Maison de tourisme de Bastogne - Tourism

Description

In their rest-area near Reims in the evening of 18 December ’44, the paratroopers of the US 101st Airborne Division were put on a state of alert. Weather conditions not permitting an airborne drop, they were rushed by road to the Ardennes battle zone to stop the advance of German troops towards Bastogne, and to defend the main routes leading to the town. Meanwhile, units of the 5th Panzer Army, commanded by Field-Marshal Baron Hasso Von Manteuffel, outflanked the town from the north and the south. Bastogne and its defenders finally found themselves surrounded. 2. Panzer, spearhead of the 5th Panzer Army, having been suddenly stopped on Christmas Eve in sight of Dinant, and considering that they could no longer cross the River Meuse and that Antwerp with its port installations could no longer be reached, the German High Command decided to concentrate “the main effort” on the capture of Bastogne. Coming from the south, an armoured column of the 4th US Armored Division of General Patton’s 3rd Army decided to push ahead towards Bastogne, and on 26 December succeeded in breaking through the German siege. Under heavy German artillery fire, little by little the American units managed to broaden the “corridor” through the German lines that the Germans attempted to close several times. The battle for the capture of Bastogne would last until 17 January ’45. Bastogne, an important crossroads, was defended tenaciously by paratroopers of the 101st US Airborne Division and a unit of the 10th Armored Division. Von Manteuffel decided to cut the main roads leading into the town and to bypass it to the north and south, ordering his 2. Panzer to press on towards the River Meuse. But on Christmas Eve, the spearhead of the 5th Panzer Army was suddenly stopped and annihilated within sight of Dinant. Realising that the 5th Panzer Army would not cross the River Meuse, the German High Command decided to take Bastogne at any cost. The day after Christmas, a column of the 4th Armored Division charged towards Bastogne and in Assenois succeeded in breaking the German siege of the city.(text source by Guy Blockmans/OPT)