Bastogne War Museum and the Mardasson Memorial

The Battle Of The Bulge Town, Besieged In December 1944 ('Nuts!'), With The Star Shaped Mardasson Memorial To American Soldiers And A Modern War Museum Beside It · Bastogne, Luxembourg Province

Bastogne is the small Ardennes market town that became the symbol of the Battle of the Bulge. When the German offensive broke through the snowbound forests on 16 December 1944, the 101st Airborne Division and armoured units were rushed in to hold the crossroads town, and within days they were surrounded. Asked to surrender on 22 December, the American commander, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, is said to have replied with a single word: 'Nuts!'. The siege was broken by Patton's Third Army on 26 December, but fighting around the town went on into January. On the Mardasson hill stands the star-shaped memorial to the American soldiers, with a crypt and a roof you can climb for the view over the battlefields, and beside it the modern Bastogne War Museum. People come for the story, for the Band of Brothers foxholes in the Bois Jacques and to honour the dead of both sides. The honest caveat: without a car the town is awkward to reach, and the sites around it are spread out.

Colline du Mardasson, on the north-east edge of Bastogne, Bastogne, Luxembourg Province, Belgium

The Mardasson Memorial is outdoors and generally open every day, all year, without a ticket; the crypt and roof may close in bad weather or at night - confirm locally. The Bastogne War Museum is usually open daily from spring to autumn, roughly 9.30 or 10 am to 6 pm, with shorter hours, some Monday closures and often a closure of a few weeks in January for maintenance in the low season; last entry is roughly 1-1.5 hours before closing - check the current schedule. Bastogne Barracks keeps its own, more limited days and often works by guided visit - confirm it is open. Getting there: SNCB/NMBS trains run to Libramont, then a TEC bus takes you on to Bastogne in roughly 30-45 minutes; the connection is thin in the evenings and on Sundays, so a car is the realistic choice. By road it is about 1 hour from Liege and about 1 hour from Luxembourg city on the E25, and roughly 2 hours from Brussels. Book ahead only for the museum in December around Nuts Weekend and for Barracks visits.

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