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Germany invaded France in WWII by going through the Ardennes Forest. This was a hilly, heavily wooded area, with few roads, cut by ravines, and thought by all to be impossible for a modern, mechanized army to pass through. So it was lightly defended.

One of the best German generals, von Manstein, believed it would be possible to traverse the Ardennes. Hitler agreed as soon as he heard von Manstein's plan. This approach allowed the Germans to burst into France behind the bulk of the French and British Armies, who were facing north, toward Belgium. The Allies were expecting the Germans to come the same way they had in WWI, down the traditional invasion route into France over the centuries, over the flat land near the sea.

The Germans would reprise the Ardennes attack in December 1944, when they again unexpectedly came through the Forest to attack the Americans and begin the "Battle of the Bulge", more formally called the "Ardennes Offensive".

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15y ago

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