This was my last afternoon on my European mini-break. The trip started with twitching the Dutch Spectacled Eider & Pygmy Cormorant, followed by visiting Arnhem and some Birding in Luxembourg. On the final afternoon, I squeezed in a visit to the town of Bastogne. Bastogne was the site of Hitler's last failed gamble to stop the Allied advance towards Berlin: which is became known as the Battle of the Bulge. This was a good excuse for another WW2 historical side trip.
The background to the Battle of the Bulge started when the Germans launched a surprise attack on 16 Dec 1944 through Belgium's Ardennes countryside. The Americans clearly didn't think the Germans would push through this heavily wooded terrain. However, this wasn't the first time German troops had pushed through this area and not for the first or last time, did the American high command ignore the lessons of history. The Germans pushed the French back in Aug 1914 in this area and they repeated an invasion through the Ardennes in 1940. The 1944 campaign was intended to stop Allied use of Belgian's Antwerp port, to split the Allied lines and to destroy each of the four Allied armies in turn, in an attempt to force the Allies to negotiate a peace treaty. It was an ambitious plan, which had potential to succeed, given this area was being used by lightly-armed American troops as a rest and recuperation area away from the front lines.
I arrived in early afternoon. As I drove towards the town, I saw signs for the Bastogne War Museum and decided that might be a good place to spend the rest of the afternoon. It proved to be an excellent museum which provided visitors with a lot of the wider WW2 background prior to the German attack at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. There were plenty of interesting exhibits in the museum. But it isn't the only museum in town and there are a number of other interesting WW2 items scattered around the town, as well as, in the surrounding countryside. I would probably have needed two or three days to do the area justice, rather than just a few hours. The following photos are from the Bastogne War Museum.
Bastogne was the key town in the Battle of the Bulge, as there were a number of roads which radiated out West from the town. It was being held by the 101st Airborne Division, the African-American 969th Artillery Battalion and Combat Command B of the 10th Armoured Division. The town was surrounded and low on provisions and munitions, whilst resupply from the air wasn't realistic in constant low cloud. Had the town fallen, the Germans would have been able to quick advance and potentially capture a large fuel supply dump. If that had happened, they would have been able to resupply and push on towards the coast. Despite overwhelming numbers and low supplies, the bravery and determination of the Americans, resulted in them continuing to hold the town.
A week into the campaign, there was a break in the low cloud cover, which finally allowed the Allies to use their aircraft in the Battle of the Bulge. Resuming the air cover, along with the arrival of US tanks from Patton's Third Army, which broke through the German lines to relieve Bastogne, started to turn the Battle of the Bulge around.
When I arrived in Bastogne I had passed the Bastogne Barracks. This site houses the Bastogne Nuts! Museum and there were more WW2 vehicles on display outside the Barracks. The Nuts! Museum is named in tribute to Brigadier General McAuliffe, who was the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division. He famously responded with Nuts!, when the Germans demanded Bastogne's surrender, after they had encircled the town. The US troops managed to hold the town, until they were relieved. I had trouble finding the right road to return to the Barracks, but that allowed me to see more of the historic parts of the town.
Finally, I found the correct road to the Bastogne Barracks. I didn't have time to look around the museum. But I did have time for a quick look at the WW2 vehicles on display outside the Barracks and in front of the adjacent Army Restoration Workshop.
With German supplies running low, the involvement of the Allied Air Force and American troops being rushed to the area, the tide of the battle steadily changed to favour the Americans. The Germans were eventually forced to retreat, but many were captured or killed during this retreat. The Battle of the Bulge was largely over after a month, but it took another two to three weeks before the last German units were pushed back to their starting positions.
I had enjoyed the visit to Bastogne. However, the cloud was settling in and it was time to start heading to the coast. I finally reached Dunkirk around 20:00. I asked to buy a ferry ticket and they wanted to roughly double the price to one hundred and eighty Euros as I was booking at the last minute. I wasn't prepared to pay that price, knowing that I should be able to get a daytime ticket from Dieppe to Newhaven. As I passed Calais, I decided to try their ticket office and found I could get the one AM ferry for one hundred and eight Euros. This was a bit more than I would pay for a day time crossing, but I wouldn't have to find somewhere to sleep for the night. After an uneventful ferry crossing, I was back in Dover just after 01:45 UK time and home for 05:30. It had been a brilliant and busy three days in Europe.
