Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper: The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Battle of the Bulge

In December 1944 an enormous German army group crashed through the thin American line in the Ardennes forest. Caught by surprise, the Allies were initially only able to throw two divisions of paratroopers to buttress the collapse—the 82nd Airborne, which was rushed to the area of St. Vith, and the 101st, which was trucked to Bastogne.

After their successful campaign in Holland, Colonel Reuben Tucker’s elite 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was resting and refitting in France when news came ...