American G.I.s Face Winter Terror

Photos That Changed the World

Soldiers warily watch for German attackers

The tension in this photo is real, but subtle.

Follow the gaze of the two American soldiers. The men suspect German soldiers are off to the right, well out of the frame of the photograph.

The G.I.s move warily. The third man in the rear is moving carefully up to the left flank of the first two. (The overcoat of a fourth man is just in frame at the left. I’ve selected this cropped photo to better show the lead men’s eyes.)

The December snow of the Ardennes Forest in Belgium dampens sound, but the men have to be careful. A misstep or a snapping twig could set off a firefight.

The men are part of the 101st Airborne Division, cut off in Belgium when the German Army launched a last-ditch assault on Allies advancing on Germany the week before Christmas, 1944.

The German attack was on such a narrow front that it did nothing but punch a “bulge” in the Allied front line. Thus the overall battle, from December 16 to January 16, 1945, became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Germans lost the battle, thanks to the stubborn defense of Americans inside the bulge, clearing weather that allowed the air corps to parachute in supplies, and General George S. Patton’s quick redeployment of his 3rd Army to cut across the German lines.

The man at the right, taking cover behind the evergreen branches, is probably a squad commander. They were typically issued submachine guns, and he carries an M3, .45-caliber submachine gun. Soldiers called it a Grease Gun because of its shape.

Note, though, that the situation had been tense and chaotic. Any man could be carrying a weapon had not been officially “issued.”

The man in the front, center of the photo, crouched low, carries an M1 carbine, .30 caliber. He has several days’ stubble on his face; the preceding days had not been conducive to personal grooming.

Typically photographers go unconsidered in an examination of such photos. But you cannot help but note that this photographer is exposed just ahead of the line the other men are forming.

All of the men are in danger. For 1/100th of a second, at least, the photographer is in more danger than the others.

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