A documentary about the Battle of the Bulge that took place near the end of World War II. The Allies were on a roll, believing Germany to be on he ropes but that wasn't the case. Hitler mustered his last reserves and ordered one last risky offensive led by tanks through the Ardennes forest near the German border. General Mödel's goal was to smash quickly through the Allied lines, splitting Montgomery's British troops to the north from General Omar Bradley's Americans to the south. Then, having captured vital fuel depots, Hitler's tanks would rush north and capture the port of Antwerp.
The results would have been catastrophic for the Allies. But the entire plan, which Hitler insisted on and Mödel only reluctantly carried out, depended on precise timing, weather, American weakness, and luck. It didn't work.
The point through which the attack would be made was thinly held by two types of American soldiers: those who had been exhausted in combat and needed some quiet time to recover, and inexperienced men sent there to get their feet wet at the front line. Omar Bradley was not prepared for an attack and neither were these men. The Germans were elite troops -- SS divisions and paratroopers, led by SS officer Sepp Dietrich, a real bastard.
And THAT is perhaps Germany's greatest achievement in the Battle of the Bulge -- assembling a quarter of a million soldiers and hundreds of tanks a few miles from the Allied lines without revealing the preparations taking place. Movements were only at night and strict radio silence was observed.
The deafening assault was begun just before dawn, sweeping through the startled and confused Americans. Making matters worse, 400 of Dietrich's commandos infiltrated enemy lines wearing American uniforms and the dogtags of dead or captured American infantrymen. They turned street signs around and covered their Panzers with painted cardboard to look like American tanks.
The Panzers were led by a fanatical Nazi who rounded up more than 100 prisoners and had them executed at Malmedy. For what it's worth, one of the soldiers who managed to escape by playing dead was actor Charles Durning, who had previously been wounded on D Day and then sent back to the front.
The Panzers ran dry and the crews had to hoof it back towards their own lines. American troops followed but the Germans were highly skilled at withdrawals under fire and the Americans lost more men in the pursuit than in the initial attack. The attack having failed despite Mödel's best efforts, he commits suicide.
The program is made up on reenactments, expert commentary, a bit of newsreel footage and still photos. It's pretty candid about events on both sides.