Overview: The December 1944 battle pitting American forces against German Panzer divisions in the Ardennes Forest. By the end of 1944, the allied armies are within striking distance of Germany. In a last-ditch effort, Hitler orders 65,000 of his finest soldiers to cut off the American units in the Ardennes forest and force them back to the Meuse River. In forming their bulge, they surround the town of Bastogne but an allied bombing and Patton's third Army save the Americans and push the Germans back.