The Ardennes 1940 & 1944

From Hannut we drove south across the front of the German attacks of 1940 & 1944 to Sedan.  We had no data on small actions related to specific terrain features, but our focus was on the big picture, getting a feel for the ground that the Allies thought was impractical for a large army.  The area is indeed very hilly & largely forested.  Now there are a lot of good roads through it, but in the war these woudl have been one lane.  Clearly the Germans were taking a huge risk in 1940 when if the Allies had done air recon it would have become like the road to Kiev in 2022.  And the Bulge was just crazy.

There is an excelleny museum at Bastogne that covers the whole war in general as well as the Bulge in detail.   And it gives a balanced account with stuff about Germasn soldiers just doing their duty as well as the Bad Guys.

This Sherman in the museum got hit something big.  There is an exit wound on the other side.

A very cool kuberwagon.

The Panther below is beside the road in Houfalize, a town just north of Bastogne.  According to the information boards this tank was in Normandy, retreated to Holland, fought at Arnhem, then attacked in the Bulge.  But it met an inglorious end when the driver misjudged a bridge crossing in a fog & it fell in the river drowning the crew.  After the war it was repaired & put on display just up the road from the bridge.