Do you want to visit the fields, forests and foxholes of the Battle of the Bulge? Walk along railway embankments where enemy soldiers could hear each other’s whispers just over the tracks? After the invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge is recognized as the most significant offensive of the European Theater of World War II. Most of the historic sites of the Battle of the Bulge lie between the Belgium city of Liege and Luxembourg.
Here are the historic sites, which we include on our Battle of the Bulge expeditions…
#1- Military Cemeteries, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg:
You will get an opportunity to pay respects at two of these three American Cemeteries… the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, located in a tiny village of Hombourg near Liege. Nearly 8000 soldiers and airmen lie here; most were killed in combat during the fighting in the Ardennes and northern Germany. At Margraten, the American Cemetery of the Netherlands, over 8300 of our military dead are buried, most were casualties of Operation Market-Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The American Cemetery in Luxembourg, a tranquil sloping landscape with over 5,000 alabaster crosses, is General Patton’s final resting place.
#2- Malmedy and Baugnez Memorial, Belgium:
Located just outside of Malmedy, Belgium, the massacre at the Baugnez Crossroads is commemorated in a memorial that contains the names of the eighty-seven unarmed American soldiers who were gunned down by a fierce Nazi SS Panzer division on December 17, 1944. Nearby, the Baugnez’44 Historical Museum has two floors of artifacts with a recorded history of the massacre. Today, Malmedy is a peaceful Belgium vacation town, but the residents have not forgotten the atrocity and blood shed for their liberation from Nazi tyranny.
#3- Saint Vith, Houffalize, Vielsalm, Elsenborn Ridge:
Crucial battlefield points – During the Ardennes Offensive, these small villages were heavily bombed, liberated, recaptured and finally secured by the determined Americans. As time and weather dictate, you will visit and explore the route along the North shoulder of the Bulge.
#4- Diekirch Museum, Luxembourg:
Crafted largely from the personal collection of Luxembourg’s acclaimed Bulge historian Roland Gaul, this museum’s collection is exceptional. The museum provides hand held listening devices that allows you to set your own pace, studying firearms and weapons, uniforms, communication equipment and much more.
#5- Bastogne, Belgium:
Bastogne is considered as the historical center for the Battle of the Bugle. The Mardasson Monument, erected and dedicated by the people of Belgium, honors the liberation of their country by the American liberators. In the interior of the massive granite star-shaped monument, you’ll move from panel to panel, reading about the Battle of the Bulge. The exterior identifies the hundreds of military regiments, battalions and divisions that fought. Next to the monument, the newly refurbished Bastogne Historical Center provides a timeline of the Bulge and includes vignettes and voices of the battle.
Dog Tag Tours plans unique expeditions to the battle sites of the Battle of Bulge in the Ardennes. Our historians, all US Veterans, share the legacy of the WWII soldiers who fought in this deadly conflict while our local colleagues and partners add details about their countrymen who suffered under the Nazi occupation and were witnesses to liberation.
For getting more information about the WWII Battlefield Tours, please contact us by email info@dogtagtours.com.
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