Bastogne
by John Paul Strain

     At 5:30am on December 16, 1944, a quarter-million German Soldiers launched a surprise attack along an 85-mile front, creating a bow in the American lines, which ultimately gave the battle its name. 83,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division in and around the town of Bastogne, Belgium found themselves surrounded. On December 26, 1944, the 4th Armored Division, part of General George Patton's U.S. Third Army, managed to fight through Bastogne, opening a corridor only 300 yards wide but sufficient to keep the town in American hands. The fighting in the bulge would continue for weeks before the original battle lines were restored. In scope, intensity and duration, this was the single greatest battle the American Army fought during World War II in Europe, and the last great German offensive.