What the American public cares about is Bastogne. For most people, their concerns are simply what everyone else is talking about.
But for Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in France, his concern was the entire war—not just Bastogne, not just the Ardennes, but the whole Western Front.
Near noon that day, after finishing an inspection of the front lines, Eisenhower had already returned to Verdun in his command car. Throughout the journey, he kept pondering the situation in the Ardennes. This battle was too strange, with too many astonishing elements.
One of the most surprising things was the sudden appearance of a mysterious group of German commandos wearing American uniforms behind U.S. lines. They gave false orders, attacked supply convoys and officers' vehicles, and cast an unprecedented shadow of fear over the Allied rear.
