Battle of the Bulge 2 - Bastogne

What a day to post about - Bastogne in Belgium to start, casual encounter with the Maginot Line (I got through...), random German heavy artillery emplacement from WW1 and then an absolute knock-out tour of Verdun and it's Forts.

First off - Bastogne, site of a crucial siege in the German attempt to breakthrough the Allied lines in the winter of 1944 /5. I posted yesterday about one of the German battlegroups and it's attempts to find a way through the Ardennes. Further south all of the roads pretty much end up in Bastogne. Therefore it was critical for the Germans to seize the town and for the Allies to hold onto it.

The German advance was much more rapid and successful further south. The American lines were breached and infantry and armoured forces headed for Bastogne. There were desperate rear-guard actions but nothing held up the columns for long. It looked like a lost cause - the US high command rushed up reinforcements from the elite 101st Airborne division, resting after their exploits in Holland in pursuit of the Bridge Too Far.

The relatively lightly armed troops somehow got there in appalling conditions and bolstered the defence. The Germans swept around Bastogne and cut it off. A siege developed. For the next 7 days (Dec 20th - 27th) the Germans tried everything they could to take the town - but the Yanks held out.

Eventually Patton's 3rd Army broke through to lift the siege and effectively end the battle of the bulge.

More detail here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bastogne

I was hoping to get into the museum but it is temporarily closed for modernisation - reopens in 2014 for the 60th anniversary year.

I did get up the top of the impressive monument to the US forces - shaped as a star with all the states listed on it and the US forces that served in WW2 in the West

 And for those that don't think there are enough tanks in these postings...

US M10 unless I am very much mistaken with the more effective 3inch or 76.2mm gun which could take on the heavier German tanks (up to a point). Big downside was the open top turret - annoying when raining, deadly when someone is lobbing a high explosive shell at you.