Page 237 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

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The Ardennes Offensive NETHERLANDS
Also known as the Battle of the Bulge, the Ardennes Brussels GERMANY
Offensive was a surprise counter-attack mounted by the BELGIUM
German army during the bitterly cold winter of 1944–5. Allied
forces advancing towards Germany had liberated Belgium
that September. Beginning on 16 December 1944, German FRANCE LUX.
tank divisions led by General von Rundstedt, attempted to
punch through the Allied lines across the snow-covered Locator Map
Ardennes in an attempt to reach the Meuse and then Battle of the Bulge
advance north to retake Brussels and Antwerp. They
managed to push back US and British forces, creating a
frontline in the shape of a bulge.
The battlefront of 16 December,
Counter-Offensive of January 1945 from which the German offensive
began, is also called the
When called upon to surrender in Bastogne, US Siegfried Line.
Brigadier-General McAuliffe defiantly responded,
“Nuts!” General Patton’s army then rescued
Bastogne, and the Allied forces Vesdre Monschau
eventually pushed the Germans Meuse
back by the end of January 1945. Malmedy
It had been the largest land battle Trois-
Ponts
of World War II, involving more than BELGIUM Stavelot
a million men and 1,000 tanks. Dinant Hotton St-Vith
Marche
Bure La Roche- Houffalize
en-Ardenne Ourthe Clervaux
Bastogne GERMANY
Meuse St-Hubert Wiltz Diekirch
Echternach
Semois
LUXEMBOURG
FRANCE
Dinant and the River Meuse
marked the most westerly point
of the German advance. This is
commemorated by a monument 0 kilometres 5 Key
at the Rocher Bayard, just south 0 miles 5 German army
of the town.
British army
US army
At La Roche-en- Battlefront 16 Dec 1944
Ardenne, the Musée de
la Bataille des Ardennes Battlefront 25 Dec 1944
underlines the human International border
dimension with figures of
uniformed combatants
from both sides.

The Bastogne
War Museum
is built in a star
shape, like the
American Memorial
close by.

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