At 5.30am on 16 December 1944, Gen Courteney Hodges' VII and VIII Corps faced the gravest crisis to confront the Allies since D-Day. US First Army bore the brunt of it, as Von Manteuffel's V Panzer Armee pushed the 'bulge' deeper into Allied territory. 106th Infantry Division, defending the frontline in the Schnee Eiffel, suffered terribly. Miraculously, 28th Infantry Division stalled the German drive, just in time for reinforcements, in the shape of 101st Airborne, to be rushed to the key road junction of Bastogne. The surrounded defenders now faced a formidable siege.