Pics: In Peiper's footsteps (La Gleize-Cheneux)

... another shot of the bridge. The small country lane which was used by the battlegroup to by-pass the blown bridge is clearly visible to the left.

 

Hullscheid

Just across the border, inside Belgium, lies Hullscheid where this picture of an abandoned U.S. 3-inch ATk gun, belonging to the Cavalry Group that covered the area, was taken near the church.

 

Lanzerath, monument of I&R Platoon, 394th Infantry, 99th U.S. Inf Division

The gallant stand of 1st Lt. Lyle Bouck and his handfull of men of the I&R platoon, 394th Infantry, at Lanzerath is commemorated with a little monument halfway up the slope to his position.




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Looking down from the monument on to the main road running north out of Lanzerath. The road was used by the marching column of German Fallschirmjäger. The Fallschirmjäger had no knowledge of the locations of the US positions in their assault sector. They arrived very late in their assembly area and were not allowed to conduct any reconnaissance out of secrecy. As a result their advance was a 'move to contact' down the roads leading into the so-called Losheim Gap.

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Looking up towards the woodsline which was occupied by Bouck's men. On clear days you really have a grandstand view from the woods edge of the upper valley of the Our River, which has its source at Losheimergraben, and the long ridge of the Schnee Eifel, rising up on the opposite bank. The weather was rainy during my visit, with low clouds and limited visibility, but this gave the pictures a little authentic atmosphere, though the snow is missing. The border area, which is part of high elevated ground called Hautes Fagnes (up to 700 metres), was covered by a thin sheet of snow on the opening day of the German offensive. Further westwards, where the ground is lower, there was no snow yet, as can be seen on the pictures.
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The text on the I&R monument

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Honsfeld



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Interesting story, Martin and thanks Pistol for further information.

 

Not far from this location, a few dozen meters or so down the road towards Büllingen, another picture was taken of looting German paratroopers:

 

Panzer Rollbahn D between Schoppen - Ondenval

Even nowadays the route taken by KG Peiper between Schoppen and Ondenval is almost too small to travel by car. This must be one of the stretches of way that Peiper said was fit only for small vehicles and bicycles. It is hard to imagine how the 25km long road convoy of 800 vehicles which was "Kampf-Gruppe Peiper" could be expected to use a country lane like this. The narrow road must have been completely churned up after the leading tanks had passed, leaving an impossible bog for the wheeled vehicles in the rear of the column.

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Another view of the Panzer Rollbahn D
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After some time the small paved lane becomes a small dirt trail before it picks up a paved road again hard east of Ondenval, where it is called Rue des Haies Brulées ... impossible to continue by car.

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I've run out of 'likes' for your posts, pistol ! Excellent 'then & nows' including many locations I've yet to visit. Great stuff......

 

Thank you Martin! If I only knew how to properly add pictures to this site. The upload capacity is very limited even for thumbnails.

 

Baugnez, Crossroads of Death (Malmedy Massacre)

The Baugnez Crossroads to the southeast of Malmedy, site of the notorious massacre of the American POW's of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. To my horror - haven't visited the area since the early '80-ies - the crossroads site has significantly changed. It now is a bussiness park with ugly, low class industrial buildings, completely ruining the authentic atompshere that still existed during my last visit.



Attached a picture of the Field of Death (or massacre field). On the opposite side of the road, hidden behind the large barracks, is the Baugnez Monument.

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The US Monument. The wall contains small plates with the names of the men that died in the massacre.

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The Field of Death just after the area had been retaken by the U.S. troops in January 1945. The bodies of the murdered US soldiers in the field are still covered by the snow.



Attached the plaque on the monument.

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I decided to take a picture of all the names on the wall of the Baugnez monument and put them on the site; photographed them from right to left.

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