Experience the frost-bitten, final fight for Europe.
By mid-1944, the Allies had liberated most of western Europe from Germany. But in December 1944, the Germans went back on the offensive to try and retake key territories in Belgium, resulting in the bitterly cold and drawn out Siege of Bastogne. The weather prevented Allied air support, so both sides dug into frozen trenches and engaged in icy, brutal warfare. On December 26th, the Allied Air Force was finally able to provide supplies and make way for an American victory.
Witness the toughest of the U.S. Army battling against hot lead and the bitter cold.
1
Infantrymen use their weapons to battle down a door of a house where German snipers are hiding out.
Battle of Bastogne
2
German troops walk past burning U.S. vehicles which have been taken down and rendered unusable by shells
Battle of Bastogne
3
3-inch Gun Motor Carriages fire on enemy positions in the distance
Battle of Bastogne
4
Two tanks, both Light Armored Car M8, roll across a field.
Battle of Bastogne
5
As they cross the field, two infantry men fire at German troops across a field
Battle of Bastogne
6
Solders spread out as they walk across a snowy field to an enemy's position
Battle of Bastogne
7
Vapor trails paint the sky after a dogfight and soldiers manning an anti-aircraft gun look to the skies for their next target
Battle of Bastogne
8
Soldiers march down a snowy track running through the western front
Battle of Bastogne
9
Soldiers marching toward the front line
Battle of Bastogne
10
A member of Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron checks a .30-caliber Machine Gun
Battle of Bastogne
11
German soldier surrending
Battle of the Bulge
12
Soldiers crawl alongside fence
Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945
13
Soldier looking over the river
Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945
14
Soldiers aiming in the snowy trenches
Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945
15
Soldiers entering the village of Bastogne
Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945
16
Soldiers on lookout
Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945
17
Soldiers line up for soup
Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945
18
German prisoners, some of them wearing coveralls for camouflage in the snow
Being herded by guards
19
Two soldiers take up gunning positions in a bunker
Battle of Bastogne
20
German POWs
Battle of the Bulge, January 1945
21
German POWs on grave-digging duty
During the Battle of the Bulge
22
Snow covered tank
Battle of the Bulge
23
Shell craters left by an Allied barrage laid down to clean German infantry out of the woods and fields
The Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, 1944.
24
Allied troops around a fire
Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge.
25
American troops man trenches along a snowy hedgerow in the northern Ardennes Forest
The Battle of the Bulge
26
An American artilleryman shaves in frigid cold, using a helmet for a shaving bowl
the Battle of the Bulge, 1944
27
American GI’s chop a foxhole in the frozen ground by a haystack during the Battle of the Bulge. The machine gun was set up in preparation for a German counterattack
LIFE Magazine
28
An American tank moves past another gun carriage which slid off an icy road in the Ardennes Forest
During the Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 20, 1944
29
American troops in a snow-filled trench during the Battle of the Bulge
LIFE Magazine
30
Soldiers carry the fallen
Battle of the Bulge
31
Troops tread through the snow behind a tank
Battle of Bastogne
32
101st Airborne Division paratroopers set out to rejoin their unit
Near Bastogne on Jan. 11, 1945
33
3rd Armored Division infantrymen advance under artillery fire
Pont-Le-Ban, Belgium Jan. 15, 1945
34
American infantrymen of the 290th Regiment fight in fresh snowfall
Amonines, Belgium Jan. 4, 1945
35
American G.I.
Battle of the Bulge
