Then, Hitler ordered a massive Nazi counterattack through the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes Forest. The overwhelming, armor-heavy Wehrmacht forces cut through the thinly-manned Allied lines, racing for Antwerp and the coast. German success would split the Allied armies, cripple their attack against the Reich, and lengthen the war, perhaps by years.

The author and the rest of the Screaming Eagles were rushed to Bastogne, a small Belgian crossroads town. It was the key to the battle that has become universally known as the Bulge. The lightly armed paratroopers of the 101st immediately found themselves in close combat. Without enough ammunition or food, in freezing weather with deep snow they even lacked winter clothing. Yet, for eleven days they held out against the best the Nazis could throw at them, buying the time needed for Patton's Third Army to redeploy from the south.

Private Burgett's memoir (he was not yet twenty years old at the time of the battle) is an exciting and enduring testament to the Screaming Eagles and their epic defense of Bastogne.