The Battle of the Bulge was one of the most infamous battles of WWII. Beginning in mid-December 1944, 30 German divisions assaulted U.S. forces in the Ardennes Forest, creating a bulge in the American line, thus giving the battle its name. As the situation became worse for the American forces, units of the 101st Airborne headed into the forest to defend the town of Bastogne.
The 101st Airborne was surrounded and running out of supplies. The weather was miserable, with freezing cold temperatures, snow, and almost no visibility. This made it virtually impossible to drop supplies to 101st’s cut-off soldiers. As the story goes, a miraculous break in the weather allowed American planes to drop supplies around Bastogne.
Yet, the real story is that a few courageous pathfinders of the 101st Airborne Division agreed to a suicide mission: They would jump into Bastogne in order to guide the resupply planes in with beacons.
