In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise attack through the Ardennes to Antwerp. The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War. It failed in its attempt to split the Allied advance to the Rhine, especially when the weather cleared and allowed the Allied Air Force, with its overwhelming air superiority, to attack and destroy the advancing German armoured columns. Winston Churchill described it as ‘the greatest American battle of the war’