Historical Route Bastogne 6

The Historical Route Bastogne is a route surrounding Bastogne with 15 information boards.

On December 20, 1944, the first confrontation between a unit of the Panzer Lehr (which further encircled Bastogne) and Company C of the Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne and the O’Hara team took place.

Coming from the woods of Marenwez, the Germans repeatedly try to take the burning village and on Christmas Eve reached the brook that cuts the village in two.

As a result of the American troop movements, the 6th Armored Division was finally able to clear the area.

The civilian population in the village and the surrounding area, tossed back and forth between the fighting parties, paid a heavy toll in human lives as they tried to escape the fighting.

American veteran Leo LeBlanc, who has since became a citizen of Bastogne, spent Christmas night in the barn of the Nisen farm. He remembered a bomb that, without exploding, went through the thick wall and deafened him for a moment. In 1999, he met American pilots who bombed the village and came face to face with the men who nearly killed him.

The village is liberated on January 9, 1945.

To reach information board 7
Make your way through the village and continue along the road until you reach the last houses (to the right) and a farm (to the left). Take the cemented road towards the right to the crossroads. Go towards the left, past Lutrebois and continue on towards Lutremagne. In this village, follow the direction to Villers-La-Bonne-Eau and pull over close to the church.

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Source

• Text: Historische Route Bastogne
• Photos: Barry van Veen