The Battle of Losheim Gap was fought in the Ardennes, in Eastern Belgium, between the Allies and Nazi Germany, part of the Battle of the Bulge. It was the first battle and spearhead of the German attack, inflicting heavy American casualties, and causing disorder on the frontlines. It paved the way for further German attacks, deeper into the Ardennes. The Americans suffered high casualties, but could replace them. The Germans, on the other hand, couldn't replace their men, as all reserves were directed to the counter offensive. This reflected the poor state that the German Army was in at this time, which would be the precedent for the following battles. Background Near the end of 1944, the Nazi Germany was in a dire state. Germany proper was fighting a two front war against giants it could not compete with. With the US and Britain in the West, and the Soviets in the east, Hitler made plans to launch a last ditch blitzkrieg offensive through the Ardennes, a very forested part of Eastern Belgium. He wanted to smash through the thinly defended Allied lines and move his tanks into the open Belgian countryside and capture Antwerp, the main Allied supply port. This would separate the British and American forces in two, causing an almost Dunkirk-esque evacuation. Hitler could then agree to a ceasefire. This was the plan, however. When Hitler told his generals about his plan in September 1944, they were astounded by how outrageous it was. From the start, High Command was not optimistic, as it embodied Hitler's desperate and delusional state near the end of the war. They proposed a smaller offensive, but Hitler went through with his plan and launched the Ardennes Offensive. One reason much of the generals sided with Hitler was because at this stage of the war, Defeatism, merely admitting that the war was going to end in defeat, would lead to them being fired from their position. Plan of Action Led by the 1st SS Panzer division, they planned to attack the 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions with the goal of capturing Losheimergraben and gaining access to the vital road network to its north and west that would allow them to capture the important port of Antwerp. In a calculated risk, the Allies had only a few troops stretched very thinly across a wide area. Lanzerath, a village of about 15 homes, lay about