Crisis in the Ardennes - The Battle of the Bulge 1944 On December 16th, 1944 the German Army launched Operation Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine). This operation, whose goal was to split the Allied armies and capture Antwerp, was the last major offensive launched by Germany in the West. Known as the "Battle of the Bulge" due to the shape of the German advance into Allied lines, it has secured its place in history as the largest battle fought by America in the war, and the nail in the coffin of the Wehrmacht.