All across the Ardennes Forest, American forces were reeling from a surprise German counterattack that struck on the morning of December 16, 1944. While some frontline units stubbornly held their ground, others simply disappeared—annihilated by the Nazi juggernaut. Lieutenant General Courtney M. Hodges, commanding the U.S. First Army, looked down at his maps and saw chaos everywhere.
One marauding enemy column particularly worried General Hodges. The spearhead of the elite German 1st SS Panzer Division, called Kampfgruppe Peiper. Named for its commander, SS Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper, this powerful force was headed for the crossroads city of Liege, key junction toward its ultimate objective of Antwerp and the Belgian coast.
Hodges pushed his reinforcements, the 30th Infantry and 82nd Airborne Divisions, into blocking positions along the Ambleve Valley. However, to stop Peiper’s tanks Hodges needed armor of his own. His staff could find only one available unit in the area, the 740th Tank Battalion, nicknamed “Daredevils.” Its mission was simple: “Peiper must be stopped!”
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