OPERATION STÖSSER

German paratroopers had proved a great asset during its victories of 1940 and 1941. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hitler was to turn to them again during the Battle of the Bulge, but by then Germany had very few experienced paratroopers and even fewer pilots trained in making airdrops. Their successes of the early war years were not to be repeated.

In Operation Stösser, Hitler planned to use around 1,000 paratroopers to take a strategic road junction approximately seven miles north of Malmedy, blocking American reinforcements and giving General Dietrich’s Sixth Panzer Army time to reinforce the thrust’s newly created defensive perimeter. They were to hold the junction for 24 hours, after which they would be relieved