

Few people have ever heard of Baraque de Fraiture, a small crossroads in western Belgium that became known as "Parker's Crossroads" in 1944, but it's been compared with The Alamo and King Leonidas ("This! Is! SPARTA!"). This now-quiet location was the scene of an epic defense by remnants of the 106th Infantry and 589th Field Artillery Battalion after the initial devastating German thrust in the Battle of the Bulge. In sub-zero temperatures and icy fog, a small band of 300 Americans made their stand here around three artillery pieces and a handful of machine guns, holding off an enemy force several times their size. Essentially surrounded, many Americans were captured and others barely escaped, but their actions inflicted catastrophic casualties on Nazi forces, sucking the wind out of the sails of their advance and buying time for Allied forces to mount an effective defense.


Crossroad

US infantryman advances thru a German minefield in Normandy 1944.US helmet and walkietalkie lying nearby(perhaps from a  mine casualty )
This photo and the previous come from a series I found on :
  http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/seen-35-mind-blowing-images-d-day.html
greetz,brummbar

Tiptoeing

On januari 22th 1944, the Allies launched a massive surprise amphibious landing known as OPERATION SHINGLE on the beaches of Anzio, Italy. Intended to cut Nazi lines of communication and threaten the enemy rear, SHINGLE was an initial success; by midnight, Allied forces had landed over 36,000 troops and 3,200 vehicles with only 13 killed and 97 wounded. Penetrations were made up to 3 miles inland, and port facilities were under American control. 

 That was the end of the good luck, however. Because of miscommunication amongst Allied brass, the Germans were able to reinforce their lines and by early February had bolstered their numbers to over 100,000, regularly pounding the Allies with indiscriminate artillery attacks. American and British forces were nearly broken, and commanding general John P. Lucas was fired. His replacement Gen Lucian Truscott knew there was little possibility of a breakout until the weather warmed, so he buckled his troops down and held out. This also allowed time to plan OPERATION DIADEM, the action that would bring in reinforcements and ultimately overrun the entrenched German forces by May. Rome was captured on June 4th, two days before the landings in Normandy.