Eisenhower Reorganizes Allied Forces and Plans a Counterattack During the Battle of the Bulge (1944)

Date: December 22, 1944

Created By: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Original or Replica: Original

Era: Advance to the Rhine, The General

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 83, Montgomery, Bernard (11); NAID #12125650

In this December 19, 1944 urgent personal cable to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower explains major changes to Allied operations in response to the German offensive in the Ardennes. Eisenhower had just returned from a conference with Generals Omar Bradley, George Patton, and Jacob Devers, where Allied commanders developed plans to contain the German breakthrough and prepare a counterattack. Eisenhower orders the front south of the Moselle placed on the strict defensive and abandons planned penetrations across the Saar River so that forces could be shifted toward the crisis in the Ardennes.

Eisenhower tells Montgomery that Devers would assume responsibility for much of the existing Third Army front, allowing Patton to move north with six divisions. Patton would temporarily take control of the VIII Corps and organize a major counterattack, which Eisenhower hoped could begin around December 23 or 24. He identifies the direction of Namur as the Allies’ weakest area and warns that German armored forces were expected to attack near Monschau in an effort to widen their penetration.

Eisenhower also acknowledges that German forces might attack farther north against the Ninth Army, but notes that Montgomery possessed reserves capable of responding. His overall strategy was to contain the German advance in the north while launching a coordinated attack from the south, effectively striking the German salient from opposite directions.

The cable provides an important look at Eisenhower’s immediate strategic response to the Battle of the Bulge and the rapid movement of Patton’s Third Army northward to counter the German offensive.