There were several goals when I decided to take this trip: see the
Normandy Beaches and walk in the ocean where American troops came
ashore; see the town of Bastogne, walk the woods where the Battle of the
Bulge took place, and overlook the town of Foy just as the men of Easy
Company did so many years ago; see the Concentration Camp at Dachau; visit the birthplace of Nazism - the town of Munich; and then visit the Eagles' Nest and take
in that building and the magnificent view of the Bavarian Alps.
So
I have briefly written about the town of Bastogne and there is so much more to be
said. I have read book after book on the trials and struggles that took
place there, so when I actually visited it it was overwhelming.
Unfortunately, our time there was short and we didn't have enough time
to really "get into" the town and uncover its stories. I would love to
return some day to spend more time there. I would pick several more
places to include (the cemeteries, more areas of the Normandy beaches,
more of the Brecourt Manor area, and the 82d ABN. operations at
Sainte-Mere-Eglise) and would set up my own time schedule. But that was
not the case this time. This tour did its job, though, and whetted my
appetite.
So, now on to the Ardennes Forest, and speciffically the Bois Jacques woods, just a few kilometers to the north of Bastogne. When you look at these pictures, you havce to remember these trees are not the ones that were there during the battle. All of those were destroyed. These that you see have either regrown or been replanted. Our group got there just a short while before dark, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. I have spent a great deal of time in thick pine forests during my Army years, and I can tell you that at night, it is literally impossible to see your hand in front of your face. Even the light of a full moon doesn't penetrate these canopies. As we walked the area, there were lots of broken branches on the sides of trees, and they had very sharp, pointed ends on them. I'm sure there were quite a few injuries from tree limb jabs during the Soldiers stay there.
In the next few pictures, you can see the remains of some of the foxholes that were dug in this woods. Some of them are pretty shallow as the dirt and Mother Nature (and tourists) have filled them in. I'm not sure if these sites were used in the making of the HBO mini-series, "Band of Brothers" or not. I actually got down into the foxhole shown below and looked down toward the Town of Foy, trying to get the feel of what those guys were looking at, were feeling. Of course, it obviously wasn't cold out and there weren't people shooting at me.
These pictures below were just some of the other foxholes throughout the area. The one picture with all of the little crosses was rather interesting. There were so many of them, I don't know if this was a group that placed them there, or it it is supposed to represent maybe the number of men killed and/or wounded here. I may have to try to look up some figures on this.
There were all different sizes of foxholes, but I'm sure that those guys weren't real thrilled with the size of any of them during those artillery barrages. I remember the feeling of some mortars in the desert and the sound of a few incoming (but far enough away) and outgoing artillery rounds, but none of them were right on top of me. My dad was in the Army artillery and he said of the shrapnel didn't kill you, the concussion would. These two pictures were taken from the edge of the line, overlooking the town of Foy. It is hard to see the buildings in the town where the Germans were holding the intersection of two roads, but the pictures below will show them to you. I wish I had taken my field glasses (binoculars) so I could have gotten a more authentic look at the town.
In these two pictures, you can still see some of the bullet holes around the windows. This is really similar to the bullet holes we saw when we were on a "Battle Book" trip to Italy and were near the town of Pisa. We came up along a street by a river and there were houses pretty much right on the street, no sidewalks. There were also basement windows around the foundation and each of the windows were still pock marked with bullet holes. After seeing all those battle scars, the fury of battles really jumps out at you.
I know these pictures don't portray much at this epic battle, but maybe some of the links below will give you a better idea of what I saw. The tour company, Beyond the Band of Brothers, laid this segment out very well, and we had a local docent who was steeped in the history of this area and very professionally took us through the town of Bastogne, the HQ of the 101st, and the Bois Jacques area, including the area in the town of Foy. If you are interested in this segment of military history and would like to get a small, introductory view of the battles and areas, I highly recomment this trip (once this Covid crap passes).
There were all different sizes of foxholes, but I'm sure that those guys weren't real thrilled with the size of any of them during those artillery barrages. I remember the feeling of some mortars in the desert and the sound of a few incoming (but far enough away) and outgoing artillery rounds, but none of them were right on top of me. My dad was in the Army artillery and he said of the shrapnel didn't kill you, the concussion would. 
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