The Patient Bookkeeper

Fog was so thick a man could hardly see ten feet. But in their foxholes north of Bastogne the paratroopers heard Germans talking in the woods ahead. They also heard snapping branches and clanking treads. The forward artillery observer sent a frantic call to the rear: "Serenade, serenade--request all additional artillery."

Smart General Patton had brought plenty of artillery into the Bastogne pocket. Thirteen battalions of big field guns laid down a two-hour barrage. The paratroopers heard German wounded screaming in the woods. Of 28 attacking German tanks, 21 were knocked out by artillery, three more by U.S. tanks and tank destroyers. The other four fled.

On other days it was the Americans' turn to take a beating. The Nazis had nine divisions, six of them Panzer or Panzergrenadiere, on the Bastogne perimeter. They launched 17 attacks in 24 hours. Along the highway to Vielsalm, the Third Army was driven back more than a mile. Nevertheless the Bastogne wedge held while the German lines all along the south flank were shoved slowly back. The Nazi lobe south of Saint-Hubert was erased.

On the north, pushing slowly south on a half-dozen sectors, the First Army cut the road between Saint-Vith and Laroche--leaving only one main road out of the salient's western end. A German regimental commander, who saw his outfit hacked to pieces by the 82nd Airborne, drew his Luger and shot himself dead.

Field Marshal Montgomery had deployed the British Second Army on the First Army's right flank. It was disclosed that British armor had participated in the battle of Celles which decapitated the Nazi bulge short of the Meuse (TIME, Jan. 8). On the salient's western edge, the British 6th Airborne was now locked in seesaw battle.

Rundstedt's salient had shrunk to about half its maximum area. His troops in the western end were going hungry, running out of fuel, felling trees and laying mines in the path of the advancing Allies. The next move was up to the German. The preliminary accounting of this battle was still plainly in his favor. Time, the patient bookkeeper, had not yet presented him with a final bill.

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