HOG - Harley-News

Battle of the Bulge
the McAuliffe monument and finally the
traditional ‘nuts drop’ from the balcony of
the Mairie, the town hall, by veterans of
the 101st Airborne and American
ambassador in Belgium. This year,
very few US veterans made it to the
celebrations – the generation is fading
fast. The grandson and granddaughter of
George S. Patton attended the ceremonies
where nuts are dropped from the balcony
of the town hall. During the siege of
Bastogne, General McAuliffe, commander
of the encircled forces, answered the
German demand for capitulation with
a single word that made history: “Nuts”.
Since the German officers didn’t
understand the phrase, the meaning had
to be translated to them: “Go to hell!”
The fighting raged on: Bastogne was
the rock that broke the flood of the
German troops.
Another dawn re-enactment was
scheduled at Vaux-sur-Sûre. A delayed
start meant the visitors and re-enactors
got a real taste of what war must have
been like: a lot of waiting in the dark,
sudden shots, fire, explosions, screaming
and running…
Back in Bastogne, the party had barely
started. Thanks to the Street Bob passing
the traffic, Bastogne was in easy reach.
On the main street, only military vehicles
were allowed, thus creating the strange
atmosphere somewhere between
battlefield and Christmas market.
The snow came right on cue, as if
ordered, while thousands of visitors
and locals wandered through Bastogne.
During the Battle of the Bulge,
motorcycles played a more important role
than during any other part of the Allied
advance. As radio connection broke down
and German troops advanced, it was up
to dispatch riders to stay in contact with
the fighting men of the task forces that
held important road junctions. Wherever
supply traffic broke down or got stuck,
MPs on their mobile two-wheelers sorted
out the mess – there was always enough
room to manoeuvre a motorcycle through
the worst traffic, and Harley-Davidson
WLAs dominated the scene.
You can travel the scenic Ardennes
mountainside in spring, summer and
autumn – museums and memorials are
open throughout the year. If you really
want to understand what happened here
and what the conditions were like when
thousands of soldiers killed each other
under the worst weather conditions, you
should visit between December 16 and
January 30. The freezing cold, fog, snow,
slippery roads, mud, dirt, daylight only
from 8.30am to 4pm…
As part of the 65th anniversary
celebrations, on the Sunday morning,
thousands of spectators gathered on the
hill of Mardasson. In 1944 this was the
closest point of the German advance and
literally in sight of the town’s houses. The
crowd was gathered to watch a drop of
parachutists from a old DC 3 transport
plane. Gusty winds and the freezing cold
didn’t stop the parachutists remembering
the air supply of the besieged town in
the critical hours of December 23. The
DC 3 pilot roared by in a last low-level
pass, greeting the visitors.
Meanwhile, the drivers and soldiers
mounting the tanks and vehicles waited
for the start of the final parade. At 3pm,
the engines roared to life and an endless
stream of vehicles rumbled into town.
Tanks and half-tracks, a huge convoy of
Jeeps, trucks and supply vehicles moved
slowly through the 15,000+ crowd of
spectators that lined the streets. The
politicians are gone, yesterday’s barriers
are removed – it’s a fantastic street party
as the massive tanks roll through the
small main street of Bastogne. The crowd
cheered the ‘Liberators’ just as they did
back then in 1944.
At 4pm the sun was falling fast behind
the roofs, but the parade was far from
over. Vehicles continued to pass through
the town at dusk, the last cars leaving the
main street as late as 6pm. The wet roads
got colder and started to freeze – this was
when the real fun began!
Even after the ring around the town
was broken on December 26, 1944, the
fighting around Bastogne raged on for
weeks, and the ‘Bulge’ in the frontline
wasn’t cleared before mid-January.
If you feel the cold creeping into your
leather jacket, the biting wind at 50mph
on the Street Bob – and even without
somebody shooting at you – you can only
come to this conclusion: war is ‘nuts’. ■
66 HOG ® summer 2010