Liberating France and the Battle of the Bulge

After weeks of fighting in Normandy's hedgerows, Allied forces broke out in late July 1944, and in August German forces were trapped and badly mauled in the Falaise Pocket. On 15 August Allied forces, including many French colonial troops, landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon. Paris was liberated on 25 August, with Free French General Philippe Leclerc's armored division entering the city first. Optimism that the war would end by Christmas faded after the failure of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands in September.

Then, on 16 December 1944, Hitler launched a surprise offensive through the Ardennes, creating a 'bulge' in the American lines. Bad weather grounded Allied aircraft, and surrounded US troops at Bastogne held out. When the skies cleared and Patton's army counterattacked, the offensive collapsed by late January 1945. About 19,000 Americans were killed, and Germany lost reserves it could not replace.