Bastogne and Hurgen Forrest Photos

Nice pictures and adventure.

It brings back many memories.

Looks like you had a great time as it always wets you're appetite for more.

The sad part of my memories is that my touring buddy is no longer with us.

RIP Sgt. R.J. COSGROVE
 
Great photos. Great town, great country. and beer.
Love Those museums, The patton museum was closed for me in 2012.
I would like to go back one day when its warmer weather and explore the forest as well.
And I feel bad about not making it to La Gleize to see the King Tiger.
 
Two things: Interesting to see a ground dug Enfield in the pics. Nice to highlight the small Canadian and British effort.

And the bunker stencil is tourist/tour guide added. It's in English and still visible despite the weathering.
 
jibjedi said:
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting pictures.

In the 8th pic down there is an M1 Garand clip next to the M1911A1, with what looks like .45 ACP rounds in it. Can someone tell me why someone might do that?
Would it simply be a way to contain loose ammo?
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My guess is a museum curator or volunteer many years ago guessing it is a stripper clip, and American, figured it fit 45 auto perfectly, so assumed that is what it is for.

I lol at thinking how the 'trench art' lady on the butt stock would twist the knickers of some of the milsurp purists on this site.
 
scott585 said:
it looks like its actually several hits, atleast 3, maybe as many as 6. even so, the tank didnt brew up, despite its reputation
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Perhaps it had run out of fuel and ammo before it was hit, but anyway I think it has been cleaned up and repainted for display.
 
You see, I thought the 45 in the garand clip was kind of odd too, But the 101st museum was well put together with alot of artifacts and info from the Vets. I think alot of the stuff they had was donated but locals, and i strongly believe what is in these museums is the 2nds and 3rds of local collections. I think perhaps it was a local who had found the stuff and fitted it in.

But a more extravagant theory is, a GI, had Loose 45, no mags to put it in, and got it to fit in a Garand clip to keep it from being loose, I wish i was home I would give it a try to see if it worked.

I am hoping for another adventure into the Hurtgen in the coming weeks. Does anyone know of any battle sites from ww2 or ww1 in Norther Germany? Hiking and exploring is not a problem
 
ShooterMcGavin said:
You see, I thought the 45 in the garand clip was kind of odd too, But the 101st museum was well put together with alot of artifacts and info from the Vets. I think alot of the stuff they had was donated but locals, and i strongly believe what is in these museums is the 2nds and 3rds of local collections. I think perhaps it was a local who had found the stuff and fitted it in.

But a more extravagant theory is, a GI, had Loose 45, no mags to put it in, and got it to fit in a Garand clip to keep it from being loose, I wish i was home I would give it a try to see if it worked.

I am hoping for another adventure into the Hurtgen in the coming weeks. Does anyone know of any battle sites from ww2 or ww1 in Norther Germany? Hiking and exploring is not a problem
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You need to brush up on your history a bit to get some context for all of this. From a Canadian point of view one can visit the area of the Battle of the Reichswald and the Hochwald Gap in the areas of Xanten, Kleve, Goch, and Udem. You can also visit the area around Wesel, the scene of Operation Varsity which was the airborne component of the Rhine crossing in which the 1st Cdn Para Bn fought. When I last visited the area in 1992 they were just completing the restoration of wartime damages to the Xanten cathedral.

There are also some large Commonwealth War Cemeteries in the area of the Reichswald incl the ones at Kleve and Rheinberg where a lot of RAF/RCAF aircrew who died in the bombing of the Ruhr are buried. Then there is the site of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp where there is a touching monument to Ann Frank who was liquidated there along with thousands of other innocents.

If you go just a bit west into Holland you can see the area of Operation Market Garden in the areas of Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. There are a number of museums and monuments to the allies which are maintained by the grateful Dutch.

After the Rhine crossings the fighting in Northern Germany in WW2 was pretty scrambly with a lot of minor engagements fought against the remnants of the retreating and soon to be defeated German Army. There was no fighting in northern Germany during WW1. The Germans are not too big on preserving military sites and museums as they were defeated in both WW1 and WW2.
 
Kman303 said:
Google is your friend, it was part of the Battle of the Bulge, ever see Band of Brothers?
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I was kidding its like saying what is Coca-Cola.

The real question is how much time did the germans waste building cement bunkers in the forest that the americans probably just drove around them and attacked them from behind.

But looking at that stand of timber, looks like it needs to be logged.
 
larrysmith said:
Whats Bastogne?
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Bastogne is a town in the Ardennes region of Belgium. What is your level of awareness of World War 2 history in western Europe? There is a huge amount of literature available for self-study about the Battle of the Bulge which was fought in this region in late 1944 and early 1945. Bastogne featured prominently in the fighting during this battle as it was the locus of key road networks in the Ardennes region.
 
I'd say most of those trees were much smaller then and some probably didn't exist at all. When I visited Thingstatte a few years ago, I was amazed at how much the area had grown up/over from looking at older pictures.
larrysmith said:
I was kidding its like saying what is Coca-Cola.

The real question is how much time did the germans waste building cement bunkers in the forest that the americans probably just drove around them and attacked them from behind.

But looking at that stand of timber, looks like it needs to be logged.
Click to expand...
 
larrysmith said:
I was kidding its like saying what is Coca-Cola.

The real question is how much time did the germans waste building cement bunkers in the forest that the americans probably just drove around them and attacked them from behind.

But looking at that stand of timber, looks like it needs to be logged.
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I must be tone deaf, as I couldn't sense the sarcasm in your voice.
 
larrysmith said:
I was kidding its like saying what is Coca-Cola.

The real question is how much time did the germans waste building cement bunkers in the forest that the americans probably just drove around them and attacked them from behind.

But looking at that stand of timber, looks like it needs to be logged.
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There was no going around those bunkers in the Hurtgen. That's why the battle was fought. Those bunkers are part of a line that stretched from theBaltic to the Swiss frontier.
 
larrysmith said:
I was kidding its like saying what is Coca-Cola.

The real question is how much time did the germans waste building cement bunkers in the forest that the americans probably just drove around them and attacked them from behind.

But looking at that stand of timber, looks like it needs to be logged.
Click to expand...

so why ask the question?? unless your just trying to annoy everyone else with mindless drivel.
 
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