WWII in the Ardennes - Day 2

[smallhobbit]

At our first stop we found a small building open with a display of paintings by Marie-Elise Meyers, a painting from Bastogne, who recalls the events of the Battle of the Bulge and sends out a plea for peace.

   

The penultimate paragraph of the letter, written by a German officer on 25 December 1944 says: Life is given us to love and esteem one another (my translation)

And it wasn't just the Allies who died, this is the German cemetery in Recogne



We went to Bastogne and visited a museum, which before the war had been a headquarters for the Belgian army.  There were many different tableaux showing both life in the town and for the soldiers.  In addition in the basement there was one room which was set up to give an idea of what it would have been like under air bombardment - pitch black, extremely loud, and had I not known that when it finished I would be walking out and into daylight and that I was quite safe, would have been quite terrifying.




Outside Bastogne there is a memorial to two Belgian nurses who had volunteered to help with the wounded American soldiers.  One died in an air attack, the other, in a different building, survived.

   

We finished near the village of Foy, where there is a memorial to Easy Company (made famous by Band of Brothers)



Daughter in a shallow foxhole in Bois Jacques

Comments

[azriona]

There's a museum in London (I forget which off the top of my head; it's not the Imperial War Museum) where you have to walk through a city street in an air raid, and it's terrifying. I literally froze in place at one point, and it took a few moments for me to remember that I was in the 21st century and very safe.

[smallhobbit]

It might be the Museum of London - these exhibitions are really powerful in showing what it was like at the time. I'm not surprised you froze.

[meridian_rose]

That sounds terrifying! My parents have got a short video they took at Flambards in Cornwall. Lots of great history in that part of the theme park, old apothecary shop, etc. But there is also a Blitz section and the video shows the strobe effects and the eerie siren, the sound of dropping bombs. Very eerie.

[smallhobbit]

Definitely eerie - we saw photographs of the town after the bombing raid and there was so much destruction is must indeed have been terrifying.

[bunn]

Oh, I remember the Blitz section at Flambards. Very vivid and disturbing.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh wow. Looks like a very interesting trip!

[smallhobbit]

It was a fascinating trip!

[rusty_armour]

More fabulous photos! The painting from Bastogne is both beautiful and haunting, as is the "Message de Paix". It's good that you toured cemeteries from both sides of the war.

That museum in Bastogne sounds really interesting. That's quite the immersive experience that it provides. It really gives you an idea of how terrifying an air bombardment must have been.

It's good that there are memorials honouring nurses. I love that picture of your daughter in the foxhole.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. Yes, I think it's important to recognise those who died from both sides, as well as people like nurses. We went to a number of interesting museums. I'm glad you like the photo of The Daughter.

[debriswoman]

You really covered a lot in your travels , fascinating .

[smallhobbit]

Yes, they were long days, leaving the hotel at 8.30 and getting back between 7 and 7.30. But well worth it.

[sallymn]

That's a wonderful painting.

War cemeteries do have a special haunting atmosphere, such quiet and beauty born of violence.

[smallhobbit]

I was really taken by it.

War cemeteries contain so many stories.

[meridian_rose]

That is a very shallow foxhole! Surely little protection.
It sounds like you've had an interesting trip.

[smallhobbit]

Yes, The Daughter went further into the woods and said she found some deeper foxholes. And no doubt they were covered in greenery. And unlike the trenches of WWI these were more for hiding in and surprising the enemy as they approached, so very temporary structures.