Here is the NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE account of the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944 - January 25, 1945). The article opens with a thorough explanation of General McAuliffe's famous response to the German officers who came in search of an American surrender. The American magazines that appeared on newsstands during late November and early December of 1944 are often found to have articles anticipating life in the post-war world or tips on how to welcome your returning husband home from the battle fronts. This line of thinking was put on hold in late December when the Germans launched their brutal counter offensive through the Ardennes Forrest in what has been nicknamed "the Battle of the Bulge".
The greatest deception deployed by the German Army during the the Ardennes Offensive was to parachute Nazi commandos into the American lines - men who had been raised in the U.S. and spoke the language well. They wore American uniforms and performed heinous acts of sabotage, and as this article spells out, lured many GIs to their deaths.
Two of these Germans attempted to kidnap and assassinate General Eisenhower, click here to read about it...
This article follows the efforts of the Tank Destroyers (TD) in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge:
"This TD work is among the most dangerous of the war. One of the chief reasons is that TDs are constantly up against superior enemy weapons. For example, none of our TDs (except possibly the M-36) can penetrate the 8-inch frontal armor of the King Tiger, whereas the German 88-millimeter anti-tank gun has been able to penetrate any American tank. And to kill the tiger, TDs must shoot for the tracks, then assault the disabled monster with high explosive, setting it afire."
Click here to read about the equipment and training of American tank destroyers during the Second World War. The attached paragraphs tell the story of General Patton's famous prayer for battle weather - who authored it and how many men recited it.
"That prayer [and the accompanying Christmas] greeting were typically Patton. They [read as if they] were [pulled] from the Old Testament rather than the New and had the ring of Joshua and David at their militant best.They were not written for a soft time but for their occasion; they were words to make men strong - and they did."
FDR's D-Day prayer can be read here "Men slept on their rifles to keep them from freezing. On bitter mornings they urinated down the barrels of automatic weapons to thaw them out... Some Yanks cut holes in their sleeping bags, wearing them underneath their overcoats and knee-length snow capes while sleeping and fighting." | 
