“Battle of the Bulge” part of the tour: Our tour took us only to the Green Tentacles in Southwest of Picture below.
Click on Picture for closeup: Bulge as illustrated above had 3 Centers of Gravity: North Shoulder; Center where US Army got whacked, and bulge is most prominent; & South shoulder which included where we visited at Bastogne, with exception of Vielsam in North Shoulder. The Battle of the Bulge lasted from 16 Dec 1944 to Jan 25 1945. Total Casualties were 108K for Allies > 95% US & 83k Germans. Staggering toll.
We left Netherlands on our way towards Bastonge when we had a bus breakdown. Fortunately we were able to limp to a truck stop; & coincidently we wandered into an important Bulge war memorial called ‘Parkers Crossing’. This would be our only exposure to the ‘North Shoulder’. In some ways this is a more interesting engagement than Bastonge which got alot of Press & Hollywood attention. Here a composite task force from 82nd airborne, 106th ID & 7th armor held the German advance from Dec 19-23 coming from East to West. The artillery in Photo#2 is facing East.
Our historian gave an impromptu lecture here before our bus was replaced. We were hung up for about 3-4 hours. We ate at the Cafe on left side of Photo#1. Owner could not speak english so we all had chicken meatballs. Here is overview of battle: https://medium.com/@ubeach44/we-go-no-further-parkers-crossroads-1944-f2a67a19fef7
This was our original destination delayed by bus breakdown; this hotel was actually in Luxembourg even though the next day tour was back into Bastonge Belgium. Europe has tricky boundaries. Definitely a nice ending to a long day. 1 of top 3 Hotels during tour (Downington Valley [great golf course & gym] in UK & Berchtesgaden were others). I believe we had a buffet here. Always preferred in Europe cause they can take so dammned long to serve. Sometimes up to 2 hours for an average dinner (my only European food complaint). I also had a balcony overlooking a man-made lake.
This compund in Bastoge (Europe has alot of these old historic active military bases) was originally the VIII Corps HQ of US Army but after German attack they ‘moved backwards’. Then taken over by temporary comander of 101 Abn Division, General Mcauliffe, famous for his ‘Nuts’ response to German surrender offer. Our historian awaits us, not alwasy patiently.
101 Airborne Museum. Had everything from weapons, people & even a huge exhibit of tobacco products from that era. Seems like ‘Battered Bastards of Bastonge” had more tobacco than ammo.
Voila!
This is Place Macauliffe, center of Bastonge. It is a town of approx 15k. This was our dropoff & pickup point for lunch & walking around. Gives you an idea of the centrality of the War to at least this European town. I’m sure it is for tourism too but 80 years later WWII is still matters. The US is appreciatd where the battles occurred, at least.
This was the highest point of Southwest German progress, just pass Bastonge. The posse enjoyed this stop. We just left Bastonge after lunch, towards Noville, a major battle for Easy.
Memorial to Easy Company deceased in Battle of the Bulge. Note the combination of US & Belgian flags over the memorial. Interesting that Bastonge focused on 14 deaths of Easy Company when the US Army incurred 3000 Casualties including 2000 of 101st Abn. https://www.worldwar2facts.org/battle-of-bastogne.html
Here is the woods where Easy periodically stationed during Bastonge Siege. See Series#6&7 for show. 2 of Easys’s most famous soldiers in series including Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye were casualties here because of German Artillery shells exploding into trees causing trees to explode like wooden splinters.
Close by the woods in Photo#10 was the view & path to Noville. On January 13 Easy attacked Noville in a costly engagement. Notice Photo#9 that 6 Easy soldiers died during this battle. Consider also that death-to-injury ratio of US Army in WWII was roughly 1:2.3. So overall casualties were much higher.
In Series#7 is attack on Noville which initially went poorly. There was actually a Company Commander change during battle & the new commander was ready. Very intense show. Remember we are in 1945 here, and war has only 5 more months left. At this window, unfolded a sniper duel. US Soldier was initially killed but later an Easy sniper prevailed. Still note the gunshot scars around the window today.