timing suspicious

The offensive began overnight of 16/17 December, 1944. Bastogne was surrounded by the 20th and elements of forward German units were nearing the Meuse River. Their goal was to get accross before strong Allied reinforcments from the north(under the command of Bernard Montgomery) could be brought to bear and to reach the massive Allied fuel dumps. Had they done so, there's no telling how far they could have gone.

But often heroic resistence in many areas slowed the advance, and stubborn resistence at first St Vith and then Bastogne crippled the offense. By 23 December, the Germans had ground to a halt. While the Germans were still gaining ground in some areas, mainly to the north, Patton had already broken thru to Bastogne from the south, and the skies had cleared enough to let the Allied Air Forces take their toll on German movement.

The movie takes place during the last gasps of the last gasp offensive. While the Germans were still in control, by the next day, they were being stopped. The area of Frau Vincken's house was likely very fluid, with troops of both sides moving past very close by. It was possible that the three Germans in this movie were actually falling back and the Americans were moving forward. On both sides of this conflict, small groups of men were making stands, many of which are lost to history. This movie shows just one of thousands of "small stands" that occurred. The territory was rife with SS, so unspeakable horror was very likely, but enough Wehrmacht were there that a story like this indeed probably happened.