[1][2] By 21 December 1944, the German momentum during the Battle of the Bulge had begun to dissipate.
The plan was to initiate a pincer movement to encircle and destroy the 3rd US Army.
The German offensive began in the immediate aftermath of Operation Nordwind.
The intention of the operation was to trap and destroy Lieutenant General George S. Patton's US 3rd Army.
In the days that followed, the Germans saw their small advances continually eroded by repeated counterstrikes from Major General Robert L. Spragin's US 44th Infantry Division, Major General Withers A. Burress's US 100th Infantry Division, and Major General Lewis E. Hibbs's US 63rd Infantry Division.