Bastogne was one of the key cities of the Battle of the Bulge. Invaded in 1944 by the Germans, it was liberated three weeks later by General Patton and his troops.
Bastogne, a key city in the Battle of the Bulge
At the crossroads of the main Ardennes roads, Bastogne was a critical location. Both for the Allied reconquest of the conquered areas and for the Germans in their attempt to break the American and British lines in December 1944.
Alerted on 17 December of the Nazi attack, the American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division rushed to the Bastogne area. They aimed to stop the Reich troops’ advance and defend the main access roads to the city.
In the meantime, German armored vehicles overran the city from the north and the south. They encircled Bastogne and its defenders. While the peak of the attack halted in Dinant, Hitler’s staff decided to concentrate “the main effort” on the capture of Bastogne. From then on, for almost three weeks, the city was under siege. The population took refuge in cellars and shelters.
Isolated from their rear bases, the American fighters held their positions despite very violent assaults. It was then that General Patton’s tanks arrived, liberated the city, and resumed the offensive towards Germany.
The senior officers of the 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, January 18, 1945.
Troops of the 101st Airborne Division monitor C-47 refueling in Bastogne, December 26, 1944.
The crew of the “Cobra King” poses for a celebratory photo near Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944.
Rue de Neufchâteau in Bastogne after the destruction of the dispensary, American soldiers search the rubble, December 25, 1944
Soldiers of the 101st US Airborne Division pass by their dead comrades during the bombing – Bastogne, December 25, 1944.
A street in Bastogne after the Luftwaffe bombing, 1944
Refugees evacuate the city of Bastogne, 1944
Tanks and infantrymen of the 82nd Airborne Division advance through the snow toward their objective near Herresbach, Belgium on January 28, 1945
Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe and Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard II in Bastogne, Belgium, late December 1944
Troops of the 101st Airborne Division monitor C-47 refueling in Bastogne, December 26, 1944
American soldiers of the 110th Infantry Regiment in Bastogne on December 19, 1944
