A visit to Bastogne...

[Beemerguy53]

Back in March, my girlfriend and I spent a couple of days in Bastogne, Belgium, visiting museums and sites related to the Battle of the Bulge.

We went to the 101st Airborne Museum, the Battle of the Bulge Museum, and the town of Foy, so famously depicted in the mini-series Band of Brothers.

The two museums were very interesting, with numerous artifacts, and dioramas depicting actual events. (The figures of Patton and McAuliffe in the 101st Airborne Museum looked almost alive!)

The most poignant part of our visit was seeing the foxholes in the Bois Jacques, where Easy Company endured terrible artillery shelling, where Alex Penkala and Warren Muck were killed, and where Bill Guarnere and Joe Toy each lost a leg. And it was downright eerie driving into Foy, and seeing the pockmarks in the buildings there from the battle for the town.

Some surprises: if you've seen Band of Brothers, Foy looks nothing like the way it was depicted in the mini-series. And the Bois Jacques woods, the starting point for Easy Company's attack on the town, is more than 2000 feet from Foy...those guys covered a lot of open ground! And while Shifty Powers did take out a sniper, the circumstances were much different than depicted in BoB.

I took a lot of photos, and will attach them in subsequent posts.

 

[Rudi]

Great historical displays there. Thanks for posting the pics!

 

[Enzo Rules]

Great pictures and info. Thanks

 

[PatriotX]

I’ve been inside that museum, it’s quite small and just off the town Square where a disabled Sherman sits on a pedestal.

My father fought in the battle of the bulge, his most notable comment being “it was the coldest winter I’ve ever spent.“
Bastogne was the first place I ever saw him shed a tear.

Thank you for sharing your pics.

 

[ameridaddy]

Those mannequins echoed what I've thought before looking at WW2 pics - the Germans had the best looking uniforms and the worst haircuts.
Those were some really nice pics. Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[Beemerguy53]

Just outside of Bastogne is the Bois Jacques, the woods where the men of Easy Company endured German artillery. (This is depicted in the Band of Brothers series episode 6.) The paratroopers' foxholes in the woods have been protected over the years, even as development has occurred around the area, and are now part of the Bastogne War Museum. It was very moving to visit there and think about what had happened eighty years ago...especially somber was seeing the very foxhole where a German 88mm shell landed and killed Warren Muck and Alex Penkala.

 

[lihpster]

I’ve been inside that museum, it’s quite small and just off the town Square where a disabled Sherman sits on a pedestal.

My father fought in the battle of the bulge, his most notable comment being “it was the coldest winter I’ve ever spent.“
Bastogne was the first place I ever saw him shed a tear.

Thank you for sharing your pics.

My uncle fought in that battle. He seemed to spend the rest of his life trying to get warm again.

 

[Beemerguy53]

About 2000' north of the Bois Jacque is the village of Foy, the attack on which was depicted in episode 7 of Band of Brothers. Having seen BoB a number of times, I was really surprised by how different the real Foy was from the way it was depicted in the series. Bullet holes still dot the walls of the buildings there, and the spot where Shifty Powers took out a German sniper is prominently marked. Just outside of Foy is a memorial marking the field that was used until 1948 as a temporary cemetery for 2701 Americans who were killed in action in the Battle of the Bulge...

 

[zeke]

Thanks for sharing, it be sincerely appreciated!

 

[fordson]

My wife and I did a pass-thru of Bastogne on our way to Ghent in October, 2016. It was chilly, overcast and rainy, very evocative . Didn’t spent enough time there and need to return. Thanks for the photos and monologue.