On 16th December 1944, the German forces moved through the forests of the Ardennes, in Belgium, to attack the First U.S. Army. This was the Wehrmacht's last offensive on the western front before the final surrender in 1945. The “Wacht am Rhein” plan envisaged, on the part of General Von Rundstedt, the use of many elite units of Wehrmacht and of Waffen SS. The climax of the offensive was the siege of Bastogne, on December 21st, 1944. The town was defended by the 101st Airborne Division.