Because this area of the front was so quiet, the corps was used as an orientation and rest area for new U.S. divisions and divisions that had taken heavy casualties while fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. This mission continued until 16 December 1944, when the Germans attacked VIII Corps with over 20 divisions in what came to be known as the Ardennes Offensive, better known as the Battle of the Bulge. Faced with overwhelming odds, the northern units of the corps, the U.S. 14th Cavalry Group and the U.S. 106th Infantry Division were pushed back or encircled. On the Schnee Eifel, some 6,700 inexperienced soldiers of VIII Corps were taken prisoner by the Germans. Further south, however, other units of the corps conducted a fighting withdrawal that successfully delayed the Germans long enough for the allies to rush reinforcements to the Ardennes. Units of the corps, in particular the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, famously held the key road junction of Bastogne against a five-day German siege that was broken on 26 December 1944, by armored units of the U.S. Third Army advancing from the south. Four days later, VIII Corps counter-attacked toward the town of Houffalize. On 16 January 1945, the corps made contact with the U.S. First Army near Houffalize, effectively pinching off the western end of the "bulge" made in allied lines by the German attacks. The corps reentered Luxembourg on 22 January 1945, and six days later reached the Our River again. In the first week of February 1945, the corps again occupied the Schnee Eifel and pushed through the Siegfried Line. VIII Corps took Pruem on 12 February 1945 and then cleared Siegfried Line fortifications in the corps area for the remainder of the month. On 6 March 1945, the corps crossed the Kyll River and reached the Rhine River at Andernach on 9 March 1945. On 16 March 1945, the corps assaulted across the Moselle River near Dieblich, and took Koblenz in a three-day battle that ended on 19 March 1945. Against stiff German resistance, VIII Corps assaulted across the Rhine River at Boppard and pushed eastward into central Germany. Moving north of Frankfurt am Main at the end of March 1945, the corps moved into the Rhön Mountains by early April. In the first two weeks of April 1945, VIII Corps cleared the Thuringer Wald and crossed the Gera, Saale, White Elster, and Mulde rivers in swift succession.