"“The present situation is to be regarded as one of..." Topic

… opportunity for us and not of disaster…" Dwight Eisenhower and the Battle of the Bulge

"…On December 16, 1944, Dwight Eisenhower's day was supposed to be a fairly light one. He was looking forward to attending the wedding of his orderly, Mickey McKeogh, taking place at Versailles. Ike had just been promoted to the rank of General of the Army, putting him in rarefied air among Allied commanders, and among other generals in American history. He had good reason to be satisfied with where things stood for the Allies—it had been six months and ten days since they launched the campaign in Western Europe. In that time, Allied troops had travelled many miles from the beaches and hedgerows of Normandy, pushing German forces back to eastern France and the border of Germany itself. Thousands had fallen in battle up to now, but the prospects for victory in 1945 were good.

That afternoon, General Omar Bradley travelled to meet with Ike at his headquarters to discuss the slower than expected rate of replacement troops coming into the battle depleted ranks of his 12th Army Group. As Ike and Bradley met, they were notified that just that morning a strong German attack had begun in the Ardennes. Due to its dense forested terrain, as well as the broad Allied front, American forces were rather weak in the Ardennes region, as no major attack was expected there at that time. While Bradley was dismissive, Ike quickly sensed something foreboding in the news—he was right to do so. .."

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Armand

…, or the Royal Irish Fusiliers : containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1793, and of its subsequent services to 1853

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Armand