"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 9 -- (The Eagle's Nest) ...

Have you heard the song that has this line, "I'm sittin' on top of the world"?  Well, that is how we were to finish our tour -- visiting the Eagle's Nest, located on top of the Bavarian Alps.  This was Hitler's birthday present from Hermann Göring.  Built high in the Bavarian Alps, it was not one of Hitler's favorite places.

After Adolf Hitler took his own life on April 30, 1945, and Soviet forces captured Berlin on May 2, only one prize remained for the Allies: Berchtesgaden, the town near Adolf Hitler's mountaintop retreat, the Obersalzberg (Eagle's Nest), where many of the highest-ranking Nazi leaders had homes.

It was visited on 14 documented instances by Adolf Hitler, who disliked the location due to his fear of heights, the risk of bad weather, and the thin mountain air. Today it is open seasonally as a restaurant, beer garden, and tourist site.

In the HBO series, Band of Brothers, viewers get a good look at the site.  But, until one visits it personally, the actual height in the alps, the road and path up to it, the tunnels, all the underground support systems, the anti-aircraft guns built into the side of the mountain go unseen.  What a place.  I have included links to my pictures, and links to other sources of information, but again, these don't fully give you a full  appreciation for this place.

 

This little path led from the building to a cross shown below.  In order to get up to it, one had to walk up a pretty steep path that dropped off on both sides.  Get too careless and you might not stop until you got to the bottom of the mountain. The view from here was spectacular.

The flower on this cross is the edelweiss.  It was a sign of manhood, the soldier had to climb up to where the edelweiss grows and pick his flower to prove he had made the accent. Also it was the badge of the Alpine troops.

This is the meeting room.  Now it is used as a dining room for larger groups.  All of the windows overlook the mountains.  Very little of this room has changed from the time it was built.

This fireplace was a gift from Benito Mussolini to Hitler for his birthday. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you can see inside a cast firebox with pictures sculpted into it.

One of the highlights was having lunch on the terrace which overlooked the mountains and valleys.

What a way to end our trip.  The next morning at 0300 hours, I would fly out of Germany and back to the US.  What a long flight.  But I finally arrived in Columbus, via a lay-over in Boston and met my wife at the airport.  I was really hungry that morning (0230 the next morning) after meeting them, and we stopped at a Wendy's (only thing in Columbus that was open). Imagine, eating at the Eagle's Nest overlooking the Bavarian Alps on one day, and at a Wendy's the next. Hmmmmm.

My pictures of the Eagle's Nest

Other pictures of the Eagle's Nest (Shutterstock) 

Background to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Rick Steves

Easy Company Soldiers sitting on the patio at the Eagle's Nest.

"In thinking back on the days of Easy Company, I'm treasuring my remark to a grandson who asked, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?'
No,'" I answered, 'but I served in a company of heroes.” (Dick Winters)

Hooah

Wreaths Across America at Raleigh

Back in Ohio I participated in the Wreaths Across America program in Sidney for about 5 years.  We placed about 700 wreaths or so each year after the first one, and we involved the whole community.  This year, after moving to North Carolina, I still wanted to participate but had to find out how it was going to be done.  

The local American Legion which I joined planned to assist the group that was in charge of the Raleigh National Cemetery.  There are 5,000 +/- Veterans' markers at this cemetery, and they had two large semis packed full of boxes of wreaths.  I estimated there were about 250-260 people there to help, including a whole bunch of scouts and their leaders.  This being the covid year and all, there was no ceremony (although they could have had one since the cemetery was really wide open).  But, all in all, it was a great day -- sunny and cool.  With approximately 5,000 graves, I didn't know how long this would take, but it was completed in about an hour once we got started placing wreaths.It's different because all of the grave markers are in straight rows and everyone there pretty much is a Veteran, so it went smoothly and quickly. It was almost like doing the placements at Arlington.

I will certainly participate again next year.

Some people dream the dream, Some people live the dream, Some people defend the dream, God bless the defenders. (Anon.)

Hooah

"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 8 -- (Munich - Birthplace of Nazism) ...

On November 8–9, 1923, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party led a coalition group in an attempt to overthrow the German government. This attempted coup d'état came to be known as the Beer Hall Putsch. They began at the Bürgerbräu Keller, a beer hall in the Bavarian city of Munich. This was the next-to-last stop on our tour...Munich.

This medieval town was absolutely stunning.  Although much of it was obliterated during the war by allied bombers, it was rebuilt and looks like it did during those days.

 

 

It is unbelievable that this is the rebuilt city.  During the tour, we were able to have lunch at the beer hall where that all began.What a beautiful place.  The multiple floors, beautiful woodwork and paintings on the ceilings.   Munich, Bavaria’s capital, is home to centuries-old buildings and numerous museums. The city is known for its annual Oktoberfest celebration and its beer halls, including the famed Hofbräuhaus, founded in 1589. In the Altstadt (Old Town), central Marienplatz square contains landmarks such as Neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus (town hall), with a popular glockenspiel show that chimes and reenacts stories from the 16th century.

 

Wikapedia photo

Britannica photo of just one of the dining areas of the Hofbrauhaus during the Octoberfest.

 

This sculpture is the grave site of their "unknown Soldier." It is located directly across from the state capitol.(See the link below for more of my pictures).

This was one of the churches in the town.  If you click on the picture and enlarge it a bit, you will see at the top a golden triangle with an eye in the middle and rays emanating from it. Sound familiar -- well, just look on the back of the one dollar bill.  Hmmmmm ...

Finally, we were in the center of the old town area, and I spotted a couple of old brooms in a corner and thought I would strike a Harry Potter pose.  I think it looks pretty good.

Munich photos 

"Of one thing there is no doubt: if Paris makes demands of the heart, then Munich makes demands of the stomach."  (Rachel Johnson)

Hooah

"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 7 -- (Dachau) ...

It's day 7 of our tour and we are now at the Concentration Camp known as Dachau. So far on our trip, the weather has been beautiful so it seems only fitting that when we walk up to the camp entrance it starts to rain and it rained, and it rained and the clouds rolled in, and it rained some more.

During my career in the Army, I had one job -- establish and run enemy prisoner of war camps.   I would suspect that a very minuscule percent of the American public, or even the military community for that matter, knows  what is involved in operating an EPW camp. Our main job was to secure these EPWs, and in order to do that we had assigned to us everything that a modern US city would also have -- medical assets, doctors, dentists, nurses, hospital facilities, electricians, engineers, carpenters, sanitation experts, firemen and their assets, security units, etc., and tons of equipment. We adhered to the mandates of the Geneva Convention so other than confinement, their life wasn't too bad (relatively speaking).  I Know what we do in camps, and having done lots of research on concentration camps, I wanted to see a camp first hand.

When the tour company published its itinerary for our trip, I was very much looking forward to seeing this camp as Dachau was the first of the concentration camps and was not originally set up as an extermination camp.  Rather, it was to be a labor camp.  The original occupants were not exclusively Jews, rather this was set up for enemies of the Nazi system. They were here to work, and work would "set them free." 

When a group I headed up (Vets to DC) was taking Veterans to Washington to see their memorials, one of our Veterans was a Soldier in Third Army and his infantry unit was one of the units to liberate this camp.  I got to talk to him about this during the trip and certainly learned some things. 

The town council of the town outside the camp really didn't want this camp to be such a landmark, so they decreed that the camp should be torn down, a way to erase this horror.  Fortunately they were stopped before the camp was entirely dismantled.

This was a sculpture done to represent the bodies caught up in the wire fencing around the camp.  The bodies were left there to discourage others from trying to escape.

This picture shows hooks/rings that had ropes running through them and big hooks on one end.  The Germans would hang bodies on the hooks while others were fed into the ovens.

This picture is inside the "reception/shower" area and is one of the drains from a shower area.

This picture of two of the remaining ovens used in this camp are right where they stood while being used in the camp, and the

Below are some links --  to all of the pictures I took while there, and to some sites that will give you a better idea of what this camp was.There are some ads in the YouTube sites so you will have to click through them. I also have to apologize for not being as attentive as I should have been to taking more pictures, but while walking around this place, the atmosphere just beats you down and sucked all of the enthusiasm I had built up during the trip right out of me. I constantly found myself comparing the two systems of EPW camps, ours and Hitler's. Sure had lots of worrisome nights after this...obviously not as bad as those Soldiers who liberated this place, and not as bad as those Soldiers who liberated the extermination camps.

Dachau (my pictures)

Dachau (History Channel)

Dachau (Youtube)

“My wish for you... is that your skeptic-eclectic brain be flooded with the light of truth.”  (Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn)

Hooah

"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 6 -- (On the Road, Cemetery at Luxembourg) ...

This was the stop we made at the American Cemetery at Luxembourg.  This particular picture is rather unique because this shows the grave of General George Patton and there is an interesting story behind it.  It seems that Patton wanted to be buried with his troops, so his final resting place was out amongst the other Soldiers.  Well, over the years, his grave site was so popular that there was a path worn into the grass along with a rut, and the area became rather a mess, detracting from the solemnity of the area.  So the commission overseeing the site decided to move him to his present spot, where they put the paving stones and small chain in front.

This site is really unique in its design.  There are huge map sculptures of the war movements and there is a small chapel there, something I didn't see at the other cemeteries we visited.

Here are some links that will show you some more details of this cemetery:

Luxembourg American Cemetery 

Luxembourg Am. Cemetery (Youtube) 

I also wanted to include some other American Cemeteries just to give you an idea of what sacrifices were made and what that sacrifice looks like:

Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial (Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial is a Second World War American military war grave cemetery in eastern Belgium, located 3 km northwest of Henri-Chapelle, about 30 km east of Liège.

Lorraine American Cemetery 

Tribute to our Fallen Allied Heroes (There is an ad at the beginning of this one you can click through)

American Cemeteries Overseas (You may have to click over a couple of ads at the beginning of this Youtube clip)

I hope this entry gives you an idea of what was done for us by these service members. I don't mean to overlook all those who fought in World War II and returned home. I will address that in other entries, but there are two sites that pay homage to them: The WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the WWII Museum located in New Orleans, LA.

WWII Memorial, Washington, D.C.

WWII Museum in New Orleans 

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me (Lee Greenwood)

 Hooah

"Band of Brothers Adventure" Day 4,5 -- (Bastogne -- the Woods) ...

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).  

 

 Here are a couple of links to more info on this area: US Army info on Battle

and Bois Jacques and the Ardennes Forest between Bastogne and Foy .

Here is a link to the Bastogne War Museum pictures I took:Bastogne War Museum Pictures

Here is a link to the pictures I took at the 101st ABN HQ during the Battle:  101st HQ during Battle (recreated at the actual location)

 
Now it is on to another American Cemetery at Luxemburg, and then off to Dachau, Munich and then to the Eagle's Nest.

YOU CAN MANUFACTURE WEAPONS AND YOU CAN PURCHASE AMMUNITION, BUT YOU CAN'T BUY VALOR AND YOU CAN'T PULL HEROES OFF AN ASSEMBLY LINE.
(Sergeant John B. Ellery, U.S. 1st Infantry Division)

 Hooah 

Another short break ...

A friend of mine posted this to his Facebook account.  I don't know where he got it, but it is funny.

“Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.”  (Luis Bunuel)

Hooah