The Ardennes Operation 1944: Hitler's Last Adventure

On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his last operation on the border of Belgium and Germany, in the snowy forests and ravines of the Ardennes. He believed he could split the Allies by advancing all the way to Antwerp and then forcing them to withdraw from the war. As the place for the breakthrough, Hitler chose the Ardennes, remembering the success of the 1940 attack on this sector and wanting to repeat it. Caught off guard, American troops faced two armored armies. The fighting in the Ardennes was characterized by brutality the Western Front had never seen before.

A broad, impartial view based on numerous documentary sources by renowned British historian Antony Beevor on one of the most important battles of the final stage of World War II in Western Europe.