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The Battle of the Bulge....
We decided that we'd go see Bastogne and see if there was anything happening
on a Sunday (it's often very quiet on a Sunday as there is virtually no
Sunday trading in France - well, apart from it seems that they've recently
relented and allowed some shops to open on a Sunday morning) - anyway.... off
to Bastogne. For any of you that have seen it Bastogne was the centre of a
fierce 3 month battle and is highlighted on "Band of Brothers" the CBS
series, itwas in the middle of Winter (December to February) where the
Germans pushed, the Americans pushed and they raced to secure Bastogne as a
strategic point.
The village its self has a few tanks in it but just out of town there is the
most impressive war memorial we have ever seen (and rightly so when you
realise that there were over 26,000 Americans killed, missing or wounded in
the battle - there are no stats on the Belgiums or Germans killed........).
The memorial is a large 5 pointed star (see the photos because description is
going to be difficult) which you can get on the roof of and see all the
surrounding area - around the inside of the centre are 10 tablets of stone
inscription describing the battle...... these tablets are probably 25feet
high!
When we'd done wandering around the memorial we headed to a small village not
far away called "Foy" on the way there we passed a small memorial to "Easy"
Company of the 101st Airbourne next to the woods that they were holed up in
with virtually no support, low on food, ammunition and in temperatures down
as low as -28degrees C on a night......... that must have been hell. They we
cut off and fought until the weather cleared enough for the Airforce to do a
parachute drop of fresh supplies in to them. It was all very interesting and
quite moving.
A totally different day to our usual and one which provoked a lot of
reflection on wars etc..
Bye for now
Ian and Claire
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