of the war for the Americans. Bradley returns home a hero, while Patton dies in a car crash and is buried in Luxembourg, amongst his men. The Battle of the Bulge shortened the war for the Germans. Within 4 months, Hitler is dead and the war in Europe is over.