World War 2 In Review: Scenes from a War: Battle of the Bulge

Snowsuited soldiers walk through the snow-covered streets of St. Vith, Belgium. These men are with Co. C, 48th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division, 24 January 1945. (U.S. National Archives photo 111-C-682)

American engineers emerge from the woods and move out of defensive positions after fighting in the vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium.

U.S. Army Signal Corps Technical Sergeant Harry A. Downard looking at a killed paratrooper of 101st Airborne Division, near Bastogne, Belgium, 12 January 1945.

This dead American soldier was felled while fighting with fellow soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, to drive the Germans from a heavily wooded area near Bastogne, Belgium, where Germans were entrenched. Photo taken on 10 January 1945.

Men of 290th Infantry Regiment in snowy terrain near Amonines, Belgium, 4 January 1945.

The 101st Airborne troops move out of Bastogne, after having been besieged there for ten days, to drive the enemy out of the surrounding district. Belgium. 31 December 1944.

Pvt. Paul Romanick of Battery B, 103rd Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, cleaning 40mm anti-aircraft gun, Sourbrodt, Belgium, 31 December 1944. Note six swastika symbols indicating six kills.

Three members of an American patrol cross a snow covered Luxembourg field on a scouting mission. White bedsheets camouflage them in the snow. Left to right: Sgt. James Storey, Newman, Ga.; Pvt. Frank A. Fox, Wilmington, Del., and Cpl. Dennis Lavanoha, Harrisville, N.Y. (30 Dec 1944). Lellig, Luxembourg.

Photo taken by a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer on 26 December 1944 in Bastogne, Belgium as troops of the 101st Airborne Division watch C-47s drop supplies to them. Jeeps and trucks are parked in a large field in the near distance.

German prisoners of war digging graves for killed men of 101st Airborne Division, near Bastogne, Belgium, late December 1944.

Men of 101st Airborne Division walking past dead comrades, killed during Christmas Eve bombing of Bastogne, Belgium, 25 December 1944.

Two soldiers of 101st Airborne Division manning a forward post near a road, near Bastogne, Belgium, 23 December 1944.

Troops of 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion, all their vehicles lost in combat, manning the front line near Bastogne, Belgium, 20 December 1944.

Men of 28th Infantry Division marching down a street in Bastogne, Belgium, 20 December 1944.

Machine gun post manned by men of 1st Battalion, 157th Regiment, 45th Division near Bastogne, Belgium, 10 December 1944. Note M1919 Browning heavy machine gun.

American POWs taken during the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge are on their way back to Germany and imprisonment for the rest of the war.

An American soldier, just back from the front lines near the town of Murrigen, shows signs of fatigue 1 January 1945.

This American soldier shaves in the cold during a lull in the fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

American troops man the trenches along a snowy hedgerow in the northern Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge.

German POWs carrying body of American soldier killed in the Bulge through snowy Ardennes field.

American soldiers of the First Army huddle around campfire in the snowy countryside of northern Ardennes Forest during lull in the Battle of the Bulge.

Soldiers of U.S. First Army hacking at frozen ground to dig foxholes near their machine gun position during a lull.

American soldiers hunting for German snipers in La Roche, France.

American infantrymen pause on a road on the outskirts of St. Vith, Belgium.

GIs of the 413th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division “Timberwolf Division,” resting on the rails after combat in Düren, town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 21 December 1944.

155mm M1 howitzer beneath a camouflage net covered with snow in the Ardennes, December 1944.

Covered with white camouflage, an infantryman assumes a prone firing position on frozen ground outside St. Vith as Americans retook the town from the Germans.

American infantrymen of the 347th Infantry Regiment at a field mess en route to La Roche, Belgium, 13 January 1945. Lucky not to have been captured—yet; luckier still to be getting a meal. The soldier being served carries an M1 Carbine.

A member of a U.S. cavalry reconnaissance squadron checks his vehicle mounted .30 caliber machine gun covered by frost, Battle of the Bulge, December 1944.

Mopping up. American infantrymen batter down the door of a house where German snipers are holding out in the town of Stavelot. Two have M1 Garand rifles with grenade launchers ready to fire while the third provides covering fire with an M1 carbine. 20 December 1944, 117th Infantry Regiment.

90mm anti-aircraft gun, being used near Stavelot in an anti-tank role by men of the 30th Infantry Division, January 1945.

An American infantryman pausing in his advance through the forest. During the first ten days of the battle confusion reigned as hastily shifted troops arrived to reinforce the efforts of the isolated units attempting to halt the enemy attack. December 1944.

Camouflaged pillbox in the forest serves as a regimental command post, December 1944.

Constructing a winterized squad hut near the front lines, December 1944.

US M36 Gun Motor Carriage during the battle of the Bulge.

VT-fuzed ammunition being fired against the Wehrmacht during the Battle of the Bulge.

Two soldiers of 101st Airborne Division manning a forward post near a road, near Bastogne, Belgium, 23 December 1944.

Major General Leland S. Hobbs, U.S. Army, commander of the 30th Infantry Division at the time of the Battle of the Bulge.

Major Hal Dale McCown, U.S. Army, commander, 2nd Bn., 119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division, at the time of the Battle of the Bulge. Was Peiper’s prisoner in La Gleize.

Colonel Oscar Koch (pronounced Kotch), U.S. Army, G-2, Third Army, at the time of the Battle of the Bulge.

Lieutenant Colonel David E. Pergrin, U.S. Army, commander of the 291st Engineer Combat Bn. at the time of the Battle of the Bulge.

Lieutenant Colonel William D. McKinley, U.S. Army, commander of the 1st Bn., 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, at the time of the Battle of the Bulge.

Brig. General Anthony C. McAuliffe, U.S. Army, commander of the 101st Abn. Division’s artillery, and acting division commander, at the time of the Battle of the Bulge.

During the Battle of the Bulge, soldiers of the US 35th Infantry Division inspect an abandoned Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger II in December 1944.

Maj. Gen. James Gavin negotiates a well-trodden path in Belgium during the beginning phases of the Battle of the Bulge.

German prisoners taken during the Battle of the Bulge, circa late December 1944.

US troops surrendering to Germans forces, Battle of the Bulge .

3-inch Gun Motor Carriage M10 during the Battle of the Bulge.

The 101st Airborne aid station in Foy in January 1945.

Sturmgeschütz with American M3 Half-track in the left background, Ardennes Offensive, January 1945. (Bundesarchiv)

A U.S. First Army soldier manning an M1 81mm mortar listens for fire directions on a field phone during the German Ardennes offensive, 19 December 1944.

M4A3 medium tank from the 9th US Army, stuck in the mud during the German offensive in the Ardennes, January 1945.

Destroyed Panther tank "413" in the Battle of the Bulge.

American soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division inspecting knocked-out German panzers from the 116.Panzer-Division "Windhund" after the battle. Hotton, Belgium, Dec 1944.

American soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division inspecting a heavily damaged German Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf G "Panther" of 1. SS-Panzer-Division during the Battle of the Bulge. La Gleize, Belgium, Dec 1944.

American Soldiers from the 3rd Armored Division posing on a abandoned German Panzerkampfwagen V "Panther" of 2.SS-PanzerDivision "Das Reich" after the battle of Grandménil, Belgium, 4 Jan 1945.