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Just before Christmas, 1944, the Allies had the German forces with their backs against the wall. The Germans were exhausted, having been pursued across all of France by Montgomery and the Americans.

Hitler managed to pull all his reserves together, his armor and artillery, and put his "fireman", Model, in charge of a final full-out offensive. A quarter of a million Germans, including elite units from the SS, plus impenetrable giant Tiger tanks, against a sector of the line manned by two kinds of American troops: those recovering from recent combat and green divisions sent to the Ardennes forest to get a taste of front line duty, though a quiet taste.

The German attack, at first successful, didn't get very far before fuel ran out and cloud cover lifted so that they were vulnerable to air attack.

The final roll of the dice failed, as Model expected it to, and the Germans were pushed back into their own area. Yet, in its initial stages, it was executed perfectly, given the impossibility of success. A quarter of a million men, armor, artillery, and support -- all gathered together before the Allies in complete secrecy! No one on the American side had any idea what was taking place a few miles away. General Bradley was visiting Paris, having champagne at a party celebrating Eisenhower's recent promotion. When he first heard the news, he dismissed it as a "spoiling attack" and didn't get to his HQ for another 24 hours.

It's well known that German commandos donned captured American uniforms and were infiltrated into enemy lines to confuse the Americans. German tanks were disguised by plywood to look like American Shermans. The infiltrators turned signposts this way and that, cut telephone lines, misdirected traffic, gathered intelligence, and summarily executed eighty-eight prisoners at Malmedy. But the commandos did more than that. One of them, captured, revealed that part of their mission was to assassinate generals. Eisenhower was cooped up and surrounded by itchy guards and Bradley donned an overcoat that hid his rank. The commandos weren't merely successful. They humiliated the routed Americans.

This is an extraordinarily candid documentary of the battle. Many know that Patton and Montogmery were rivals and disliked each other. But not everyone realizes that Bradley disliked Patton so much that he hesitated about drawing reenforcements from him. Eisenhower overcame Bradley's reluctance, and on top of that further alienated him by turning to the nearest Allied commander in the north -- General Montgomery, whom Bradley also disliked intensely. Incensed, Bradly offered to resign but Eisenhower refused to accept it. Bradley is usually described as a simple, unassuming soldier, but apparently he was human after all. Model, having failed Hitler, killed himself.

There are two feature films floating around that deal with the Battle of the Bulge. One of them -- "Battleground" -- is good. The other -- "The Battle of the Bulge" -- is not.