At the Battle of the Bulge, between 16 December 1944 and 28 January 1945 , there were 81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed.
During that time period, there was no mention of a "quagmire" or of "record setting casualty rates" on TIME Magazine covers. During Word War II, trying to demoralize the American Home Front was the job of Nazi Germany's Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda.
TIME Magazine Covers During the Battle of the Bulge
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TIME Magazine Covers 59 Years Later