From December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, American, British, Canadian, Belgian, and French troops fought to stop the last major German offensive of World War II, which began in the densely forested Belgian Ardennes. Although the Allied troops ultimately prevailed, it was a hard-fought victory that left tens of thousands dead on both sides. Today, the conflict is known as the Battle of the Bulge.  LIFE

presents rare photos and many images never published in the magazine from one of the most brutal and decisive battles of World War II.

American infantry of the 290th Regiment huddle in snowy woods near Amonines, Belgium, in January 1945.

During a lull in the fighting in the final days of the Battle of the Bulge, American GIs help fleeing residents load themselves and their belongings onto a truck.

GIs of the 1st Army search for German paratroopers during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

Perhaps the decisive moment for all Allied forces fighting in the Battle of the Bulge came when the Germans demanded the surrender of the American troops trapped in the town of Bastogne.

Care for the wounded in the Ardennes.

An American paramedic transports the injured.

German losses were even higher. An estimated 67,000 men fell victim, including this soldier, who died next to a river somewhere in the Ardennes.

A soldier shaves during a lull in the fighting in the Ardennes Forest in December 1944.

The body of an unknown Allied soldier awaits burial next to a road in the Ardennes in January 1945.

During the Battle of the Bulge, soldiers dig foxholes in the frozen ground.

The First Army takes care of prisoners of war and the dead.

Young German prisoners of war, World War II, Wehrmacht

Hitler and his General Staff reviewed the plans at the end of 1944.

An exhausted American soldier who has just returned from the front near the town of Murrigen during the Battle of the Bulge.

German prisoners of war wrapped up against the extreme cold, Battle of the Bulge, January 1945.

Wreckage of a crashed German aircraft, Battle of the Bulge.

A lace curtain covers the body of an American soldier awaiting burial in the Bastogne cemetery.

American soldiers in a snowy trench in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945.

During the Battle of the Bulge, American troops occupy trenches along a snow-covered hedge in the northern Ardennes Forest.

An American tank drives past another gun carriage that had skidded off an icy road in the Ardennes Forest in 1945.

Troops at the front in Belgium.

A German SS tank soldier prepares for winter during the Battle of the Bulge.

An aerial photograph of the Ardennes in Belgium showing Allied forces and artillery blast holes in a snow-covered field.

A Belgian woman assesses the damage to her house caused by heavy fighting in the nearby Ardennes Forest.