On this day in 1944: Battle of the Bulge begins

World War II
Atlantic Memorial

At around 5:30am on December 16, 1944, German forces began their last major offensive of World War II in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. When the battle ended in early February, 19,000 Allied soldiers, nearly all of them American, perished.

Three months after the conclusion of the battle, the war was over in Europe.