The epic story of the vastly outnumbered platoon that stopped
Germany's leading assault in the Ardennes forest and prevented Hitler's
most fearsome tanks from overtaking American positions
On a cold morning in December, 1944, deep in the Ardennes forest, a
platoon of eighteen men under the command of twenty-year-old lieutenant
Lyle Bouck were huddled in their foxholes trying desperately to keep
warm. Suddenly, the early morning silence was broken by the roar of a
huge artillery bombardment and the dreadful sound of approaching tanks.
Hitler had launched his bold and risky offensive against the Allies-his
last gamble-and the small American platoon was facing the main thrust of
the entire German assault. Vastly outnumbered, they repulsed three
German assaults in a fierce day-long battle, killing over five hundred
German soldiers and defending a strategically vital hill. Only when
Bouck's men had run out of ammunition did they surrender to the enemy.
As POWs, Bouck's platoon began an ordeal far worse than combat-survive
in captivity under trigger-happy German guards, Allied bombing raids,
and a daily ration of only thin soup. In German POW camps, hundreds of
captured Americans were either killed or died of disease, and most lost
all hope. But the men of Bouck's platoon survived-miraculously, all of
them. Once again in vivid, dramatic prose, Alex Kershaw brings to life
the story of some of America's little-known heroes-the story of
America's most decorated small unit, an epic story of courage and
survival in World War II, and one of the most inspiring stories in
American history.
