Battle of the Bulge of the Second World War On 16 December 1944 in Germany the Nazis launched a surprise attack against the allies: it was the last offensive of the Nazis. Who was involved in the Battle of the Bulge? The war was allied against the Axis powers. The Allied Powers consisted of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. The Axis powers were Germany, Italy and Japan. Of these countries only the United States and Great Britain for the allies and Germany and Italy fought in the Battle of the Bulge. As the Battle of the Bulge began, the Soviets were also fighting the Germans on the other side of Germany. Every time Allied forces invaded Normandy on D-Day, the Germans were forced to fight on two fronts. Every time this happened, the German or Nazi army was stretched thin, causing them to lose a lot of ground to the Allied forces. On December 16, the Germans decided to attempt to regain some of the lost ground. Adolf Hitler marshalled all his reserves for battle and launched a surprise attack on the Americans and British. The Germans secretly formed up in the Ardennes forest and then attacked in Bastogne where the American 101st Airborne Division was deployed. The 101st, one of the most famous battalions of all of World War II, was completely blocked from reinforcements and supplies and not only were they short of supplies, but they were completely taken by surprise. (William 21-25) The Battle of the Bulge is probably the battle that made General George S. Patten famous: his Third Army was engaged south of the Bulge in a fierce tank battle. General Patten disengages and heads north to relieve Bastogne. Because the Germans attacked Bastogne, because the German army was trying to recapture the port of Antwerp. Antwerp was a vital port for the German army and the German commanders knew it, they believed it