European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 stars and april 2oo7 Page 29 memories of Battle signs of a bitter Wii struggle and gratitude Are easy to spot in the ardennes Region of Benelux by Alan Solomon Chicago Tribune in warm weather the belgian province of Liege is an especially pleasant part of the ardennes Here just West of the German Border is a land of deep Hills and fresh pastures grazed by cows and the occasional sheep of Golden Fields and expanses of dark Green Forest Sweet country two Lane roads that on Days like this Welcome bicyclists in Bright racing Lycra follow the contours of the land i follow the signs in december 1944 and january 1945 so did the tanks and in looking for stave lot and Almedy but first the Road winds through a tiny Vil Lage called brass Orlienne the Village is not on my map pm almost through the town when a plaque affixed to the Stone Gate of a Large House catches my Eye but i keep going i have already read so Many plaques in the ardennes in Belgium and in Luxembourg then i make a turn might As Well read this one too the Marker honors american Gen James a Gavin commander of the 82nd airborne Divi Sion who chose be chateau Naveau de brass Orlienne As his command Post during the Early stage of the ardennes Battle Decem Ber 22241944 in scribbling this Down when behind me a woman carrying parcels notices my car Francois no i reply the car is French in an american your House yes she says Nice place it quickly occurs to me that this is not a Young woman and this is not a Young Cha teau and that this could be a moment it is the germans she says were just in the Woods there Claire de Spirlet Nee Naveau and i Chat about what she remembers of the Battle of the bulge she Points they were in those Woods they were very Nice with us mme de Spirlet 78 says of the american paratroopers who had taken Over her fathers House they didst say much to us they were very careful about what they said you never knew but they didst make any problems the ardennes the towns villages and Countryside in Southeastern Belgium and Northwestern Luxembourg was the killing Field of the Battle of the bulge if s crazy to even try to summarize the Battle in a few paragraphs but this is a travel Story and it needs some context so a bust of Gen Anthony Mcauliffe whose response to German surrender demands Reso nates in history has a place of Honor in the Square bearing his name in Bastogne Belgium the Battle of the bulge la Batule Des ardennes in this heavily French speaking Region die wacht am Rhein watch on the Rhine in Berlin was americas bloodiest Battle Ever More than a million soldiers Pri Marily americans and germans clashed from mid december 1944 through the following january before it was Over 19000 americans were dead and at least that Many of the enemy in All on bom sides casualties killed wounded captured missing totalled nearly 200000 in the six months after Day the allies had liberated much of Western Europe pushing German forces Back within their Borders it was a time when liberated citizens actually did Greet american troops with Flowers there was Confidence the once mighty wehrmacht was a diminished fighting Force incapable of a counterattack they were wrong Chicago Tribune photos a salvaged German tank shares space with an unexploded Allied bomb in a rebuilt Hoffa size a key belgian Claire de Spirlet 78 stands before the family Home she shared in brass Orlienne Junction during the Battle of the bulge in Belgium during the Battle of the bulge with members of the 82nd airborne division the Surprise enemy offensive created a bulge 50 Miles deep in the Allied line of failed in its major objectives by late january the germans had been chased Back into Germany by May the War in Europe was Over at Bastogne a belgian town of 5000 just Over the Border from Luxembourg German Panzer units encircled the american 101st airborne division which was under the com Mand of Gen Anthony Mcauliffe on dec 22 the germans issued a surrender demand Mcauliffee famous response nuts four Days later the German siege at Bastogne was broken by a tank battalion from Gen George s patrons 3rd third army sixty two years later in Bastogne on Mcauliffe Square where an american Flag flies proudly Over an american world War n tank near a bust of the namesake american general belgians and tourists sip Hofgaarden Beer at a Brasserie called be nuts for anyone with a sense of history and even a modest amount of interest in world War n this is a remarkable journey Start anywhere and drive in any direction and youll see things some anticipated museums and Large monuments touted by travel literature and some such As the conversation with Claire de Spirlet that just happen this drive began in Luxembourg City 45 minutes Southeast of Bastogne by today Good highways much slower in the miserable win Ter of 194445 during the War the Best hotel in town was the grand hotel Cravat its pretty Good today Gen Omar Bradley signed photo hangs near the Entrance of the hotel his head quarters during the Battle before that says a desk clerk the Ger mans were Here a few Miles outside town near the Luxem Bourg Village of Hamm is the american Ceme Tery most of the 5076 us soldiers buried Mere died during the Battle of the bulge one of the exceptions Patton dead of injuries in a december 1945 car Accident in Germany was buried there with his troops at Bis request his wife ashes were scattered on the grave after her death in 1953 the dead Are buried one to a Marker the crosses and the 118 stars of David Are White not far from the american cemetery is another cemetery about 11000 German sol Diers Are buried there four to a Marker another 5000 Are interred in a mass grave beneath a Large Cross they didst have the space says Pierrette Antony who leads City Tours for the Luxem Bourg tourist office and joined me Here a lot of these soldiers Are very very Young the crosses in the German cemetery Are dark Stone there Are no stars of David Twenty two Miles North of Luxembourg City die Kirch on dec 101944 Mickey Rooney and mar Lene Dietrich did a show for us troops Here a week later the German army was Back it would be Jan 18 before die Kirch would be liberated a second time theres a museum in die Kirch if s in a former brewery used As a bomb shelter during the War and it is stunning in a series of life size dioramas we get a reasonable sense with out the bitter cold of wartime conditions for both sides in this Battle one display is of us soldiers forcing a Craft across deep Snow to Ward the Sauer River during the second libera Tion Bastogne says Henri mignon is an Amer ican town mignon is a belgian a retired artillery officer in the belgian army he is 70 years old today he lives in Bastogne and sometimes agrees to take visitors around the area he was 8 years old and living with his family just outside the town of Hoffa size North of Here when the germans rolled Back into Bel Gium in 1944 my father was a Forest Ranger and we lived in a House in the Center of the Woods he says i remember seeing so Many wounded i re member in particular a German who had no jaw see bulge Page 30 More than 60 years later world War ii Foxholes remain in the forests of the ardennes including these Between Bastogne and the Village of Foy in Belgium know go staying there As Bastogne hotels Are few and most Are Small if s Wise to make reservations Best and biggest though Only 34 rooms is the hotel Melba doubles from subject to change and Exchange rate fluctuation we hotel near the town Square Best of the hotels right on the Square is the 16room hotel Collin also from nearby towns with key roles in the Bat the including Hoffa size and Almedy in Belgium and Cler Vaux in Luxembourg offer hotels As Well in Almedy the Albert Ler once again email a six room inn above a first rate restaurant right on the main Square had no lift but did have air conditioning a rarity in the area Luxembourg City has hotels at All Price Levels i chose the Wellso rated but not air conditioned fourstar grand hotel Cravat about but deals abound see  information for Belgium Contact the belgian National tourist office we wis for Luxem Bourg Contact the Luxembourg National tourist office we wis for Bastogne and Vicinity try Bastogne regional web site wow Paysse Bastogne be and Check out its related links As Well As for the Battle of the bulge material abounds for a Quick sense of things get a copy of the pcs Battle of the bulge documentary part of its american experience series available in Many libraries or for Purchase for excerpts and How to buy see Chicago Tribune Neth 0 50 i 0 50 pm Belgium Brussels q Germany Almedy France t and stripes