In Magritte, a village of significant strategic importance during the war, a column of German Panzers made the fateful decision to pause their advance, presumably to investigate the presence of American forces in the area. This stop, for reasons still debated by historians, allowed the Allied forces to reach Bastogne first. Had the German column kept advancing, they might have reached Bastogne ahead of the Americans, which could have drastically altered the course of the battle.