Footage from the Battle of the Bulge from a 1945 British government-produced film, 'From Paris to the Rhine'. The film documents the course of the war in the last months of 1944 and can be viewed in full on our website: https://bit.ly/476KibM © IWM COI 277 | Imperial War Museum London

Dec. 16, 1944 - Deep in the Ardennes Forest, one of the most brutal battles of World War II began — the Battle of the Bulge. Adolf Hitler’s last-ditch effort to split the Allied lines, this surprise attack by roughly 250,000 German troops created a bulge in the American front. Caught off guard, U.S. forces faced freezing temperatures, challenging terrain, and relentless enemy fire. For more than a month, 600,000 American soldiers fought through snow and ice. By the end, thousands of Americans ha