This is a

This is CBS I in the world. I'm John Batcher with Patrick K O'Donnell.

The book is Dog Company, The Boys of Buanto O'Ock,

the Rangers who accomplish today's toughest mission, behind us in June.

It is now late December, it snows on and off, we're in the Hurtkin Forest, which is entirely prepared

for a death trap for the Americans.

It's part of the Siegfried line,

but most importantly, as Patrick reveals,

it allows anyone who moves through the Hurtin force to look over the assembly lines for

the counterattack that Hitler is about to launch in December against the Allies, The Battle of the Bulge.

The Rangers don't know this.

We're now on a little town, they're told

to reinforce a combat regiment that has been decimated, more than that, essentially reduced to

meaninglessness by German counterattacks.

Nobody's asking at this point, why are the Germans so fierce about this little

town?

What's going on here?

Instead, they send the Rangers in to capture Hill 400.

Patrick, you've done very careful research and you spent a night on Hill 400.

Describe what it looks like, what this terrain looks like today.

It's, it's a, this is a very substantial and high mount that you can see the large portion of the herkin forest from it.

Bergstein is this tiny hamlet below the base of the hill and right in front of the hill is an old church that you know is

...