At the Battle of the Bulge, 200,000 German troops sought to push back and divide the Allied armies. Generals Patton and Eisenhower led their soldiers in slowing the attack and ultimately organized a counterattack to restore the front. Soon after the conflict, Winston Churchill called it “the greatest American battle of the War, and . . . an ever-famous American victory.” During the battle, 101st Airborne commanding general Anthony McAuliffe famously sent his one word reply to the German ultimatum to surrender: “Nuts.”