The siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the densely wooded Ardennes highlands converged on Bastogne, just a few miles away from the border with neighboring Luxembourg, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack.
101st Airborne Division troops watch as C-47s drop supplies over Bastogne, 26 December 1944
Letter from General McAuliffe on Christmas Day to the 101st Airborne troops defending Bastogne, containing a report of the famous one-word reply to the Germans: NUTS!.
101st Airborne troops picking up air-dropped supplies during the siege.
Members of C Company, 9th Engineers, conduct a memorial service for those killed during the siege, 22 January 1945.
Bastogne is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium.
Bastogne
St. Pierre Church
The Mardasson Memorial to soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944
