 While the FBA was being refitted for service on the eastern front, Hitler ordered it to head west in 1944, along with most of its vehicles and personnel, to prepare for the Ardennes counter-offensive, for which it would be expanded into a brigade.Radically upgraded for the Ardennes Offensive ("Operation "Wacht am Rhein"") to provide "General der Panzertruppe" Hasso von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army with additional firepower, the "Führerbegleitbrigade" was formed from elements of the FBA, "Panzerkorps Großdeutschland", Hitler's personal army guard detail, and the mobile artillery from Hitler's "Wolfschanze" headquarters.This unit was placed under the command of Oberst (colonel) Otto Remer as a reward for his successfully foiling of a critical part of the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt of Hitler and attempted military coup against the Nazi leadership in Berlin.