The Ardennes Campaign in Belgium was the site of the final major push by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany against the Western Front during World War II, and the resulting Battle of the Bulge was dubbed "the greatest American battle of the war" by Winston Churchill. Hitler's plan was to divide the Allied forces as they advanced on Germany. The inability of the German army's Ardennes offensive to drive a wedge between Britain, France, and the United States ultimately led to the Allies' victory. Some 30 German divisions attacked battle-weary American troops across 85 miles of the densely wooded Ardennes Forest from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945. The assault, also known as the Battle of the Ardennes, lasted six terrible weeks. The German advance into the Ardennes created a bulge in the Allied front, hence the name of the fight. Over one hundred thousand men were killed or wounded in combat, making it the deadliest for the United States Army. Ardennes was once a peaceful woodland region, but fighting at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize, and later Bastogne, defended by the 101st Airborne Division, hacked it into chaos. Have you ever witnessed landfall after a tornado had passed? Have you ever witnessed snapped-off branches of trees and other vegetation? U.S. Army Private Charlie Sanderson said that "the whole friggin' forest was like that" in My Father's War: Memories from Our Honored WWII Soldiers. The U.S. Army Center of Military History reports that on day one, the front was broken by a surprise German onslaught, and reports of mass murder of soldiers and civilians circulated swiftly. Those who were alive in 1940 would recognize this scene immediately. The residents of Belgium's municipalities "put away their Allied flags and brought out their swastikas," according to the center's account. The French police had a 24-hour curfew in effect. When the Germans launched their full-scale offensive, British veterans watched anxiously to see how the Americans would respond, while British generals secretly took measures to protect the Meuse River's crossings. The Nazi attack sobered even American civilians who thought triumph was nigh.

The American troops were brutalized by freezing rain, thick fog, huge snow drifts, and record-breaking low temperatures in the middle of December, when Hitler launched one of the bloodiest attacks of the war. Trench foot, pneumonia, and frostbite were only some of the "cold injuries" that winter, which resulted in over 15,000 "I was from Buffalo; I thought I knew cold," Baseball Hall of Famer and World War II veteran Warren Spahn said in his book "The Love of Baseball." But it wasn't until the Battle of the Bulge that I realized just how chilly it could be.

The Nazis also used the tactic of trying to infiltrate the Allies' forces. After his unit had just arrived in Germany from France in 2009, PFC Vernon Brantley of the 289th Regiment recalled receiving orders to pack up and return to Luxembourg. A large number of German paratroopers, disguised as American soldiers and speaking English, were reportedly dropped beyond American lines, he added. As the speaker suggests, "They were there to create confusion." Additionally, the Germans altered road signs and disseminated false information. In 1945, LIFE magazine claimed that the Nazis "were carefully groomed for their dangerous mission." By hanging out with American POWs in German camps, "they spoke excellent English, and their slang had been tuned up." These Germans could be considered spies under the guidelines of the Hague Convention and would be tried by a military tribunal without delay. American officers declared them guilty after a short trial and sentenced them to death by firing squad, as is customary for spies. To prevent infiltration, American soldiers would quiz suspicious Germans on American culture and history. General Omar Bradley recounted, "Three times I was ordered to prove my identity," as reported by the Washington Post. Once by saying "Betty Grable's then-current spouse was Springfield," once by saying "the guard is between the center and the tackle on a line of scrimmage," and once by saying "Springfield is the capital of Illinois."

The weather cleared on Christmas Day, allowing Allied air forces to launch an attack. "The ground froze solid on that clear, cold Christmas morning in 1944," Brantley told the Leader. Tanks and airplanes were free to move around and reach those of us who had been cut off. … The appearance of the sun was a very encouraging indication. It meant that we would have another day to live. The Allies' supreme commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the United States' second-in-command, Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr., led the charge to retake the front. The Bloodiest Battle, a book published by the National Archives, claims that Eisenhower sent Patton to the Ardennes with the Third Army, a force of over 230,000 men.

Thousands of Allies were trapped in the strategic Belgian town of Bastogne. In response, Eisenhower dispatched additional troops, among them the legendary 101st Airborne Division. According to the Bloodiest Battle, when the Germans demanded the surrender of the 101st on December 22, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe replied with a single word: "Nuts!" The German officers took this to be a less bland rejection of their request. Patton's quickly approaching Third Army came, smashed through German lines, and freed the men on the day after Christmas. On January 25, 1945, the Allies declared victory and began their advance on Berlin. On May 7, fewer than five months later, Germany capitulated, ending World War I. The United States Department of Defense estimates that over a million Allied troops, including around half a million Americans, participated in the Battle of the Bulge; of these, approximately 19,000 were killed, 47,500 were wounded, and over 23,000 are still missing. Approximately one hundred thousand Germans were either killed, injured, or taken prisoner. John S.D. Eisenhower noted in his book The Bitter Woods, published in 1969, that the Ardennes campaign of 1944–1945 was just one of a series of arduous conflicts in the struggle for Europe. However, it is fair to say that the Ardennes campaign was representative of all the others. Because this is where American and German soldiers locked horns in the battle that ultimately defeated the Nazi war machine.