At precisely 5:30 AM, Saturday morning, December 16 1944, more than 286,000 German troops, supported by 1900 pieces of artillery, rockets, and mortars, and spearheaded by 970 tanks and tank destroyers, launched an all-out; do or die attack against United States’ positions up and down an 85 mile front of the Ardennes Forest between the towns of Monschau and Echternach in southern Belgium.

This entire attack, code-named: Operation Christrose, was Nazi Germany’s last throw of the dice. It was Adolf Hitler’s last gamble to try and reverse the tide of World War Two and achieve victory for National Socialism. The overall objective was to take the Belgian port city of Antwerp, which served as the largest Allied supply depot on the European continent. If successful, the entire Allied Expeditionary Force would be cut in two, and the Western Allies would be forced to sue for peace.

Early on, the Germans met incredibly stiff resistance in the Northern sector of their attack, by small bands of incredibly daring and determined Americans who managed to repulse most of the 6th S.S. Panzer Army’s attack. However, in the central sector, and portions of the southern sector, the Germans achieved a complete breakthrough along a thirty-three mile wide front.

It was here where the Fifth Panzer Army surrounded two regiments of the inexperienced 106th U.S. Infantry Division and forced them all to surrender on the afternoon of December 19. They then proceeded to surround the vital road junction and town of Bastogne, over run St. Vith, link up with their comrades from divisions of the 7th German Army to their south, and slash their way toward the town of Dinant on the Meuse River. For a time, it looked as though the Germans would cross the river in force, but an extreme lack of fuel, and rapidly improving weather conditions, which allowed massive attacks from thousands of American aircraft, proved lethal in the end.

The German high tide occured on December 26th when a reconnaisance platoon of three Panther Tanks and two armored cars drove to the eastern bank of the Meuse River just outside of Dinant. At its extreme breadth, the Germans managed to drive a 53.4 mile long, 33 mile wide bulge into Allied lines, which is how the name: Battle of the Bulge came into being.

On January 2nd 1945, a massive, well-coordinated American counter attack erupted all along German defensive positions in the bulge. Gradually, the stubborn German defenders gave ground. Methodically, the relentless American attacks continued unabated. By January 10, the Germans began an all out retreat along every sector. Town after town was retaken and re-liberated. On January 11, St. Vith was finally back in American hands. The Germans eventually found themselves back at their original starting positions by the 28th of January.