Maison de tourisme de Bastogne - Tourism

Description

Defended by the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, on Christmas night the village was attacked by 15. Panzergrenadier whose objective was to capture Bastogne. The German armoured vehicles were destroyed and hand-to-hand fighting continued in the village. After the fighting, the inhabitants discovered a message written in chalk on the blackboard of the local village school by a German officer : “May the world never again experience another Christmas night like this! To die in combat far from one’s children, one’s wife and one’s mother, there is no greater cruelty. To take a son from his mother, a husband from his wife, a father from his children – is this worthy of a human being ? Life can only be given and accepted so that we can love and respect each other. It is from ruins, blood and death that universal brotherhood will undoubtedly be born.” (text source by Guy Blockmans/OPT)