Battron: Before the Chariots — Wayne Vansant

French Legionnaire Battron returns to battle German Panzer units in the Belgium forest during World War II ! DECEMBER, 1944. The onset of winter and retreat of German forces along the western front brings hope of an end to the war by Christmas among the Allied troops. With a lull in the fighting Sgt. Battron of the French Foreign Legions decides to take a week's leave to deliver his wounded for care and accompany his friend, Esclaviar, to his home in southern Belgium. But as soon as they get within a few miles of their destination, Battron and Esclaviar get caught up in a massive German counter-offensive in the Belgium Ardennes Forest; a campaign that will later become known as the Battle of the Bulge. Battron and Esclaviar will find themselves involved in a pitch battle between elite German Panzer forces on one side and a motley group of green American stragglers and a seasoned U.S. Armored Infantry Company on the other. At stake is the remote, seemingly insignificant town of Aufenscheidt. Populated by a handful of townspeople, including an old angry priest, and a young regal blonde, Aufenscheidt seems unimportant on the Nazi list of significant battle objectives... ...But deep in the town's dark stone bowels lays a treasure more valuable to the Germans than gold! And Battron will stop at nothing to find out what that is. From Wayne Vansant, writer and illustrator of the award-winning historical military graphic novels DAYS OF DARKNESS, and DAYS OF WRATH.