The bonds of battle

BASTOGNE, Belgium – To find the city hall in Bastogne, walk past the White House Hotel, cross Gen. McAuliffe square, turn at the Dakota Cafe and it’s the building on the right flying the stars-and-stripes, just before you reach rue de l’American Legion.

For 60 years, this rural town in southeast Belgium has been tied to the United States by bonds forged in the fire and fury of the Battle of the Bulge, when the locals and their American defenders stood in the path of a German onslaught during the bitter winter of 1944.

“Bastogne has never stopped its friendship with the American people,” Mayor Philippe Collard told dignitaries from the U.S. embassy on a visit to prepare this year’s anniversary. “In Bastogne, you are at home.”

That friendship shows no sign of waning despite the passing of time and Belgium’s outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.

While some neighboring towns called a halt to their World War II remembrance ceremonies after the 50th anniversary in 1994, Bastogne has a yearlong program of commemoration that culminates in mid-December with parades, a night vigil and a major exhibition designed to give new generations an idea of America’s biggest and bloodiest battle of the war.

Bastogne was the key turning point in the Battle of the Bulge, a surprise attack by thousands of German troops through the December snow that was Hitler’s desperate last attempt to reverse the allied advance that began in June on Normandy’s beaches.

Surrounded, outnumbered and under intense bombardment, the commander of the U.S. 101st Airborne in Bastogne, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, received a message from his German counterpart on Dec. 22, 1944, offering him the chance to surrender.

McAuliffe’s one-word rebuff – “Nuts!” – ensured Bastogne’s place in military legend, and the town’s continued resistance earned the allied forces time to regroup and repulse Hitler’s last offensive.

The cost was high. A massive concrete star, 40 feet high and 260 feet across, stands on the Mardasson hill outside the town as a memorial to the 76,890 Americans killed, injured or reported missing in the Battle of the Bulge.

Built in the late 1940s, it bears the names of the 50 U.S. states and the badges of the American units who fought in the Ardennes. Beneath it is a crypt decorated by mosaics by the French artist Fernand Leger in honor of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish soldiers.

Nearby, a little museum tells the story of the battle with a display of uniforms and weapons, one of several dotted around the Ardennes. A Sherman tank dominates the town square, which is named after McAuliffe and surrounded by cafes, including one that serves a locally brewed strong ale called “Airborne” that’s served in a mug shaped like a WWII U.S. army helmet.

There’s also a “Nuts” liquor distilled from walnuts, which already played a part in local folklore before McAuliffe’s famous exclamation. In a custom dating back centuries, the year’s newlyweds throw walnuts to children from the town hall balcony every December, to recall the matchmaking that traditionally went on among local farmers during a time-honored nut market.

For this year’s anniversary, the local council has also ordered a commemorative wine from a French vineyard and the Belgian postal service will issue a special series of stamps.

Sixty years on, the Ardennes region is a popular year-round vacation destination in today’s border-free Europe. It stretches from northern France through Belgium and Luxembourg into western Germany in a swath of forest-covered plateaus cut by steep valleys that plunge to trout-rich streams.

Today, snowfalls like those of the tragic winter of 1944 bring flocks of cross country skiers to the region, while in the summer history buffs are joined by rock climbers, hikers and families taking kayak trips down the Semois, Ourthe and Ambleve rivers which snake through the woods. Hunters and fishermen take to the forests in the fall.

Rebuilt after the war, Bastogne lacks some of the old-world charm of neighboring towns and villages, such as Bouillon, which is dominated by a medieval crusader’s castle. La Roche-en-Ardenne and Houffalize are nestled in narrow gorges. Durbuy, with its ancient half-timbered houses, claims to be the world’s smallest “city.”

One thing all the Ardennes towns have in common is a reputation for good food.

Bastogne’s smoked hams and sausages are famed. Local beers include powerful Trappist brews made by monks in the monasteries at Orval and Rochefort. In season, boar and venison served in rich, dark sauces hold pride of place in restaurants.

A new sight on a hillside overlooking Bastogne is the “peace wood” planted in 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of the battle and honor the U.S. veterans who flew over for the commemorations. Each of the 4,000 trees was given the name of a returning veteran, or of a unit that fought in the battle.

The local beech, birch, oak, hazel and elder saplings were planted to form the shape of a mother cradling her child – the symbol of UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency – with the aim of creating a place of reflection and serenity on the site of so much carnage.

Around the edge of the woods, Bastogne invited other cities marked by war to plant trees of their own.

There’s an oak from the Basque city of Guernica bombed by Hitler’s air force in the Spanish Civil War; an apple tree from Avranches representing the orchards inland from Normandy’s D-Day beaches; a poplar from Oswiecim, the Polish city that the Germans called Auschwitz; and from Jerusalem, two Israeli and Palestinian women came together in 2002 to plant plum trees in memory of loved ones killed in the Middle East conflict.

At the entrance to the wood, a sign carries a heart-wrenching quote from an anonymous German soldier, found chalked on a blackboard in village school:

“May the world never experience such a Christmas night. There is nothing more cruel than to die a soldier’s death away from your wife and children … from the ruins and blood and death universal brotherhood will undoubtedly emerge.”

A cemetery in the little village of Recogne holds the remains of almost 7,000 German soldiers. The graves of 13,317 Americans can be found in the villages of Henri-Chapelle and Neupre. Over the border, 5,076 more are buried outside the capital of Luxembourg, including Gen. George S. Patton, who had his headquarters in the city.

Although the passing of time means fewer and fewer veterans return to Bastogne, new generations keep coming to the battlefields. Some are inspired by the “Band of Brothers” TV series that graphically portrayed the fighting. Others have a more personal link.

In Bastogne’s museum visitors’ book, there’s a simple message from Erica Flegel of Indiana: “Thanks, Granddad.”