The plan
On September 16, 1944 after the briefing in the Führer HQ at the "Wolfsschanze" (Wolf`’s Lair) in Rastenburg, Hitler asks his most trusted generals into the conference room: Feldmarshall (Fieldmarshal) Keitel, Chief of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, Colonel General Alfred Jodl, Heinz Guderian as Chief of the General Staff and General Kreipe as a representative of Göring.
When Hitler enters the room Jodl starts with a situation report. The political situation is hopeless. The Reich is completely isolated. More and more hitherto axis-aligned powers are turning away from Germany. Romania and Bulgaria have preferred to change sides and to fight against Germany on the side of the Soviets. Finland has likewise turned away from Hitler-Germany. Japan has suggested that Germany should start armistice negotiations with the Russians.
The Americans are at the western border of the Reich and the summer offensive of the Russian army seems to have petered out. Jodl, in his summary, speaks about a lull in the Ardennes. At this word Hitler stops the briefing, and those persons present are professedly surprised to hear that right there, in the Ardennes, is where Hitler wishes a great offensive to be mounted with Antwerp as the operational objective. On 25 September Jodl gets the order to draw up a comprehensive plan. He presents his plan to Hitler on October 11 which carries the provisional code name "Christrose". Hitler appears enthusiastic about the concept. Three allied armies consisiting of with twelve armoured divisions as well as eighteen infantry divisions are to be caught by surprise and Antwerp taken by the the seventh day. Hitler himself chooses the overall code name for the opeation: "Wacht am Rhein" (Watch On The Rhine).
Feldmarschall von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief of all German ground forces in the west and Feldmarschall Walter Model, whom Hitler has particularly chosen to execute the offensive, are however anything but excited about these plans. Both start to work on counterproposals. Von Rundstedt deals with "Unternehmen Martin" (Operation Martin), Model with "Herbstnebel" (Autumn Fog). On 27 October both present their suggestions. Von Rundstedt provides for a 35 km broad attack sector with 17 divisions, Model a 65 km front with 20 divisions. Hitler rejects both by referring his generals to Frederick the Great who put everything on a card at the battle of Rossbach and Leuthen and defeated a doubly superior force.
By 11 December the Reichsbahn (German National Railways) had succeeded in performing a minor miracle by transporting three armies into their initial positions. General Ernst Brandenberger was to lead the 7th Infantry Army against Vianden and Echternach, Hasso von Manteuffel's 5th Panzerarmee (tank army) has the task of taking St. Vith as well as pushing forward as quickly as possible through the southern Snow Eifel region. The best-equipped and most able troops are under the command of SS Obergruppenführer (General) Sepp Dietrich. The 6. Panzer Army consists of four powerful panzer and five infantry divisions. The panzer units are the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH)", the 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitlerjugend”, the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" as well as the 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen". The commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division is Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant-colonel) Jochen Peiper.
