By 20th December 1944 the rapid German advance into the Ardennes was beginning to slow as fuel supplies ran short and the Allies planned their resistance.
The Allied Air Forces were still grounded by poor weather and limited visibility but the 101st Airborne Division reached Bastogne, the convergence of all the main roads in the Belgian Ardennes, by truck just as the German attack on the town began. The siege of Bastogne was not relieved by the Allies until 26th December and the resistance of US forces there is legendary. Brigadier McAuliffe responded to demands for surrender when surrounded with a single expletive usually referred to as “Nuts!”
US 1st Army command seemed to be in disarray and Eisenhower decided to put Montgomery in charge of all the Allied forces to the north of the German offensive (21st Army Group and the US 1st Army) while General Patton with the US 3rd Army led resistance from the south. Until then the British had not been involved in the fighting in the Ardennes...
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