Greetings from Bastogne! Updated

[hsatimmy]

Hello all,

My wife and I are visiting the in-laws in Belgium so we decided to take in some of the sites.

So far we have managed to go to Camp Breendonk concentration camp, the town of Foy, Jack's Wood, and the Bastogne war museum/monument.

I plan on uploading more photos to a photo gallery on the photo forum, and/or some other medium.


In the mean time i figured i'd give some views to the exciting history that we have encountered.

Pic 1 is the building where Shifty from the 101st shot the German Sniper. You can see a poppy in the bottom right corner in the wall.

Pic 2 is one of many foxhole photos I took. There were maybe 8 spots that were hard to discern whether or not they're foxholes. There are 15+ that look like great cover. Most are full of foliage or 'pinecones' from the forest. There has been some logging in the area so its a bit messy.

Pic 3 is the memorial in the woods i found.

Pic 4 is the spot where the 101st launched their attack on Foy. They had 100m from the trees to run before they could be seen from the town, but had zero cover as you can see.

Pic 5 I placed beside the famous photo of the Church in Foy. To get the same angle i would either be in someone's house or middle of the street.
Pic 6 street signs

 

[NAA]

Thanks for posting. I was there in May 2009 with a couple former work buddy's. There used to be a guy in Bastogne, ex Belgian military, that used to offer a full day battlefield tour taking groups about in a vintage WWII era "deuce and a half". Not sure if he's still there or does it but it was well worth it. Been to & stood in the same places in your pics.

The book "The Battered Bastards of Bastogne" by George Koskimaki is a good read after having visited.

---------
NAA.

 

[Nestor]

Thank you. That's my plan for retirement. Tour all the WW1, WW2 places.

 

[hsatimmy]

Thanks for posting. I was there in May 2009 with a couple former work buddy's. There used to be a guy in Bastogne, ex Belgian military, that used to offer a full day battlefield tour taking groups about in a vintage WWII era "deuce and a half". Not sure if he's still there or does it but it was well worth it. Been to & stood in the same places in your pics.

The book "The Battered Bastards of Bastogne" by George Koskimaki is a good read after having visited.

---------
NAA.

unfortunately due to covid a lot of the private services like that are not running. That would have been a great experience, I wish we could have arranged something like that. I had to get a Belgium-only covid-safe-ticket so I could even enter museums etc, but it took about 10 days to come in so we lost a chunk of time.

Fort Breendonk was where we started our journey. I figured starting at a concentration camp would be the most appropriate place to start, seeing as war, especially ww2 was not just glory and great stories. There were a lot of exhibits on actual prisoners, with a lot of photos and accounts directly from journals and books that surfaced after liberation or published after the war. Very surreal experience. I was unaware of the history due to it being a transit camp, but it was a gestapo/SS run prison where beatings were constant, and torture was a daily thing. Dark and Dingy rooms, miserable experience. 3 high-2 wide bunks, 16+ per room. Absolutely no airflow. We passed the gallows and where the firing squad operated.

We saw a brand new thing from April 2020. a statue outside the front entrance between gates, showing the resistance and fighting spirit of the Belgian people fighting in occupation and tyranny. I thought it was very well done.


184 souls were taken via firing squad.
23 souls were taken via hanging
94 souls were taken via deprivation, torture, beatings or harsh conditions.

Of 3600 known prisoners, more than half did not survive the war. Majority were sent to other camps to be exterminated.

There was a memorial room in the beginning with every name inscribed in the wall. There were identified ashes in the middle of the room with names on their containers from a specific death camp (specific one escapes me right now)

There were wreaths of poppies in a closed doorway in the room from Canada, as well as flowers from the UK and USA lining others.

This museum had one display of two mannequins with uniforms, one of which had a K98 stamped 237 - 1939

 

[hsatimmy]

Bastogne War memorial and monument was the major stop on our latest journey. We spent 3+ hours inside and i took over 500 photos inside and roughly 40 minutes at / on top of the monument itself. Inside you are given a wireless audio guide with headphones. It tracks very well and did not skip or cut out.

The exhibits started with world war one, ascending to hyperinflation in Germany, the great depression, the rise of the Nazis and Hitler, The Olympics, the invasion of Poland through to D-day. From there we view a presentation about what reporters were shown on June 5th 1944. There is a large amount of items from food and drinks and music to propaganda from both sides, as well as toys and pamphlets, medals and a signed copy of Mein Kampf.

From there we see uniforms, weapons, vehicles and items from day-to-day life. All while being lead aurally by journals, books or quotes from people who lived during the time.
There was a surprising number of small arms inside the exhibits. The Americans had many Garands, with 1-2 of majority of their arsenal.

My goal was to take photos of any visible stamps or identifying marks on the firearms, but the exhibits were so underlit, and the glass was too reflective at times. maybe 30%+ turned out a blurry undiscernible mess. Half of the Garands' barrels were visibly plugged, whereas i don't remember seeing almost any other firearm visually disabled from the outside.

From memory:

USA: M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, M1 Carbine Para, M1903 Springfield (wasn't labelled as to which model), grease gun, M1A1 Thompson, M1911, BAR, Bazooka, Browning 1919

Springfield M1 Garand, serial number 1693982. Some minor pitting through the finish.


Nazis: Radom pistol, P38, Luger, K98, K98k, MP40, FG42, MG34, MG42, G41, G43

USSR: Tokarev, PPSH, M44, SVT40




There were some battlefield relics as well.


There were a good number of vehicles there as well. A Kubelwagen, german motorcycle, USA motorcycle, Willys Jeep, several tanks and an armoured german.

In the end of the museum they had a hallway with various anti personnel or vehicle mines in the floor under your feet in glass. There was two exhibits you could borderline touch (obviously not to respect the artifacts), placed right in the middle of the hallway.

ZB-53, Vz.37 marked 1025 and in paint on top - 103. Selector was in RAPID mode

 

[hsatimmy]

 

[hsatimmy]

 

[hsatimmy]

The gift shop was incredibly tasteful. A lot of 101st airborne swag and various insignia, hats of all types, tons of Patton swag including a Patton beer, NUTS! Swag and signage.

A metal bastogne city sign rusted and mocked up to look like the famous one from the photos, was 336 eu's. Most items were not expensive for what they were. There was also 2eu postcards so I got one

3D wood plaques were only 15-19 EU, hats were 15-19 EU, shirts were 20. Lots of books and various 1940's era Americana type.

 

[hsatimmy]

Thank you. That's my plan for retirement. Tour all the WW1, WW2 places.

https: //www.joedemadio.com/the-real-band-of-brothers-foxholes-locations-in-foy-bastogne/

Thats the website i used to find them. If you zoom out on the map you can see 4+ sites in Bastogne itself plus 5+ around Foy

 

[nitroxace]

Outstanding thread. Thank you for sharing. Some very powerful photos.

 

[QM 8687]

Nuts. Looks like your having a good time visiting Ardennes. Thanks for the pics.

 

[fingers284]

Thank you for this...now I'm going to have to get my B o B dvd's out and watch again. I find the "Bulge" episodes the hardest to watch because of the added weather misery on top of the war brutalness itself. The boys could hide somewhat from the war dangers but not the cold, the cold was constant.

 

[Nestor]

https: //www.joedemadio.com/the-real-band-of-brothers-foxholes-locations-in-foy-bastogne/

Thats the website i used to find them. If you zoom out on the map you can see 4+ sites in Bastogne itself plus 5+ around Foy

Thank you.

 

[M1-Garand]

Thanks for posting.

If you get a chance visit the Canada and Poland war museum in Maldegem, close to Antwerp.
Very impressive, my wife and I visited 10 years ago.

 

[VanIsleCam]

Thanks for posting - I enjoyed reading the thread.

 

[Coyote Ugly]

Thanks for posting.

 

[hsatimmy]

https://imgur.com/gallery/A1oO6Jp

Posted some photos online.

Some short galleries of animals I saw at zoo's, some ww2 related content

Big gallery for Jack's wood and 2 part gallery for Bastogne war memorial

 

[haaguen]

Great photos, thanks for sharing!

 

[beltfed]

I find the "Bulge" episodes the hardest to watch because of the added weather misery on top of the war brutalness itself. The boys could hide somewhat from the war dangers but not the cold, the cold was constant.

As I recall from the history of the timeline, the average temperature ranged from +5c to -5c, so not so much the cold as much as the fact the troops were ill equipped for the weather, being kitted out with little to no winter gear.

 

[9.3 Hunter]

Great trip! Take in Battered Bastards 4 sure! Thx 4 the posting, good read + pics.