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How did George S. Patton move the Third Army to relieve Bastogne?
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George Patton
George S. Patton, 1945.
When the German army launched a surprise counteroffensive in the Ardennes Forest in December 1944, they encircled the U.S. 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, Belgium.12
Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered George S. Pattonβs Third Army to relieve the city. Patton repositioned his forces with "astonishing speed," a feat facilitated by his intelligence officer, Col. Oscar Koch, who had accurately predicted the German offensive through a shrewd analysis of enemy troop strength and disposition.1
As a result of this rapid maneuver, advance elements of the Third Army successfully reached the defenders at Bastogne on December 26, 1944, with additional reinforcements arriving in the following days.31