Reliving the Past: The Battle of The Bulge

The title is as clear as it is! I may use the first bit for a sequel to other battlefields or even my own battlefield tour company, but right now we’re reliving the past of the Battle of the Bulge.

On August 13th I went on a mini vacation to the area that was originally part of the southern frontline during the battle of the bulge. Since I’ve been doing loads of research on the 5th Infantry Division lately I had to explore the battlefields myself again. In my spare time I’ve been working on a battlefield tour for the Berdorf area.

A month earlier I was  also contacted by  a man whose great uncle fought in this area and was killed on December 26th 1944. Private William D. Sheehan was a member of the 10th Infantry Regiment and after researching the regiment’s activity we concluded that he must’ve been killed southwest of Echternach. On December 26th the regiment launched an attack on the highground southwest of Echternach. Their jump off point was Hill 313 near the crossroads of Lauterborn.

Enough reasons to visit the area myself!

On the first day of my trip I went to hill 313 to explore history and relive the past. On the location itself I found a monument dedicated to the troops who defended this area to stop the German advance! On top of the hill we spotted lots of foxholes overlooking the road towards Echternach. Just imagine the area filled with snow and trees without leaves. It was this area that William D. Sheehan left for the attack on the highground overlooking Echternach. All we know is that he was KIA on December 26th 1944 while he was in the 10th Infantry Regiment. His relatives didn’t know which company he was in otherwise I could be more precise about his location of death.  What we do know is that Sheehan did his best in stopping the German Advance!

This right here is one of the foxholes located on top of Hill 313. Down below is the road leading to Echternach

In my life I’ve visited Luxembourg more than 20 times,  but I’ve never been to the U.S. Military Cemetery at Hamm, Luxembourg. I knew Private Sheehan’s grave was located here along with many other soldiers of the 5th Infantry Division. So on day 2 I visited the Hamm cemetery for the first time and payed my respect to the troops.

Interestingly enough, there were also a couple of graves from members of the Band of Brothers series. It was an honor to visit the graves of Muck, Penkala and Julian, all three were killed during the Battle of the Bulge near Bastogne while serving in Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

 

I hope you all enjoyed the first part of my Reliving The Past series. Currently I’m working on battlefield tours which will be available for download on my website. They will be completely free and easy to follow for everyone! If you liked this post, make sure to check out the video as well. In the video you’ll get a much better view at the sites and locations I visited, and you’ll get to know me as Joe the Battlefield Guide 🙂

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