Bastogne

February 2nd I set off my grand tour of Europe. It would include 13 cities total, including Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, the D-Day Beaches, Vienna, Berlin, and London in a total of 34 days. See my previous blog My plan for the 2.5 month semester break to view a rough itinerary.

Also that was the first link I have successfully made. Pretty proud.

My first stop on my tour of Europe was a little town called Bastogne, Belgium. If you have seen Band of Brothers, you probably know exactly what I am talking about. If you have not seen Band of Brothers, or don't really study History, then you probably said "Huh, wheres that?" so which I say "See above, Belgium"

But why go there?

So basically, when the Germans launched what we know was the Battle of the Bulge, they ended up encircling the Americans in and around Bastogne. There was very heavy fighting within the city and the woods surrounding it, as depicted in Band of Brothers. The city, although it is tiny, has 3 great museums on the Battle of the Bulge that I wanted to check out, so I was here from the night of February 2nd to the Morning of February 6th. It was sort of Unfortunate because Mid December-Mid January was the 70th anniversary of the Battle, so I was there just after everyone else was and all the big events were on, but at the same time it was kind of nice because that meat I basically had every museum to myself.

Getting there was sort of hell since it is in the middle of no where and its not the most popular place for people to get there. I had to take 4 trains and a bus to get there from Munich, and I missed a couple of connections so it ended up taking me 11 hours or something ridiculous like that to get there. And by the time I had gotten there around 7pm, having not eaten since about 630 am I was starving, but apparently everything on Mondays in Belgium is closed, including the hotel restaurant, so I starved. But whatever I was tired and just went to bed.

So the next morning I woke up and was surprised to find an amazing breakfast buffet down in the hotel lobby. Eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries, rolls, meats, vegetables, fruit, coffee, juice. So that was great and the staff was really nice.

When I was done I headed out to the first, and largest museum, the Bastogne War Museum. This is the Museum that is situated outside the memorial you've probably seen before and have had no idea what it is for. It's called the Mardasson Memorial, and it looks like this.

It has the name of the 50 States going around the top with all the divisions in the battle going down the support columns in the middle

Like this. Here you can see the 28th Infantry Division, which is the Division that my Grandfather's brother was a part of during the battle of the Bulge. He was taken POW by the Germans in Luxembourg, not too far from Bastogne. He survived the War in Stalag 9b-Bad Orb, near Frankfurt, but came out of the camp in rough shape. His Regiment, the 110th, gets a lot of credit in the museums in Bastogne  for holding off the Germans long enough for the Americans to figure out what is going on and getting reinforcements to the area

The memorial from above, clearly making a star

There is also this Screaming Eagle, a monument to the 101st Airborne Division, who were the men depicted in Band of Brothers. You can see the memorial in the background

The museum next to the memorial was amazing. It had everything you could possibly imagine from weapons, uniforms, vehicles, equipment, and of course, original weapons used in the battle that were dug up in the surrounding area. This museum was built within the last 5 years, and what I have noticed is that all of the newer museums are really trying to put you in the moment and in the environment, which I find really cool. That's what this museum did

So this is one of the rooms. You sit on the logs down below

This is what it looks like from the log. It recreates what it would have looked like sitting in a  foxhole in the woods surrounding Bastogne, and then they simulate a firefight with flashes, smoke, and of course bangs and noises and all that stuff. Also, the Battle of the Bulge famously was really cold and snowing, so this room was freezing. It was a really cool experience

They've done it again here, this time with a French Cafe. People walk by the windows and vehicles drive by. It was all quite cool and really well done.

I know this is a bad photo, but at one point there is a simulated bombing of the cafe in the photo above, and the whole stage shifts up and this basement scene comes up from under the floor, and you watch the scene of the basement unfold during the bombing

So overall I have to say that this was one the best museums I have ever been to. I think I spent 6 hours here or something ridiculous like that, despite the fact that it is only 2 floors.

Also outside the museum is a Borne, which is a marker that indicates the route the allies took during their liberation of Europe.The route, known as Liberty Road, is 1146 kilometers long, and at each kilometer there is a Borne marker. The route stretches from Utah Beach in Normandy, and terminates outside the museum in Bastogne. I later got to see the one at Utah Beach too, so it was cool to see the start and beginning of the route, even though I did it backwards, seeing the last marker first and the first marker last. But you take what you can get.

This is the last Borne in Bastogne

The first Borne at Utah Beach, note: "KM 00" on the top

The next day I went to a museum called the Bastogne Barracks. This is where the 101st Airborne division had their headquarters as well as a medical area and some other things during the Battle of the Bulge. This is when going during the off season has its advantages, because normally you get a group tour of the place, but I was the only one there, so I got a personal tour. For this reason I don't have photos of anything here because I thought it to be pretty rude to be snapping photos while this guy was giving me his full attention telling me about the history and everything. If you want to see it, you can just google it. But it was really cool. During the Battle of the Bulge, the German Field Marshall demanded that the 101st Airborne surrender. General McAullife of the 101st Airborne famously replied "To the German Commander: NUTS! The American Commander." So I got to see where General McAullife sent this message from and where his headquarters was.

The phrase "NUTS!" made McAullife a legend, and is wicked famous in Bastogne. The people there absolutely adore him for it

Here is a bust of him in the town square. In the background on the right, if you zoom in, you can see a place called "Le Nuts Cafe"

Did I eat there? Is that even a question?

They are well known around town for this beer

They serve it to you with a little ceramic helmet to pour your beer into. They do this because a guy from the 101st Airborne got shot during the battle, and was wicked thirsty, but had nothing to drink. So his buddy took his helmet, went into town, and filled it up with beer and brought it back to his wounded friend. He proceeded to do this 3 times. So now this Cafe serves their Airborne Beer in a little helmet. Thought that was pretty cool

PS, McAullife's bust is right next to this restored M4 Sherman Tank

The day after the Bastogne Barracks museum, I went to the 101st Airborne Museum, which was of course dedicated to the 101st Airborne Division. This museum talked about my Pepere's Brother's Regiment, so that was really cool. But the highlight of the exhibit was in the basement, where they had set up a mock up of a battle in the basement of a typical Bastogne house, an aid station, as well as a cellar where you experience a simulated bombardment of the city, which was really intense.

Going down into the cellar

The mock  up of the battle

The extremely well detailed aid station in the basement. They even when as far as having splinters of bone sticking out of this guys leg

Here is an audio, and sort of visual, of the simulated bombardment. It was pretty intense, and this video doesn't really do it justice, but oh well

I almost  forgot. The same day I went to the Bastogne War Museum, they have a special exhibition at another location currently dedicated to Texas A&M. Wait what? Random, but cool.

It basically followed the stories of 5 graduates from Texas A&M who went on to fight in the war in Europe, one of whom was Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder, who commanded the 2nd Ranger Battalion, which assaulted Pointe Du Hoc on DDay. I went there during my DDay Beaches tour, so more on that later, and read that blog if you are interested.

The museum told the history of Texas A&M, specifically the history of the Corps of Cadets. Thanks to this, I now know more about Texas A&M than was ever necessary. They a couple of mock rooms as well though, which I always like.

A mock of the barracks during the 40's at Texas A&M

A recruiting depot

A mock study area at Texas A&M

However, one the highlights of the Bastogne came towards the end. My hotel was nice enough to lend me a bicycle so I could ride out to the outskirts of Bastogne to see the woods where the battles took place, as well as the city of Racogne, where there is a German war cemetery for those who fell during the battle.

Disaster ensued

First of all it was freezing and I did not have gloves or hats. This is obviously a problem when traveling at fast speed on a bike. Don't worry though, because when you are so numb that you can't feel your hands or ears or face, there is no pain to complain about.

On top of this, there was snow and ice everywhere on the path that I had to ride out to the woods and Racogne. It was wicked bumpy and my bike essentially had no suspension, so it was quite uncomfortable. It is amazing difficult to ride through snow with a street bicycle, and my journey for the day was 18km, so my legs were on fire. But that's not even the best part. I was riding my bike from the woods of Bastogne to Racogne. I was heading down this long downhill road going about 20 mph, when I hit a patch of sloped ice and ate shit. Sorry for the language, but that is the best way to describe it. No other word does it justice. So I went flying off the bike. But god was looking out for me because I basically just did a baseball slide down the rest of the ice for about 15 feet before I stopped. It didn't hurt a bit, the bike was fine, my clothes were fine, so all was good. Thankfully there wasn't a car behind me to run me over or anyone watching to laugh at me.

But despite the misery of the bike ride, it was worth it. 

Here is a memorial to the men of Easy Company from Band of Brothers. You can see the names of the men on  the left who died, some of whom are depicted in the movie, famously Donald Hoobler, who was killed when a Luger pistol he had in his pocket went off, hitting him in the leg

A sign in front of the woods where Easy Company was entrenched

The actual woods. The Bastogne woods are known for being artificial, planted in rows, and you can sort of see that here

You can see several foxholes where the men of the 101st Airborne were dug in during the battle, here is one overlooking the road which I crashed my bike on. Of course I sat in it to get the perspective that they would have had. I'm weird like that. Ps the photo doesn't do it justice, but it was actually a lot deeper than it looks. When I crouched my head was barely above the ground

Here is the sign for the town of Foy, which where a good sized battle happens during Band of Brothers

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Here is the German war cemetery at Racogne. Each of these crosses represents 4 soldiers, and this is just a small view of it. There are actually about 7000 soldier interred here

And that was it for my trip to Bastogne. On February 6th I hopped on a train for Amsterdam. Bastogne was a really cool place. Tons of history, lots of places to eat and shop, everyone is really friendly, especially towards Americans, and really accommodating with English. It was a great place to visit!