Decision at St Vith (6)

On the night of December 15, 1944, General Eisenhower and his staff celebrated the news that he had just been given his fifth star. That same night, in the frozen forests of the Ardennes, an army of 250,000 German soldiers with 2,000 pieces of artillery and 980 tanks awaited the hour to attack. A few miles to the west, the young soldiers of the U.S. 106th Division huddled in their foxholes and tried to sleep. They had never been in battle and were told they occupied a "rest sector" on the front. This was the night when the full might of Hitler's armies exploded against inexperienced and unprepared U.S. troops in the first shattering blow of the Battle of the Bulge. This is an intensely riveting narrative and a must-read for anyone with an interest in World War II.