11 Days in December : Christmas at the Bulge 1944

It was truly a white Christmas in the Ardennes Forest in 1944, but that was cold comfort to the Allied soldiers trying to stop the Nazis from retaking Belgium in one of the most decisive battles of World War II. While a German loudspeaker taunted, "How would you like to die for Christmas?" the Allied forces dug in, despite freezing conditions. They needed a miracle. In a medieval chapel, General Patton, who needed clear skies to allow airborne reinforcements to reach his trapped men, uttered what would become a famous prayer: "Sir, whose side are you on?" His soldiers wouldn't be home for Christmas, but as the skies cleared, they went on to win a battle and a war.

Stanley Weintraub is the author of Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce and many other histories and biographies. He is also Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities at Penn State University and a book reviewer for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.