ABSTRACT
By December 1944, the German army had taken a terrible pounding on fronts. The Luftwaffe had been reduced to impotence, and Allied bombers ranged freely over German skies against little or no opposition. When that failed, Adolf Hitler could only go on hoping for some miracle, while Germany was being crushed between the jaws of a massive vise. Hitler alternated between moods of deep despair and maniacal highs, during which he raved about some miracle or other that would deliver Germany from defeat. In any event, the Anglo-American coalition was near as shaky as Hitler willed himself to believe. Hitler had sought to break apart the Anglo-American coalition with his Ardennes offensive. The Soviets had massive superiority in men, tanks, guns, and aircraft. Aside from the forces Hitler had diverted to the Ardennes, he had further stripped German defenses in Poland of divisions that he sent south in a futile effort to defend Hungary.
