Bastogne and Hurtgen Forest tour 2009

crete! it is nice there john,and I,m sure you'll enjoy it if you manage to get there,the old u.s.base and all,ray.

 

more great photos John,

was there any info on the crew, as to what happened to them when the sherman was knocked out?

 

Great picutres, it make sme really want to go back there. Last time I wa sin the area I focusse son the Eupen region , but due to lack of time had to skip Bastogne itself

 

No mention of their fate, but the anti tank round which disabled the tank looks to have entered the engine compartment. So maybe the crew were lucky and escaped.

 

Time was also against us. We only had one full day in Bastogne, which meant we couldn't spend as much time as we would have liked to in each place we visited.

 

If you want to truly feel the experience you have to do the Bastogne Memorial Walk... preferably in winter time with harsh temperature and wind ...
But it's nice in the spring / summer / fall as well, and the Eifel Region is truly beautiful.

Some photos I made during the walk last year

I live not so far from there, in Bitburg.

 

Fantastic photos, Trud3r.

Love the shot of the Schwimmwagen on page 2, I've always fancied owning one of those things.

 

I agree....the true way to reenact to get the realism. Brrrrrr.

 

This is the german military cemetery in the village of Recogne, which is a few miles north of Bastogne.





The cemetery was initally the resting place for both american and german soldiers until 1947. The US personels reamains were then either repatriated to the US or reinterred at american military cemeteries in europe.

Today, some 6,807 german soldier are buried in the cemetery with ages ranging from 17 to 52.

 

Firstly, I'll second that - great 'report' as always, John !

And the tank ? Well, as usual - there's a book on it !

'The Sherman At McAuliffe Square In Bastogne : The True Story' by Jacques Degive, Robert Fergloute and Roger Marquet ( Ed. Cercle d'Histoire de Bastogne 1999 ).

It's one of those truly remarkable, privately-researched little books and tells the whole story of the tank, which was knocked out by the Fuhrer-Begleit Brigade.

The crew were : -

Commander : Staff. Sgt. Wallace Alexander
Driver : Tech. Sgt. Andrew Urda
Gunner : Cpl Cecil Peterman
Loader : PfC Dage Hebert
Bow Gunner : PfC Ivan Goldstein.

Sadly, Wallace Alexander died of his injuries on January 10th 1945. The others survived and Ivan Goldstein was reunited with his old tank as a result of the research carried out for the book.

 

Good show, Martin. Thanks for the info.

After Bastogne we moved on to Germany's Hurtgen Forest for the remainder of our holiday.

This is a german bunker that formed part of Hitler's West Wall. After its capture, it was blown by US engineers to prevent it being used again.

The interior

 

Superb pics - I have yet to get to see any of the Westwall bunkers.....

 

more great pics john, and you too trud3r....i like those alot!

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good info martin


.

 

Most of the casualties American or German from the Battle of the Bulge and the following days that fell in Luxembourg are laid in 2 big cemeteries near Hamm. The two cemeteries are really close to each other (like 3 kilometers)

Germans








Americans








You can view all the photos Here .


General Patton is laid there too, as he wished for, the only difference made for him was that they put his tomb out of the usual lines so the neighbors won't be disturbed too much by the visitors .
I looked also for the 'Band of Brothers' paratroopers and the Medals Oh Honor (only got 2 out of 3 though).

If you go to page 4 you will have some other shots of Luxembourg , Colleville, and a little German Cemetery located in Holsthum that is along the border with Luxembourg, that one is almost abandoned and obviously nobody takes a good care of it unfortunately. (all my photos are located on the map)

 

While searching for the Westwall bunkers, we came across these memorials to both US and german soldiers, whose remains were found after the war.

The first one is for two US and one (unidentified) german soldier. The wording on the stone states that they were all found in a common grave on 12th May 1976.





The second memorial we found is to PFC Robert Cahow.

Robert, who was a member of K-Company, 311th regiment of the 78th US Infantry Division, was reported as MIA on 13th December 1944. He lay were he died until April 2000 when a german army engineering unit which was sweeping the forest for live wartime ordnance, discovered his body after detecting the live grenades that he had been carrying.

Robert's remains were later returned to the United States for burial.





The memorial on the spot were Robert was discovered.

 

Thank you so much for all these pics, please keep them coming.



Look at the forest, this must've been HELL to fight in......

 

German slit trenches, that lead from one foxhole to another, are all around the bunkers. Some go on for hundreds of yards.

 

Another Westwall bunker. This one is on a hill above the picturesque village of Simonskall.

Note the well preserved camouflage paint.






The village of Simonskall.


A view over the Hurtgen Forest.

 

i am looking myself to make a trip this winter to bastogne and camp out in a foxhole in the forest for a couple days anybody know how this can be arranged or wants to join
please post back

 

I would like to visit Bastogne in the winter myself, but i'd have to draw the line at camping in a foxhole.

I suspect the local authorities and landowners would also take a dim view of such an activity.

I'd rather stay on the local campsite or in a nice warm hotel room.