At present, the Western Front has better opportunities than the Eastern Front, the distance of the Western Front is shorter, the cost of transporting the necessary fuel is lower, and the important strategic objectives are more easily accessible to the existing forces and weapons, while on the Eastern Front in the Soviet theater, the war needs to be fought under completely different conditions.

In addition, the British and Americans were not tough opponents like the Red Army or the Soviet political leaders. The British were on the verge of exhaustion, and the Americans were likely to be discouraged if they saw that things were turning against them.

Li Mo analyzed:

"If we succeed, we will crush the enemy's entire Western Front, and then the situation on the Western Front will be temporarily stabilized, which will allow us to draw troops to the threatened areas of the Eastern Front, and at that time I do not believe that the Soviet Union will be able to resist the attack of our millions of elite German troops for a long time, and we will definitely control our own destiny."

Li Mo not only attached importance to the psychological role of the party leaders, the front line, and the rear, but also attached importance to the psychological role of the public opinion of the allied countries and the army.

Determined to "weaken forever the psychology of the Western powers," in the hope of shaking the enemy's confidence in a great victory, and making them abandon their desire for a second war of war in Germany, and make them more willing to negotiate peace, Limer declared at the end of his speech:

"Victory belongs to Germany, victory belongs to the great Germanic peoples."

The Allied forces in the Ardennes were surrounded by German troops again, and for the second time in a row, the American people began to become pessimistic and war-weary, and they held various anti-war demonstrations, and these marchers even took out their anger on Patton, who had returned home, calling him "a disgrace to the United States." It was the "murderers" who sent countless Americans into the encirclement of the German army, and the glass of Patton's house was smashed several times a day.

The stubborn and strong Barton couldn't stand that, and took the initiative to ask Ying to be the commander of the Allied forces in the Ardennes, Patton would rather die in battle than endure humiliation, and besides, Montgomery, the commander of the Allied immortals in the Ardennes, also wanted to leave, and Churchill had already asked Eisenhower several times to transfer Montgomery out of the dangerous area of the Ardennes. Montgomery was Churchill's ace general. Churchill, of course, was reluctant to let him die in the Ardennes.

Patton got his wish and returned to the European theater as the supreme commander of the Ardennes.

In November 1941, Allied soldiers in Europe waited for Christmas in the snowstorm, looking forward to the holidays, gifts and good weather. Cold, damp clothes are terrible to be on your body. George Smith Barton, commander of the Allied 3rd Army, cursed the ghost weather. While asking the pastor to write a prayer – he needs good weather. In such weather, the air force could not be dispatched, and it was almost impossible for Patton's armored forces to break through without air cover.

Contrary to Patton's anxiety, Field Marshal Rundstedt, commander of German Army Group A, was applauding the harsh weather. He will take advantage of this opportunity to carry out a large-scale encirclement and annihilation battle, because the Allies do not want to fight with the German air force, and the German planes have suffered very serious losses, and now there are only more than 3,000 left, while the Allies still have more than 5,000 planes, although they have lost more than 8,000 aircraft.

Although German submarines have been attacking Allied transport fleets in the Atlantic, because of the invention of sonar, German submarines have been sinking more and more at this time, and the results of the war are getting less and less.

The German army annihilated more than 500,000 Allied troops in Belgium and the Netherlands, but it did not completely crush the Allied army's will to fight, so the German army tried its best to avoid fighting with the Allied planes.

Located at the junction of Allied Lieutenant General Hodges's 1st Army and Patton's 3rd Army, the Ardennes Mountains were about 80 miles wide and rugged and difficult to defend, defended by Middleton's missing 8th Army.

The Allied leaders did not realize the great danger lurking here, and instead turned it into a resting ground for the personnel of the divisions who had suffered setbacks in sporadic battles. Opposite the positions of the 8th Army, the Germans had already quietly concentrated a huge force of 14 divisions (7 of which were panzer) under the cover of night.

Patton, aware of the recent unusual behavior of the German army, asked Chief of Staff Guy to draw up a plan - the 3rd Army would halt its eastward advance and make a 90-degree turn. On 13 November, Patton issued a warning to Bradley, the Allied commander-in-chief in Europe (and a longtime comrade-in-arms of Patton), and reminded him that the Eighth Army was in a very dangerous situation and that action must be taken as soon as possible. But Bradley didn't take Barton's advice.

On the night of November 15, the German radio stations fell silent, and Patton, keenly aware of the impending battle, ordered his troops to immediately enter combat mode and be ready to meet the Germans.

At 5:30 a.m. on November 17, 2,000 German artillery pieces shattered the dream of the 8th Army, and the three fully manned German armies (the 6th SS Panzer Army, the 5th Panzer Army and the 7th Army with a total strength of 200,000 troops) rushed towards the US 8th Army under the command of Field Marshal Lundstedt. German Army Group A and Moder's Maginot Line troops directly launched an offensive battle against Nancy, with more than 600,000 German offensive troops and 600,000 troops involved in defense and reinforcement.

The 8th Army, consisting of the 92nd Airborne Division and its task force, the 28th Infantry Division (missing 2 regiments), the 9th Panzer Division and a number of artillery units, was no match for the Germans. Soon, the Germans encircled it in a few small areas, including Vaux, and advanced 30-50 miles into the depth of the Allies.

On November 18, Allied Commander-in-Chief Dwight D. Eisenhower convened an emergency meeting at Bradley's headquarters to study countermeasures to the German offensive and decided to launch a counterattack against the Germans in the south to relieve the besieged troops. When Eisenhower asked Patton when he could attack, Patton replied without hesitation: "The morning of November 22." ”

The generals at the meeting thought that he was talking about it, but Patton said quietly: "This is not nonsense, I have already made arrangements, and my staff officers are drawing up a battle plan." I could have put in 3 divisions on November 22 - the 26th, 80th Infantry Division and the 4th Panzer Division. In a few days it was possible to throw 6 divisions. But I decided to attack with the forces at hand, I could not wait, otherwise I would lose the effect of the surprise. ”

Eisenhower agreed to Patton's plan. Immediately after the meeting, Patton telephoned Chief of Staff Guy and issued an order for action: the 4th Panzer Division advanced to Arlon via Longwe, the 80th Division attacked through Thionville, and the 26th Division was ready to go. According to Patton's order, the command of the 3rd Army completed a lot of difficult work in the shortest possible time (20-22), including: (to be continued......)