During the Battle of the Bulge, the Nazis had intended on surrounding the Allies, crushing them, and chasing them out of Europe. However, the Allied Army had other plans.
A heavily-armed Nazi soldier marches into Belgium.Belgium. Dec. 18, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons American prisoners-of-war from the all-Black 333rd Battalion, photographed by their Nazi captors.Many of the men captured on this day were stripped of their weapons, walked out into a field, and massacred.
Near Malmedy, Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons Nazi soldiers in the Kampfgruppe Hansen fight against American soldiers.Liege, Belgium. Dec. 18, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A war correspondent looks down at the dead body of a young Belgian boy, murdered by Nazi soldiers.Stavelot, Belgium. December, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons The bodies of Belgian civilians litter the streets.Belgium. Dec. 15, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons The blasted ruins of Bastogne after a raid by German bombers.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 26, 1944.
National Archives A Nazi tank abandoned on the streets of Stavelot after crashing into the wall of a family's home.Stavelot, Belgium. Dec. 18, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers march toward Wiltz, determined to fight back and reclaim the territory they lost.Wiltz, Belgium. Circa December, 1944 - January, 1945.
National Archives An American ambulance waits outside of a bombed-out building in Bastogne after an air raid. The soldiers are inside the building, searching for survivors.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 26, 1944.
National Archives American troops help Belgian refugees flee Bastogne, a city under siege by the Nazi army.Bastogne, Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A German tank disguised to look like an American vehicle.Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons Nazi soldiers fight their way through a forest.Luxembourg. Dec. 22, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers, stripped of their equipment and one robbed of his boots, lie dead at the crossroads.Honsfeld, Belgium. Dec. 17, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A row of captured American soldiers march forward.Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons The scene of the Malmedy Massacre.About 70 soldiers are stripped of their weapons, sent out into a field, and gunned down unarmed by Nazis soldiers after surrendering.
Malmedy, Belgium. Dec. 17, 1944
Wikimedia Commons Nazi commanders inspect a map, planning their next move.Luxembourg. Jan. 4, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons Two American soldiers on the streets of Bastogne, a city under siege by the Nazi army.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 19, 1944.
National Archives American tank destroyers push through the fog, moving to cut off the German offensive.Werbomont, Belgium, Dec. 20, 1944
Wikimedia Commons An American patrol searches the woods for Nazi paratroopers.Between Eupen and Butgenbach, Belgium. Dec. 18, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A Nazi armored infantry car moves through the Ardennes.Belgium or Luxembourg. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons The devastated ruins of a Belgian city.Stavelot, Belgium. Dec. 30, 1944
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers in Bastogne walk by the dead bodies of their friends, killed in a late-night bombing on Christmas Eve.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 25, 1944
Wikimedia Commons Christmas during wartime.Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe and his staff celebrate Christmas in the barracks, surrounded by Nazi soldiers.
Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 25, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons On the road to liberate Bastogne, the 5th Armored Regiment gathers around a tank and opens their Christmas presents.Eupen, Belgium. Dec. 25, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons The 347th Infantry Regiment pause for a meal in the frozen forests of Belgium.Near La Roche, Belgium. Jan. 13, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons Soldiers outside of Bastogne keep an eye out for German planes.Bastogne, Belgium. Jan. 11, 1945.
National Archives An American soldier uses a piece of equipment stolen from the Germans to watch for their planes.Bastogne, Belgium. Jan. 11, 1945
National Archives The crew of the "Black Widow" prepare to shoot at a Nazi plane.Bastogne, Belgium. Jan. 11, 1945
National Archives The destroyed rubble of an Allied plane.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 1944.
Wikimedia Commons An infantryman charges out into the open on his own, protected only by the cover fire of a brother-in-arms.Dec. 24, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons After running into a Nazi patrol, American soldiers drag back a prisoner: an officer of the SS.Bra, Belgium. Dec. 25, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers of the 289th Infantry Regiment march along the snow-covered road on their way to cut off the Nazi offensive.January 24, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers out on patrol, dressed in a crude camouflage of white bed sheets.Lellig, Luxembourg. Dec. 30, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons Generals of the 101st Airborne under a sign that reads: "The Bastion of the Battered Bastards of the 101st."Bastogne, Belgium. Jan. 18, 1945.
National Archives American soldiers arrive safely in Bastogne. These men had held off the Germans in Wilts, refusing to give up the ground until their last bullet was expended.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 20, 1944.
National Archives A gunner draws a swastika on his antiaircraft gun for every Nazi plane he shoots down.Sourbrodt, Belgium. Dec. 31, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons American vehicles get trapped in the deep, thick snowbanks of the Belgian winter.Wallerode, Belgium. Jan. 30, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons American infantrymen move through the thick snow.Amonies, Belgium. Jan. 4, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons American Infantrymen crouch under snow-filled trenches, struggling to fend off the onslaught of the German army.Kinkelt, Belgium. Dec. 14, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A soldier stumbles upon the dead body of a fallen paratrooper.Bastogne, Belgium. Jan. 12, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons Another shot from the site of the Malmedy Massacre, where American prisoners-of-war were gunned down, defenseless and unarmed, by their Nazi captors.Malmedy, Belgium. Dec. 11, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons The dead body of a soldier killed in Malmedy is carried out on a stretcher.Malmedy, Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons Troops make their way through a snowstorm.Herresbach, Belgium. Jan. 28, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons A tank rolls through the thick snowbanks, on its ways to reclaim a location lost to the Germans.Herresbach, Belgium. Jan. 28, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers fire across an open field.Bastogne, Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons An airdrop of supplies lands on the sieged city of Bastogne.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 26, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons The British Royal Air Force drops a payload of bombs down on the German army.St. Vith, Belgium. Dec. 26, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A dead German soldier lies on the streets.Stavelot, Belgium. Jan. 2, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons American troops take prisoners.Belgium. January, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons Young boys in the Hitler Youth, thrown into war in a Panzer division of the Nazi army, are captured alive by American troops.Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons American soldiers march a line of Nazi prisoners.Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons German prisoners-of-war are put to work digging graves for the men who died defending Bastogne.Bastogne, Belgium. December, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons A rifle squad fires a volley for men who died defending Bastogne.Bastogne, Belgium. Jan. 22, 1945.
Wikimedia Commons A lone soldier takes a peaceful walk through a forest outside Bastogne.Bastogne, Belgium. Dec. 27, 1944.
Wikimedia Commons
54 Battle Of The Bulge Photos That Capture The Nazis’ Brutal Last Ditch Counteroffensive View GalleryOn Dec. 16, 1944, the Nazi Army took their last, desperate shot at turning the tide of the western front of World War 2. It was called the Battle of the Bulge – named for the massive, bulging line of more than 400,000 men and 4,000 pieces of artillery that moved on the Allied Army. It was the largest and bloodiest battle that American soldiers would ever fight.
Nearly half-a-million Nazi soldiers pounced on the Allied Army, catching them unaware in a heavy snowstorm. It began with a massive, 90-minute long artillery barrage that blasted the Allied soldiers. After months of victories, the Allies were forced to fall back.
The next few days were full of horrors.
In Malmedy, Belgium, a troop of American soldiers surrendered to the advancing Nazi army. They expected to become prisoners of war - but the men would never see the inside of a cage. SS troops stripped them of their weapons, marched them out into a field, and gunned them down, unarmed and defenseless.
In Stavelot, they massacred civilians. Nazis dragged twenty-three Belgian civilians out of their hiding place, lined them up against the wall, and shot them dead. The people there had just been liberated and thought they were finally safe. Instead, their city was demolished, and women and children alike were dragged out of their homes and killed.
The Nazis soon reached Bastogne, which would become the last bastion of the American army in Belgium. Their chances seemed grim. The city was completely surrounded; they couldn't get supplies. Food was running scarce, and the people were growing hungry.
The Nazis, sure of their victory, sent a message demanding the surrender of the city. The only reply the men of Bastogne sent back, though, was a single word: "Nuts!"
It became a rallying cry for the men of the U.S. Army and Bastogne became the heart of the battle. General Patton based his whole strategy for the Battle of the Bulge on it. He sent the U.S. Army stampeding through German lines, fighting through dirt and blood to liberate one Belgian city.
The men in Bastogne had to spend Christmas under a hail of artillery and bombs. The gift they had been waiting for arrived soon enough, though. It was only one day late. On December 26, the Third Army burst through the German lines and reached Bastogne, putting an end to a long and grueling siege.
On that day, the Nazi's last shot crumbled. They had planned on surrounding the Allied Army and chasing them out of Europe. However, the soldiers in Bastogne and the men who freed them stopped their plan.
More than 100,000 Americans were killed, wounded or captured before the Battle of the Bulge finally came to an end. It was the bloodiest and most brutal battle the nation would see throughout the entire war. Still, the men stood their ground and fought, no matter what came. They stopped what could have been a dark turning point in a horrific war.
Enjoy these Battle of the Bulge photos? Next, check out these pictures of the London Blitz. Then, read about The Battle for Castle Itter, World War II's strangest battle.
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