The Hotton Report

On December 16, 1944, a quarter-million German troops stormed a thinly defended American line and crossed into the rugged Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg, marking the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge. Caught sleeping by Hitler's surprise offensive, the Allied Expeditionary Forces under General Dwight D. Eisenhower scrambled to repel the attack, a challenge complicated by terrible weather that grounded the Allied planes that controlled the skies of Europe. Tens of thousands of American soldiers were disbursed to key road centers and choke points across the Ardennes.  Among them was Major General Maurice Rose, whose depleted 3rd Armored Division fell back to the Belgian village of Hotton with orders to find and engage the enemy, leaving behind a mixed bag of rear-guard troops believing they were far from harm's way.  They weren't, and in the ensuing days the struggle to hold Hotton would be at the epicenter of the Second World War.

Intensely described and grippingly told, The Hotton Report is the story of this critical battle, one of many hard-fought actions by isolated and outnumbered forces during that bitterly cold Christmas season, and stands as a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the American combat soldier.