On December 16, 1944, when Hitler launched a surprise attack in the Ardennes to start the Battle of the Bulge, the green U.S. 394th Infantry Regiment of the 99th Infantry Division occupied a critical road junction at Losheimergraben, Belgium. For thirty-six hours, the 394th defended the crossroads against repeated assaults by crack forces of the Sixth SS Panzer Army, which represented the main effort of the German offensive. By the time the regiment finally withdrew, the Germans had suffered a delay from which they could not recover.