Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge

Joachim Peiper’s Bloody Blitz Through Belgium

As the Belgian town of La Gleize burned to the ground around him, 29-year-old SS Lt. Col. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Panzer Lehr Division’s Assault on Bastogne

On December 10, 1944, Generalleutnant (equivalent to major general in the U.S. Army during World War II) Fritz Bayerlein was called to a meeting at Kyllburg (Eifel) to participate in a map exercise involving an advance to the Meuse River. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

101st Airborne Medic recalls Op. Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge

“You’re crazy to go out there!” a paratrooper shouted to medic Al Mampre as he bolted from a trench outside of the Dutch town of Eindhoven. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

World War II Odyssey Across Europe

Roy Altenbach, a soldier from a German-speaking family in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was assigned to the 47th Medium Maintenance Company, 22nd Ordnance Battalion. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Captured at the Bulge

Private Leon Goldberg pulled the trigger on his heavy, water-cooled M-1917 Browning machine gun and fired bursts of .30-caliber rounds into the attacking German infantry. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Easy Company Mortarman

The green light lit up the inside of the Douglas C-47 Skytrain’s fuselage, and 20 paratroopers from Easy Company’s Stick 70, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division charged out the door. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Was Justice Served After the Malmedy Massacre?

It was a dismal day, Sunday, December 17, 1944, just hours after the Germans had broken through the thinly held American lines in the Ardennes Forest along rugged terrain of the Western Front. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Fighting Across Europe with the 101st Airborne

“Oui.” It was one of the few words 101st Airborne paratrooper Norwood Thomas knew in French, and it served him well on the morning of June 6, 1944. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Armored Clash in Alsace-Lorraine

The American light tanks, bringing up much needed supplies, were in column as they began to take fire. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

C-47 Crew Chief’s Four Flights into Hell

By Elmer Wisherd with Nan Wisherd

Elmer Wisherd was born on December 1, 1920, in North Dakota. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to a farm in Bruce, Wisconsin. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Siege of Bastogne: The Battle for Noville

By Kevin M. Hymel

It was December 19, 1944, one day before the Siege of Bastogne. Shortly after 10:30 am, 26-year-old Major William Desobry picked up his field telephone, called his combat commander, Colonel William Roberts, and asked if he could withdraw from the Belgian village of Noville. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Assault Gun Tanker

The German push west came to a violent end.

On December 19, 1944, the Panther and King Tiger tanks of SS Lt. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

The Wereth 11 Massacre During the Battle of the Bulge

In the winter of 1944-1945, within Belgium’s Ardennes Forest, better known as the launching pad of the Battle of the Bulge, two war crimes were committed. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

World War II’s Famous Battle of the Bulge

On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched Operation Wacht am Rhein, or Watch on the Rhine. Popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, the ensuing offensive was a desperate effort to win a major victory in the West. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Outlandish D-Day Invasion Tales: Paratrooper Raff: Tank Commander?

To Colonel Edson Raff, jumping out of a plane was “like getting out of the bed in the morning.” Read more

Battle of the Bulge

1st Infantry Division Museum

One of America’s finest military museums, the 1st Division Museum near Chicago, presents the history of America’s oldest division––from its inception in World War I, through World War II, the Cold War, the jungles of Vietnam, and Desert Storm. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Race to the Meuse

The American airborne troops shivered in their foxholes as temperatures plummeted on Christmas Eve 1944. Behind them to the east lay the beleaguered town of Bastogne. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

With the “Ragtag Circus” Across Europe: The Story of Frank Fauver

The 83rd U.S. Infantry Division had been mobilized for World War I in September 1917. Its unit patch was a downward-pointing black triangle with the letters O-H-I-O stitched as an abstract gold monogram in the center. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge POWs: One Man’s Story of Capture

Nobody knew it in the 6th Armored Divisions 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, but the tide of the Battle of the Bulge had turned by the time the outfit moved into snow-covered fields and forests near Bastogne. Read more

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge Tank Duel On Christmas Eve

The Battle of the Bulge is famously known as the largest battle fought by the U.S. Army in World War II. Read more