12/12/2009 : WALNUT FAIR - Commemoration of the liberation of Bastogne, day of the lovers, commemoration of the Children's Rights. During the day, flowers will be set down on the Memorial of Bastogne, the Mardasson, as well as on the steles in memory of the Generals Mc Auliffe and Patton. Around 4 p.m., the visitors and the local authorities will throw walnuts from the balcony of the Town Hall

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The Allied landing in Normandy on 06 June 44 was a defeat for the German Army, which could not resist the breakthrough of the Allied armies into France and Belgium. After four years of occupation, our towns and villages acclaim their liberators amid general rejoicing.

But just a few months later, the celebrations are to be brutally interrupted by a major offensive planned by the German High Command. Its aim is to reverse the course of events by charging through the Ardennes, crossing the River Meuse, re-taking the port infrastructure of Antwerp and thereby preventing supplies from reaching the Allied armies, and isolating the British Army from the American Army in order to obtain the signature of a separate peace on the Western Front.

After several successive postponements, 'The Battle of the Ardennes', also called 'The Battle of the Bulge' or 'The von RUNDSTEDT Offensive', is launched in the cold and fog, from Monschau to Echternach, at 5.30 in the morning of 16 December.

On the Allied side the surprise is total. But on the northern front the momentum of Sepp DIETRICH's 6.Panzer Army is very quickly broken by the fierce resistance of the American units.

 On the southern front, despite certain difficulties, Hasso von MANTEUFFEL's 5. Panzer Army encircles Bastogne, and resolutely advances in the direction of the River Meuse and its bridges.

On Christmas Eve, the tanks of the German breakthrough are stopped and destroyed in sight of Dinant.

The German army is never to cross the Meuse, and the tactical objective is no longer Antwerp and its port but the surrender of the town of Bastogne.

However, coming from the Moselle front, General PATTON's tanks succeed in breaking the German siege of the town on the day after Christmas.

As planned by the Allied High Command, on 3 January '45 the counter-offensive of the Allied armies begins in the freezing cold and snow.

On 16 January, under pressure from the British divisions engaging the spearhead of the German breakthrough, and following the thrust of the American armies advancing from the northern and southern flanks, the German salient is captured.

On 28 January, the date reckoned to be the last day of the Battle of the Ardennes, the German Army is pushed back to its positions at the start of the offensive, behind the Siegfried Line.

The Battle of the Ardennes is over, but the inhabitants of our towns and villages will never forget their liberators. And neither the Americans, English, Scots, Welsh and Canadians, nor the French and Belgians, will ever forget the cold and snow of that terrible winter '44-45, or their comrades-in-arms resting in the military cemeteries of the Ardennes.

Text source : Guy Blockmans, O.P.T. Wallonie-Bruxelles