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Topic: History, and Land Warfare Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Europe Tags: Battle Of The Bulge, Belgium, Tanks, US Army, War History, Wehrmacht, and World War II Christmas Eve, 1944: The Tank Duel That Broke Nazi Germany for Good December 24, 2025 By: Brandon J. Weichert
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In order to march on Antwerp, the German Wehrmacht needed to first capture Freyneux—and the US Army stopped it in its tracks.
The Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest engagement the United States Army fought during World War II. Across the Ardennes Forest, from December 1944 until January 1945, history didn’t pause for Christmas. In this horrific melee of steel coffins in a frozen forest, the Christmas miracle wasn’t peace—but survival.
On December 24, 1944, the Americans and Germans duked it out not for control over the forest itself, or the tiny village of Freyneux, but for a clear pathway to Antwerp.
There, in that port city of Antwerp, were located the lucrative fuel depots that sustained the Allied advance into the heart of Hitler’s Reich. Hitler dreamt of taking Antwerp with a decisive thrust of armor and men in the middle of the winter, slicing hard and methodically through the Anglo-American lines in the Ardennes to get there.
The German Plan Hinged on Capturing Freyneux
Describing this plan as “audacious” would be too generous. It was completely unrealistic. Nor would Germany be able to hold Antwerp against the might of the Allied armies, or drive the Allies to seek peace. All that the attack could do would be to delay the inevitable.
Yet the Battle of the Bulge was also the only offensive choice that Germany had at its disposal on the Western front by the time that the Americans and their British and Canadian allies had landed on the continent.
And during the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Americans were caught off-guard. Nevertheless, the Americans persevered, getting over the shock of the initial German offensive and giving as good as they got from the SS.
The US Third Armored Division’s Task Force Kane was charged with defended the Belgian hamlet of Freyneux while the Germans moved hard and fast against the American lines.
Freyneux was strategically vital because it sat on the roadway that the Germans hoped to capture and use to advance toward Antwerp and other important Allied targets deep behind the Allied lines.
On Christmas Eve 1944, elements belonging to the elite Nazi SS Second Panzer Division “Das Reich” moved ahead of the advancing German force toward Freyneux, with only a small squadron of Panther tanks. The Americans were dug in with their iconic M4 Sherman Medium Tanks, M5 Stuart Light Tanks, and anti-tank guns.
American Ingenuity vs. German Steel
German engineering was second to none in World War II. And Germany’s mighty Panthers enjoyed far superior firepower and better frontal armor than their American opponents possessed. But there were still weaknesses with even the advanced and powerful German Panthers. The largest among these was that the Panthers’ side armor was much weaker than their frontal armor—and the Germans exposed their weaker side armor to the Americans on their initial approach to Freyneux.
American tank crews had planned the defense of Freyneux well. They had dug their tanks into the surrounding terrain and used that to their advantage, as all intelligent defenders would have done.
American gunners targeted their weaker guns at the exposed weak side armor of the German Panthers and wreaked havoc on that fateful Christmas Eve. The initial American barrage disabled the lead German tanks and forced their frantic crews to evacuate.
The US Army’s defense of Freyneux was successful. They managed to stop the German armored thrust that night and inflicted so much damage upon the technically superior Nazi force that the Germans withdrew from the battle entirely and were made to regroup in humiliation.
America Held the Line at the Battle of the Bulge
Elsewhere across the line, German forces continued their probing of Allied defenses and subjecting the Allied defenders to withering assaults. At Freyneux, however, the line held. The battle demonstrated that even when outnumbered and outgunned on paper, skillful defensive positioning and abject courage under fire could stunt even the most elite German armored units. In a season of peace, one of the bloodiest battles of one of the most gruesome wars occurred outside a bucolic Belgium village known as Freyneux.
It was a bit like the duel at the OK Corral—but with Nazis and tanks (and in the winter). But the Americans persevered. Their tanks and equipment were weaker than the German force. The Americans had been taken totally by surprise when the German offensive began on December 16, a week earlier.
But the US Army was undaunted and the Christmas Eve tank duel in defense of the hamlet of Freyneux lives on in history as a decisive American victory.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. Weichert hosts a companion book talk series on Rumble entitled “National Security Talk.” He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, and the Asia Times. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / R. de Bruijn_Photography.
The post Christmas Eve, 1944: The Tank Duel That Broke Nazi Germany for Good appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org