The first 4 days were spent with my younger son Ben exploring the museums and battle sites of the Normandy Beaches. Not much has changed since I was there at the end of last year (see previous posts), but it was a first for Ben so, just for the record, a picture of Ben standing next to Pegasus Bridge.
Editors note: I can now see where he gets his good looks from!
Once I had dropped Ben back at Calais on Friday, I sped off to Bastogne in eastern Belgium to meet my other son, Matt. Now, this was a new area for both of us so I had lots of places on the satnav to visit.
Just a reminder about what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. During December 1944 all was quiet on the western front. Both sides had been fighting hard; the Allies pushing further inland from the beaches, the Axis forces being pushed back in to Germany. However, everyone was feeling the pressure, experienced and war-weary soldiers were resting, the weather was poor, supplies were thin on the ground, and the limited reinforcements and replacements were settling into their new roles during the worst winter for years. However, Hitler decided to take advantage of this lull in the fighting and make a final push for the coastal post of Antwerp, thus dividing the British and American armies and capturing their nearest resupply port. In this way, Hitler hoped to negotiate a conditional settlement rather than the unconditional surrender he was facing.
On the 16th December a massive German force comprising mainly Panzers, artillery and infantry took the Allies by surprise and pushed through the mountainous Ardennes region creating what was to become a bulge in the front - hence the name. Over the following 6 weeks, the Allies regrouped and were reinforced to finally push the hard pressed German forces back to the Rhine. Thousands of soldiers on both sides were killed, wounded or lost. The 2001 film Band of Brothers depicts the battle in a very realistic way especially how the American 81st and 101st regiments held Bastogne as a pocket of resistance despite the heavy odds against them.
A cordon of strong points were set up around the town to hold back the Germans and Bastogne Barracks was the Central Control Point for most of the operations. It is now at the center of most visits to the town if you are interested to get a feel for what happened.
I learnt you can't just walk around by yourself but you get a professional guide - in fact, a professional soldier (in our case an ex-commando) who transferred to the museum to build exhibits and guide visitors. What was expected to be 2 hour tour turned out to be 3 hours and very informative and enjoyable. For instance, we saw the basement room where General McAuliffe received the German deputation offering the Americans the chance to surrender and where he replied with the now famous words N U T S.
After a tour that vastly exceeded our expectations, we visited the nearby American museum and memorial then traveled to Matt's home near Maastricht for the night.
On Sunday, we went further north to Camp Vught. It was built in 1943 as a concentration camp for Jews, political prisoners, gypsies, etc and housed 31,000 people in very poor conditions. While much of the site is now redeveloped, we saw the remaining barracks and crematorium used during the war and it was a very moving experience to see what people went through.
This camp was a relatively small operation compared to the ones in eastern Germany and Poland but it must still have been an horrendous place to be during the war.
We also saw a tranquil site nearby, in the woods, where at least 330 prisoners were shot over a couple of months and is now a national monument. Tranquil now but can you imagine the horror of being taken here under armed guard and being lined up in front of a firing squad? Doesn't bear thinking about...
However, if that wasn't bad enough, the torment didn't stop at the end of the war. In the 30 or so years after the war Vught was used as a detention camp for Nazi war criminals and collaborators, and even Malayan troops and their families. These proud people were shipped from Malaya and once they landed in Holland they were stripped of all status and reduced to penniless prisoners confined within the fences of the concentration camp. Crime and all sorts of abuse developed, making the place a site of continued horror. If you get the chance, you should visit it. A few short words and some photos can't do it justice.
I returned to Bastogne on Sunday to visit the 101st American museum on Monday, only to find it closed. So, I spent time visiting the remaining foxholes used by the infantry in the woods near Foy and chatting to an Ex German soldier at the 101st memorial nearby.
Meet Leander... now setting up his own survival business in Berlin. What a nice bloke.
By the way, the foxholes nearest the Foy road are deep and well-formed mainly because they are often used by re-enactment groups each year but the ones further into the wood appear to be in their original state. I recommend taking a walk in the peace and quiet; again a tad different to how it would have been 70 years ago.
I left Bastogne on Monday and headed west, back towards Calais, aiming to visit many of the towns and other historic places along the way. See my next post if you're still interested!
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