(Dec. 16, 1944–Jan. 16, 1945) In World War II, the last German offensive on the Western Front, an unsuccessful attempt to divide the Allied forces and prevent an invasion of Germany. The “bulge” refers to the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines. In December 1944, Allied forces were caught unprepared by a German counterthrust in the wooded Ardennes region of southern Belgium. The German drive, led by Gerd von Rundstedt's panzer army, was initially successful but was halted by Allied resistance and reinforcements led by George Patton. The Germans withdrew in January 1945, but both sides suffered heavy losses.

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A bulge is something which sticks out from a surface.

Bulge may also refer to:

• A localized discontinuity in an extended military line, for example, the Battle of the Bulge, a major World War II battle
• A slang metonym for penis, referring to a visible protrusion through clothing
• A hernia is sometimes referred to as a bulge or bulge out.

In astronomy:

• Bulge (astronomy), a tightly packed group of stars at the center of a spiral galaxy
• Equatorial bulge, a bulge around the equator of a planet due to rapid rotation
• Polar bulge, a bulge in a planet or moon at its poles, distorting it into a prolate spheroid
• Tidal bulge, a bulge of land or water on a planet created by the pull of another object in orbit

In World War II:

• Battle of the Bulge, a major German offensive on the Western front near the end of 1944 and into early 1945.

See also

• Bilge