Bastogne
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Bastogne ( Bastogne German, Dutch Bastogne, Luxembourgish Baaschtnech ) is a Belgian town in the Ardennes on the border with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located in the province of Luxembourg, Wallonia and has 14.090 inhabitants (1 January 2005).
Importance
Your reputation is on the Battle of the Bulge the German Wehrmacht from 16 December 1944 - that is, in the final stages of World War II - back. Under Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Wehrmacht in the north of Luxembourg and in neighboring eastern Belgium launched a last major attack, during which American troops were thrown back and could only be kept in the besieged city. The Siege of Bastogne lasted from 20 to 27 December 1944. Commemoration of the loss-making winter battle a memorial, the Mardasson Memorial was built in Bastogne, where a World War II Museum is adjacent.
Bastogne is today turning point of the famous one-day bicycle race Liège -Bastogne -Liège.
History
The village was mentioned in the will of Verdun deacon Adalgisel Grimo from the year 634 the first time, than that of the Abbey of Trier handed his possessions in Bastogne ( in Bastoneco ), who went to the abbey of Prüm 721.
Two old military roads intersect at Bastogne: Reims - Cologne and Arlon Tongeren.
As of December 20, 1944 Bastogne was attacked during the Battle of the Bulge from the German army under the command of Heinrich von Lüttwitz because the place is a major transportation hub (where seven roads meet ) in the Belgian Ardennes was and is. Bastogne was encircled on 22 December, but the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division was under the command of Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe U.S. successfully defend the city against the German superiority until relief force them came to the rescue. On the morning of 22 December the Americans began a counter-offensive; an entire corps moved towards Bastogne and had driven the German spearhead on December 25. In January 1945, Allied troops advanced from Bastogne from the east front of St. Vith.
Traffic
Bastogne had until the mid- 1990s, a railroad stop on the railway line Libramont- Bastogne- Gouvy.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Gérard Deprez ( * 1943), politician, MEP
- Michel Renquin ( b. 1955 ), football player and coach
- Benoît Lutgen, (* 1970), politician
- Maxime Monfort ( b. 1983 ), cyclist
Community Bastogne
The municipality of Bastogne was formed 1 January 1977 as part of the Belgian government reform from the following five previously independent municipalities (now districts of the municipality Bastogne ):
Others
The Mardasson Memorial is a monument on the Mardasson Hill. It was built in 1950, is located three kilometers north-east from the center of Bastogne and is reminiscent of the 76,890 American ' casualties ': Soldiers who were wounded, killed or missing during the Battle of the Bulge. The road from the center to the monument is called ' road of liberation '.
In Recogne, 6 km north of Bastogne, is a German military cemetery. Here are more than 3,000 Wehrmacht soldiers. Originally there were also about 2,700 U.S. soldiers who had fallen in the area, but these were reburied in the summer of 1948 at the Henri- Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial Cemetery.