KNOCKED-OUT U. S. MEDIUM TANKS. During the last few days of December 1944 the main effort in Third Army zone was concentrated in the vicinity of Bastogne, while the situation in the rest of the army area remained static. Armored and infantry attacks achieved small gains during which many German counterattacks were made. Echternach was re-entered on 29 December and all enemy forces south of the Sauer River were cleared. The armored divisions continued to advance. One, in repulsing several counterattacks, suffered heavy casualties. On 3 January 1945 the last German attack was made on Bastogne. It was unsuccessful.] [Illustration: FRANCE MEN OF AN INFANTRY DIVISION climbing into box cars to move from the Brittany Peninsula to the U. S. Third Army zone. On 9 January 1945 a new attack was started after fresh troops had been brought into the battle area. The Germans offered fierce resistance in order to keep open their escape route to the east. On 16 January elements of an armored division of Third Army contacted those from First Army, closing the German salient just one month after the enemy had launched his counteroffensive in the Ardennes.] [Illustration: BELGIUM INFANTRYMEN BIVOUACKING IN THE WOODS (top); field mess (bottom). Living conditions during the best of times were not too pleasant for the combat soldier, but during the winter the hardships were greatly increased.] [Illustration] [Illustration: LUXEMBOURG U. S. LIGHT TANKS which were captured by the enemy during the Battle of the Bulge. Some of the more serious U. S. losses during this period were 1,284 machine guns, 542 mortars, 1,344 jeeps, and 237 tanks. Not all of these losses were the result of units being overrun--there was some evidence of unnecessary abandonment of equipment, particularly among inexperienced troops.] [Illustration: BELGIUM MEMBERS OF AN ARMORED UNIT STAND GUARD beside their dug-in medium tank near Manhay, Belgium. From 27 December 1944 to 2 January 1945 the First U. S. Army was reorganizing and preparing to attack the Hotton-Houffalize axis. Heavy fighting continued all along the First Army front and by 30 December the important traffic centers of Marche, Hotton, and Manhay were secured.] [Illustration: BELGIUM AIRBORNE INFANTRY MEN on the alert man their .30-caliber machine gun (top). A member of a cavalry reconnaissance squadron checks his .30-caliber machine gun (bottom).] [Illustration] [Illustration: BELGIUM AIRBORNE TROOPS LOADING A SHELL into a 75-mm. pack howitzer M8. Between 16 December and 27 December First army artillery units fired more ammunition than at any other time during the war except during the Normandy Campaign. An average of 800 weapons fired over 750,000 shells.] [Illustration: GERMANY AND BELGIUM