After a super week - a real 'dream' vacation ! Saw too much to list, but 'did' the huge militaria fair at Arlon ( a bagfull of cheap militaria ! ), the Poteau '44 Museum ( 'then & now' photos of the ambush site ), Hill 504 at Schoeneberg ( found a Garand trigger and sear spring plus chunks of shrapnel ), US artillery positions at Bleialf, the REAL 'Band of Brothers' foxholes in the woods between Foy and Bizory, foxholes and MG positions in the woods five minutes' walk from where we were staying - which was a 17th Century cottage opposite the Chateau de Commanster which was, at various times, Command Post of both Gerd von Rundstedt and General Bruce Clarke. And on our last morning the chateau owner presented me with a shell driving band dug up in the grounds....yep, a real 'buffs' week !
No video or digital I'm afraid, guys! But my 35mm plus flash worked hard - my wife became quite fed up with taking photos of me in this foxhole, that MG position, in front of the King Tiger at La Gleize, standing where the surrendered US troops shuffled past the King Tiger on the road to Lanzerath.....
Martin--and please let us see some of them. We get to see so littel on these actual places. My friend Juerg posted a Pic of the Tiger at La Gleize. He was sitting on its turret--or as the German tank crews called them--Citadels.
That sounds VERY cool, I love it when you go to these places and can actually stand in the middle of where famous things happen, in the middle of photographs etc. I remember when I walked along sword beach, looking around and thinking 'I am standing in the middle of that scene from that footage' and actually when I went to Arromances with my school people thought I got weird when I stood staring at a chunk of wall that I have seen a photo of a Churchill climbing. I hope you can get some of the photos on here, scan them or something maybe? Failing that if you like I can stick them up on one of my web sites for you. Actually my re-enactment group is organising a 'war walk' through the Ardennes along KG Piepers route. Nice to have you back, though I suspect I am right in thinking you wish you were still there.
Yes, this time round I read quite deeply about the various engagements and took all my guidebooks along, so was able to find much more than I ever had before. The KG Peiper walk would be fascinating - last week we visited KG Peiper sites at Lanzerath, Stavelot, Petit Spai, Trois Ponts and La Gleize. There's still much to find with many buildings around Stavelot bearing bullet holes. But on the other hand, I bought a copy of the book 'Ardennes '44 - Stavelot' which goes into much detail about the sufferings of civilians many of whom were caught in crossfire - or worse - so it's not all 'battle glory'. In fact the Ardennes as a whole was a very bitter and ruthless fight. And I can't begin to imagine what spending a night in one of those foxholes in way sub-zero temperatures can have been like; many men just quietly froze to death. All in all, I was thankful just to be a 'battlefield tourist'.....
Martin, did your dearest carry those heavy guide books for you ? I left a message a couple of years ago describing flugzeugführer Oskar Bösch's epic flight on 23 December 1944 over the ardenne where his group decimated 2 B-26 bomb groups. Oskar's Fw 190's engine in a word shut down and he lost fuel. Attacked by a P-47, Oskar rolled his heavy Fw 190A-8 over and bailed out at less than 1000 feet into some tall fir trees covered with snow. The countryside was almost featureless due to all the accumulation of snow. Hillsides looked almost flat from where he was. He cut off his chute and tried his best to down climb but fell some 50-60 feet from the ground and thnakful for him fell into over 10 feet of soft snow. Terrible time getting out and this was the coldest temps he had ever faced trying to dig out with his bare hands and wearing a summer weight leather flying jacket as upper covering. Fortunatly for him several German soldiers came to his aide and rescued him and carried his prized chute down to a village some 2-3 miles away along a long, dark cold road. Yes it was cold in the Ardenne ! ~E
That's one reason a car is essential to see the Ardennes - to carry all the guidebooks and battlefield relics.... I have as yet read very little about the Ardennes air war - I have Danny Parker's book which I know has been critically received but is, I think, the only one available in English. But I'll confess that, to me, the real drama of the Ardennes lies with the ground forces.
Bringing back those relics really has to be something Martin ! Yes for the Ardenne the ground forces really have had some excellent coverage, but I can tell you much happened in the way of aerial combat as well. parkers book is good for the US point of view which he went in depth with and then he used Werner Girbigs book, 6 months to Oblivion as his major source for German Luftwaffe accounts. As Stevin knows so well, the Dawn Attack by Putz/Manhro will be an incredible book covering much of the air-campaign in the Ardenne besdides Bodenplatte on 1-1-45. Also much of the Luftwaffe Nigh fighter force was active dealing with vicious night ground attacks over railway crossing, roads and any connecting points of interest they could find. For the month of December 44 the German nf's lost more a/c and men than any other month of the war, so needed they were that any and all experienced could be called to night bomb Allied positions and thus suffer for it. Some day I'll make it over....... ~E
