Patton only needed 48 hours to do the unthinkable: turn an entire army around in the middle of a harsh winter and defeat Hitler's final gamble. On December 19, 1944, as German tanks punched a bloody hole through Allied lines in the Ardennes, U.S. generals gathered in crisis. The Battle of the Bulge had begun, and Hitler's bold offensive threatened to split the Western Front in two. Surrounded by silence and fear, Eisenhower turned to one man: Lt. Gen. George S. Patton. “How long will it take you