Germany started the Battle of the Bulge with a bang. A huge, ugly bang that crashed into the American troops and relentlessly drove them backward.
The German penetration into the American lines in the Ardennes Forest wasn't large; it was absolutely massive. A quarter of a million men, almost 1,500 tanks and more than 2,000 artillery pieces were unleashed on the Ardennes and the thinly held American lines on Dec. 16, 1944. The Allies' commander, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, had thought the Germans might launch a significant operation, but he hadn't imagined just how gigantic it could be.
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