From the author of the best-selling The Bedford Boys, theremarkable story of America's most decorated platoon thatmiraculously halted Hitler's massive offensive at the Battle of theBulge On the morning of December 16, 1944, eighteen men of theIntelligence and Reconnaissance platoon attached to the 99thInfantry Division found themselves directly in the path of the mainthrust of Hitler's massive Ardennes offensive. Despite being vastlyoutnumbered, they were told to hold their position "at all costs."Throughout the day, the platoon repulsed three large Germanassaults in a fierce day-long battle, killing hundreds of Germansoldiers. Only when they had run out of ammunition did theysurrender to the enemy. But their long winter was just beginning. As POWs, the platoonexperienced an ordeal far worse than combat-surviving in wretchedGerman POW camps. Yet miraculously the men of the platoonsurvived-all of them-and returned home after the war. More thanthirty years later, when President Carter recognized the platoon's
