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    In the fall of 1944, after the heady race through France and the destruction of the German Seventh army there, many in the Allied camp thought the war would be over before Christmas...but Hitler had other ideas.  Hitler had carefully husbanded  Germany's last reserves for a desperate attempt to reverse the serious situation on the western front.  Hitler felt that a major defeat for the allies would exacerbate the tensions already surfacing within the alliance and prepare the way for a separate peace.  With the western allies out of the picture, he could turn his armies to the Soviet threat in the east.  At 0530 hours on 16 Dec 1944, after an intense artillery barrage, the German armies struck American positions in Belgium and Luxembourg.  The thinly held line bulged inward in the center, but the northern and southern shoulders held while reinforcements, the 101st and 82d Airborne Divisions were rushed to the front.  General Patton's Third Army wheeled around 90 degrees and  headed north to hit the German flank.  Bastogne, an important road and rail center, was surrounded and soon became the focus of many German attacks.  But the airborne divisions held their positions and broke the momentum of the juggernaut.

    The Bastogne December Historic Walk is conducted every year to honor the memory of the well over 80,000 dead, wounded and missing in action American and other Allied soldiers and airmen who gave their lives for the liberation of Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.  The event consists of a series of trails (6km, 13km, and 20km) that mark key positions where the defenders held and fought off the attackers.  The weather has miserably cold and it had snowed the night before to complete the realistic setting for this memorial march.  Numerous re-enactors where in attendance for well over 3,000 participants.  Truly an inspirational day for even the most cynical American...