Final photo of “Easy” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment. 101st Airborne Division outside Zell Am See, Austria, their final duty station in May of 1945; same location as ‘Posse’ picture just below it. I had no idea at time that our group photo was preplanned.
Click Picture for a sharper view
My Conclusions in this trip that covered 3 WWII campaigns in the victory in West Europe: Allied Expeditionary Force Command Organization Won D-Day; British made a mistake in Market Garden; US GI’s won Battle of Bulge. Europeans are currently not happy with US in era of MAGA.
Luxembourg City was quite a surprise. We arrived June 8th. No Easy battles here. In fact this was the HQ of Omar Bradley commander of 12th Army Group who was criticized for being isolated from Bulge battlefield by remaining here. It is an extaordinary city with some amazing views. It compares with high end of Manhattan. We stayed in a 5 Star Hotel that was a little stuffy. Seems like unusual place to visit in context of trip. Unfortunately there was a bank holiday on June 8 so alot of the retail was closed, not all. Maybe this was a bonus for trip, or that important for us to visit Luxembourg Cemetary?
Our logistics guy was generaly circumspect and stayed out of our social expectations. However here he veered from that strategy. Several times he mentioned that Irish Pyg was a great Irish pub. So i took the bait & began a walk there. I have numerous pictures of L City, but it was not intended. I began the walk with approx 25 minutes on GPS. Initialy the time dimminished. But the longer I walked it started to increase. I think the GPS was confused bc of that wall shown in both Photots#1&2. Tourists generally cannot figure out how to get through the wall(s). Anyway I started on top of the wall & ended up back on the bridge from persepctive of this photo. Ended up being an hour walk. When I got to Irish Pyg, it was a Rugby SuperBowl drunkfest. People & glasses were strewn outside. Inside was pandemonium. Hard to get a beer w/o a rugby uniform. In the meantime 3 compadres from Posse Ubered down to meet me. There was no FOOD there so we ended up back at our hotel with some misdirections on way back via Uber. Scott ended up having a glass of Jamesom & Ice Cream Sundae. I had beer, glass of wine & tuna appetizer for $60++. Strange night:)
Here is the Irish Pyg although it looks pretty sedate here compared to the day I was there.
The Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, located in Hamm, just east of Luxembourg City, is the final resting place of 5,076 American service members. Most of those buried there died during the Battle of the Bulge and the subsequent advance into Germany in late 1944 and early 1945.
Our historian often gave homage to Easy deceased at all the major Cemetaries. They deserve it.
George Patton one of the famous US Army Generals of WWII commander of 3rd Army lies here. He died in an automobile accident on 12/21/45 in Heidelberg. Frankly it seems strange that he is buried here. But here is his grave.
This is the Maginot line to continue the sequence of events. We arrived June 9th. There were numerous rooms related to all aspects of social life. Here is a religous motif in context of France. See more of this complex in France section.
Hagenau was explained in Series#8. It was on French boundary. It takes place in February 1945, 3 months before the end of war. Last Easy combat casualty occurred here. Easy was based in these houses. Germans were across Moder River. The ‘Last Patrol’ was an attempt to snatch a prisoner. They got a couple but lost a long-time Easy veteran. Last Easy casualty fighting in war.
About an hour from Hagenau was the Siegfried Line, a defensive line that Germany constructed to defend Germany proper. These are tank dragon teeth & pill boxes. etc. The defensive construction was so profound that German towns left them in place bc they are so difficult to remove. Noone wants this crap to hang around. Is an anectdote that some houses still have pillboxes in their backyard.
Our first night in Germany in Karlshrue on June 9th. It was still the Bank Holiday & most of the retail is closed. We had a strange stay as the BoB forced waiters to come in & open the Hotel restaurant bc of contractural rights. Not a great stay, but the walk after dinner to this Karlshrue Palace was pleasant.
Here is the random tourist/budinski pushing into the webpage again. Behind is the 1st look of Berchtesgaden on June 10th. This place is an eerie experience but beautiful location: Hitler’s home. The 506th arrived on May 4-5th 1945, the first US Army unit to arrive at Eagles Nest. They stayed/partied a very short time & then sent to Austria for their final stop as well as our tour. Did go to Munich Airport for departure through Dublin.
Hotel Edelweiss in Berchtesgaden; we stayed in 2 nights. Definitely a mealcholy experience. Cannot escape Hitler, unfortunately. 1st record of the area was 1102. During the war, Berchtesgarten served as a critical outpost of the German Reichskanzlei (Imperial Chancellery), Berchtesgaden and its environs (Stanggass) saw substantial expansion of offices, security, and support services, mainly on the Obersalzberg which is a broad definition of his compound including homes his crew. Hitler met Neville Chamberain here before the infamous Munich Conference preceeding WWII.
This is looking out of my hotel room. Berchtesgaden is a Midieval Layout with streets behind the hotel laid out that way. Very tight very close. The town and its surroundings belonged to the Berchtesgaden Provostry, an independent state of the Holy Roman Empire (called Fürstpropstei Berchtesgaden) and was ruled by the Prince-provost of the Augustinian monastery in the town.
I spent about 10 years taking my kids to skate parks. I saw some elaborate ones but this is certainly one of the nicest. But why is it empty? It looks very well kept. If that train station behind it seems a little big for a little city it is. They built a full sized station for Hitler’s personal train.
This is an interesting story. This was/is a German Guest House that unfortunately for the owner was very close to Hitler’s house. Like Mara Lago, all the Nazi big shots wanted to live close to the boss. The area was run by Martin Borman, kind of the self-designated Mayor. He went to the owner & told him to vacate so they can use this property for vetted guests. The owner was stubborn & refused, a couple of times as the story goes. You will find out later why IK these gossipy details. Borman sent owner to Dachau for a couple of weeks & owner changed his mind. The family eventually got the property back after the war. Off photograph was a stone guardhouse for Hitler’s personal guards. They had to setup a perimeter close by to keep away the uninvited flock, the “uneducated”.
Hitler built a personal home in this location from his profits from Meim Kampf. The Tea Room that is generally related as his home in the Eagle Nest is not his home; there are only 14 documented occasions that he visited it. This was the view he had from his main window, BTW the British sent approx 359 bombers on April 25th to destroy the house which is why it is a forest now. It was not completely destroyed until the Allies occupied it. The last day Hitler personally stayed here was July 14-16 just days before the assasination attempt on July 20 in his Eastern Front HQ.
We had a local historian guide us. Any odd & gossipy insights I share about the Berghof was from her lecture. She is looking at us in the picture. She was English, and looked & dressed exactly like Twiggy the model from the 1960’s. (She put a pep in our Historians Step). Look at the back wall of house behind her. Editors Note This whole visit to Berchtesgarten is a little dodgy. The German Government is a little uncomfortable with it. They control everything as well as they can, like requiring everyone connected to be registered, etc. In many exhibits victims are included. There is a cross at top of Eagles Nest. Their website documentation is called “Idyll & Atrocity”. So it is an incredibly beautiful area darkened by the past. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/hitlers-eagles-nest-at-berchtesgaden
This is where the house used to set. Posse gone. https://www.ww2online.org/image/hitlers-war-damaged-home-berchtesgaden-germany
There were caves built all around. Read where most of the prep for WWII was done in this complex. Also have stories of worker victims in many exhibits. Having this Country house in the pastoral setting was good propaganda to offset the harsh war & persistent rumors of inhumanity. Made him seeem almost human. Said he spent about 1/3rd of his time here.
Here is the Eagles Nest in daytime from below. That visit comes next.
Borman, Hitler’s prvate secretary, fancied himself an agricultural wizard. Believe it or not he wanted the Berghof to be self-sustaining. This area below Berghof became failed attempt at growing food bc apparently alpine farming has unique characteristics unkown to him. After the occupation, the US made these fields into a rec area with a 9 hole Golf Course (that is still there; Army has more golf courses than Trump) & a ski area. We actually had our lunch at the modest Country Club here of traditional German food, including free beer which annoyed our logistcs guy.
Shaft Dimensions for accessing Eagles Nest: Length of tunnel to elevator: 126 meters (413 feet), carved horizontally into the mountain; Height of elevator shaft: 131 meters (430 feet), rising vertically through solid granite to the summit. Built (including some other tunneling & roads) in 1937-38 for $247 million USD as a 50th Birthday Gift to Hitler. Built by Franz Todt. Spectacuarly lavish tributes seems vaguely familiar?
Inside the Tea room at > 6000 feet. Have to admit a fear of heights so i was very cautious apparently like Hitler. The Tea Room is not that big as you will see in Phtot#27.
A view at 6000 feet. Hard to get a good picture in such vast spaces.
Walking Trail away from Tea House up a narrow traile .
On the path looking back.
This is the Tea House from retail side. There is a small food kiosk on mountain. There is nowhere to walk on other side of building. That side faces the town & Bergof.
The cross, A apost-war addition to top of the trail perhaps to soften the blow. I did not walk here bc I don’t like heights.
This is a house behind the hotel. Apparently an artist many years ago was requested to paint some figures on the front of the house. Customer was unhappy & refused to pay bill. Painter snuck back one evening & replaced faces with monkey heads.
Teahouse at night. Tradition is noone stays there at night?
My room at Hotel Edelweiss on morning of June 12th.
Wild & Crazy tourist who won’t be denied in Austria near final picture. Reminds me of the movie Zelig.
Beautiful villiage of Zell Am See on June 12th. You are looking at Chiemsee Lake. Just off camera is the beautiful lake front Hotel Zell that was the 506th Regt HQ. We were a little early so we were unable to eat at Hotel Zell tables on lake. We had to hustle into town for a quick lunch before we went back to Munich for end of trip on June 13th.
Was in Dublin evening of June 13th. Rained like hell June 14th, tourist day. Numerous times in an Uber. Little walking. Visited Kilmainham Gaol Museum but limited in outside exhibits. It is a rich history of the Irish struggle for independence. Many executions here. This is a courtyard stairwell that was put into various movies.
Here is Guiness Tourhouse in Dublin. Costs $35 for a ‘free’ beer. The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form of a pint of Guinness. It was a combination of disney world, marketing session, liquor store, & a little beer drinking/tasting.
Here is the grand finale on the 7th floor with some wiseacre bartenders. They make you climb the 7 floors to get your ‘free’ beer. Left Dublin early on June 15th on Aer Lingus. Exhausting & almost unsuccessful DHS prep for flight at Dublin Airport to Newark. A kind Lingus agent & a US custom agent saved my ass. Frist problem I ever had making my flight.