“KING TIGER” OR “ROYAL TIGER” (Pz. Kpfw. VI (B) “Tiger” with 8.8-cm. Kw. K. 43) (top). This tank, weighing 75 tons and designed for defensive warfare or for penetrating strong lines of defense, made its appearance in combat in 1944. It had heavy frontal armor and an 88-mm. gun which could traverse 360 degrees. Germany heavy tank, the Panther (Pz. Kpfw. with 7.5-cm. Kw. K, 42-L/70) (bottom). This tank, introduced in 1942, weighed 47 tons and had sloping frontal armor and a 75-mm. high-velocity gun.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE BARBED WIRE BEING STRUNG as a defensive measure in the event of another enemy counterattack. In mid-January the enemy was still able to maintain a cohesive line, but the critical situation on the Russian front made necessary the shifting of troops to the eastern front while withdrawing to the security of the West Wall all committed troops facing the western Allies.] [Illustration: FRANCE A SIGNAL CORPS LINEMAN repairing damaged telephone lines.] [Illustration: FRANCE A TRUCK-MOUNTED CRANE swinging the barrel of an 8-inch gun from its transport wagon (top), and placing it on its carriage (bottom). The gun and cradle were transported on one vehicle and the carriage on another.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE A CAMOUFLAGED 8-INCH GUN M1 located in the southern portion of the Third Army zone. This gun was capable of firing a 240-pound projectile a distance of 20 miles. The troops left in this area were placed on the defensive during the fighting in the Ardennes sector. Heavy artillery in the area fired on enemy installations in the triangle of the Moselle and Saar Rivers and West Wall fortifications.] [Illustration: BELGIUM A MEMBER OF A GLIDER REGIMENT, armed with a rifle and a rocket launcher, returning from a three-hour tour of guard duty.] [Illustration: BELGIUM A TANKER SEWS HIS CLOTHING on an old sewing machine in front of his M4A3 medium tank.] [Illustration: BELGIUM SUPPLIES MOVING THROUGH BASTOGNE, 22 January 1945, on their way to the front-line troops. By the first of the year material losses in the Battle of the Bulge had been replaced and the combat units were again prepared to move forward.] [Illustration: LUXEMBOURG MEDICAL AID MEN dragging a boatload of medical supplies down a snow and ice covered road to the banks of a stream they are to cross. From 17 to 24 January the Third Army continued to attack through Houffalize and reached the northern tip of Luxembourg on 24 January. In an advance to the east bridgeheads north of Clervaux on the Clerf River were secured on 23 January. During this period most of the area between the Sauer and the Our Rivers was cleared of enemy resistance. In a hurried effort to withdraw as many vehicles as possible the enemy lost over 1,700 vehicles to planes of the U. S. XIX Tactical Air Command.]