A soldier pauses for a photograph beside the wreckage of a twin-engine aircraft, its glazed nose shattered and engines stripped bare, resting in a snow-covered field. Aircraft losses of this kind — from combat damage, weather, or hard landings — were common throughout the Ardennes winter of 1944-45, as Allied forces struggled to keep transport, liaison, and resupply flights operating in support of the besieged 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne. Such wrecks became familiar, almost mundane sights along the roads and fields of the region during the campaign. Project: 218667