www.NormandyBattlefields.com
Bulge-Hurtgen Forest Tour
- 2008 -
June 8th-16th , 2008
After loosing western and central France in August '44, the Germans pulled back to defenses in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and eastern France. From September to February '45, major battles were fought to try and crack their stubborn defense wall. Their aggressiveness and shortened supply lines were in contrast to the allies' long supply routes from the Normandy beaches.
Attacking across Holland, along a single roadway, attempting an end run, allied forces were stopped short by one "Bridge Too Far", in Operation Market Garden. To the south, American forces prepared to dash to the Rhine River from the captured border city of Aachen but first the Hurtgen Forest, on their southern flank, had to be cleared. The German defenders chewed up six divisions with little strategic gain. A few miles to the south a multiple German army surprise attack created a huge threatening "Bulge" in our lines that took a month to erase. The optimistic expectations of Christmas in Berlin dissolved.
This tour covers these battles where evidence in the cities and countryside is still very much evident.
June 8th, Sunday. Group gathers at our Bruselles hotel for our Welcome Dinner.
June 9th, Monday. Check out and drive to Nijmegen along the Market Garden “Hell’s Highway” to view the 101st and 82nd American Airborne Divisions battle areas at Eindhoven and Grave. Check in to our Nijmegen hotel . Dinner provided.
June 10th, Tuesday. Tour the Nijmegen battle sites and Oosterbeek Museum.. Dinner provided.
June 11th, Wednesday. Drive across “The Bridge Too Far” into Arnhem to review the glider landing zones, General Gale’s HQ at the Hartenstein Hotel, the British escape route and the British Airborne Cemetery. Dinner at our hotel.
June 12th, Thursday. Check out and drive to, via the Margarten American Cemetery, Aachen, the first German city to be captured in ‘44. Dinner at the hotel.
June 13th, Friday. Check out and drive to to the Hurtgen Forest known as the “Slaughter House” because of our horrific needless losses in the Fall of “44. A little known campaign lost in our military history annals. Check in to our Bastogne hotel for two nights and dinner.
June 14th, Saturday. Tour the the Ardennes the area now called the “Battle of the Bulge.” Follow German Col. Joachim Peiper’s deepest penetration route which carried his armored group through the Malmedy massacre intersection. Dinner at hotel.
June 15th , Sunday. Check out. Continue the Bulge battle sites tour and arrive in Bruselles for a Farewell Dinner.
June 16th, Monday. Hotel airport bus will take the group to their respective flights.
Single person supplement $650
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