Dec. 16, 1944 Belgium
In December 1944, Germany made a final attempt to defeat the Allies. With a large-scale attack, Hitler and his generals hoped to force the Allies to accept a truce.
Without the Allies noticing, the Germans transferred more and more troops to the border with Belgium and Luxembourg. On 16 December, the Wehrmacht started its attack on the Allied army, which was taken unawares.
The Allies were outnumbered, and due to the bad weather, the air force could not take off. However, the German army was slowed down by the snow on the roads.
On 23 December, the weather cleared, and the Allies were able to bomb the German positions. Nevertheless, it still took until 3 January 1945 before a major Allied counter-attack could begin. And only at the end of January were the Germans forced back to where they had started their attack.
Both sides suffered heavy losses. Tens of thousands of soldiers were dead, missing, or injured.