Bastogne
| Bastogne | |||
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| State : |
 Belgium
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| Region : | Wallonia | ||
| Province : | Luxembourg | ||
| District : | Bastogne | ||
| Coordinates : | 50 ° 0 ' N , 5 ° 43' E | ||
| Area : | 172.03 km² | ||
| Inhabitants: (status) | 14,090 pop (January 1, 2005) | ||
| Population density: | 82 inhabitants per km² | ||
| Post Code: | 6600 | ||
| Mayor: | Benoît Lutgen ( CDH ) | ||
| Website: | www.bastogne.be | ||
Bastogne (German Bastnach and Bastenach , Dutch Bastenaken , Luxembourgish Baaschtnech ) is a Belgian city in the Ardennes on the border with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . It is located in the province of Luxembourg , Walloon Region in the Bastogne district of the same name and has 14,090 inhabitants (January 1, 2005).
Bastogne is today the turning point of the one-day cycle race Liège – Bastogne – Liège .
history
The place was first mentioned in the will of the Verdun deacon Adalgisel Grimo from the year 634, when he handed over his property in Bastogne ( in Bastoneco ) to the Abbey of Trier , which went to the Abbey of Prüm in 721 .
From 1795 to March 1814, Bastogne was part of the French Forêts department .
Two old military roads cross in Bastogne: Reims- Cologne and Arlon - Tongeren .
Its national fame goes back to the Ardennes offensive of the German armed forces from December 16, 1944 - that is, in the final phase of the Second World War . Under Field Marshal von Rundstedt , the Wehrmacht launched a final major attack in the north of Luxembourg and in neighboring eastern Belgium, during which the American troops were thrown back and were only able to stay in the encircled city.
From December 20, 1944, Bastogne was attacked by the German Wehrmacht under the command of Heinrich von Lüttwitz in the course of the Ardennes offensive , as the place was and is an important traffic junction (where seven streets meet) in the Belgian Ardennes. Bastogne was encircled on December 22nd , but the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division under the command of US Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe were able to successfully defend the city against the German superiority until relief troops came to their aid. On the morning of December 22nd, the Americans launched a counter-offensive; a whole corps advanced on Bastogne and on December 25th had driven out the leading German forces. The siege of Bastogne lasted from December 20 to 27, 1944. In January 1945, Allied troops advanced from Bastogne from the northeast towards St. Vith .
World War Commemoration
In memory of the loss-making winter battle, a memorial , the Mardasson Memorial, was built in Bastogne , to which the Bastogne War Museum is affiliated. The Mardasson Monument is a monument on the Mardasson Hill. It was built in 1950, is located three kilometers northeast of the center of Bastogne and commemorates the 76,890 American victims: soldiers who were wounded, killed or missing in the Battle of the Bulge . The road from the center to the monument is called 'Liberation Road'. The Bastogne War Museum right next door contains a permanent exhibition on the German occupation of Belgium 1940-1944 and on the Battle of the Bulge .
In Recogne, 6 km north of Bastogne, is the Recogne-Bastogne German War Cemetery . 6807 Wehrmacht soldiers lie here . Originally there were also about 2,700 US soldiers who had died in the area; however, they were reburied in the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial Cemetery in the summer of 1948 .
traffic
Until May 1993, Bastogne still had passenger traffic on the western part of the Libramont – Bastogne – Gouvy railway line, with the Bastogne-Sud railway station still in existence today .
Personalities
- Alphonse Bossart (1888–1963), Roman Catholic religious and apostolic vicar of Ipamu
- Michel Renquin (* 1955), football player and coach
- Benoît Lutgen (* 1970), politician
- Gauthier Remacle (born 1977), football player
- Maxime Monfort (* 1983), racing cyclist
Bastogne municipality
The municipality of Bastogne was formed on January 1st, 1977 as part of the Belgian municipal reform from the following 5 previously independent municipalities (now districts of the municipality of Bastogne):
| official name (French) | Walloon name | Luxembourgish name | German name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bastogne | Bastogne | Baaschtnech | Bastnach |
| Longvilly | Lonvli | Lengswèller | Lingsweiler |
| Noville | Noveye-dilé-Bastogne | - | - |
| Villers-la-Bonne-Eau | Viyè | Wöllerbâch | Weilerbach |
| Wardin | Wârdin | Wardicht | Wardig |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The latter was mentioned in 1840 in the Conversations-Lexikon der Gegenwart: in four volumes. K to O, Volume 3. p. 420 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ^ Charles B. MacDonald: The Last Offensive. Chapter II: Victory in the Ardennes. P. 23 (English; full text [accessed on July 18, 2017])
- ^ Charles B. MacDonald: The Last Offensive. Chapter II: Victory in the Ardennes. P. 43 (English; full text [accessed on July 18, 2017]).
- ^ Creation of the Recogne-Bastogne military cemetery ( memento of January 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ). Reservist fellowship Limburg. In: rk-limburg.de , October 24, 2004.
- ↑ Recogne-Bastogne war cemetery. In: volksbund.de. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- ^ A b Jean-Jacques Jespers: Dictionnaire des noms de lieux en Wallonie et à Bruxelles. Éditions Racines 2005, p. 382 (French).
- ↑ Dictionary of Luxembourgish Dialect Volume 1. M. Huss 1906, p. 267.
- ↑ a b Dictionary of Luxembourgish Dialect Volume 1. M. Huss 1906, p. 490.
- ↑ Fernand Hoffmann: History of the Luxembourg dialect poetry. Bourg-Bourger 1964, p. 19.
- ^ Jean-Jacques Jespers: Dictionnaire des noms de lieux en Wallonie et à Bruxelles. Éditions Racines 2005, p. 625 (French).