Marnach, Luxembourg

 

I’m on a visit to the Ardennes, combining museums, memorials and walking the ground. Marnach was the unlikely scene of an early encounter between German troops from 2 Panzer Division and the US 28 ‘Keystone’ Division. I’ll let the photos do the talking. 

Diekirch military museum

I forgot to post these photos from last September. Diekirch in Luxembourg is home to - among other things - the national military museum. It’s a cracking little museum with lots of exhibits, mostly from the 1944/45 campaign. The photos are in no particular order but we start with the most important - the field bakery!

Jeep with chilly looking crew

Kubel - I particularly like the copy of ‘Signal’ in the door pocket. 

River crossing vignette 

M-24 Chaffee. To my eyes one of the most cohesive looking tank designs of WW2.

Freezing mortar crew

PAK-40 and crew

15cm infantry gun

Looking at this weekend’s weather forecast I can’t help but think one of these would be useful!

37mm Door Knocker with obligatory Stielgranate

Nice to see the Schwimmwagen crew have a Plan B in case the engine fails....

Muddy Ketterkrad

Ex Belgian Army M-47

57mm M-1 AT gun. What us Brits call a 6 pounder. 

Still worried about the Luftwaffe!

M-4A3E8 stuck at the Westwall

1940 Luxembourg Army uniform 

The Sherman again 

Sdkfz-251

155mm gun and ammunition 

Beaufort Castle

Back to my travelogue from September now. After a couple of days in Trier, Germany, we set off back into Luxembourg. After a fairly short drive the first stop was Beaufort Castle which most recently suffered battle damage in the winter of 1944!

 Mrs G adding tone to the surroundings.

 Behind the medieval castle is a slightly newer chateau - this is currently undergoing refurbishment.

A few miles further on we found our overnight stop at Diekirch which sadly had a good seeing to during the 1944 Ardennes campaign. Now it is home to a brewery and a rather splendid WW2 museum. The spacious campsite is in the south bank of the river Sure about a 15 minute walk from town. We stayed for several days and availed ourselves of the riverside cycle paths.

Belgium & Luxembourg

Our first (and second) overnight stop in Belgium was at Han Sur Lesse.  A fairly quiet wee place mainly noted for it's nearby cavern network.  We mostly chilled for a couple of days and enjoyed really rather nice weather.  Just look at that clear sky.  Clear that is, aside from the occasional and far from unwelcome appearance of a Belgian F-16.  No photos of the F-16 - the buggers were a bit too swift for me!

Next it was back on the E411 heading south into Luxembourg and an overnight stop at the marina at Schwebsange on the west bank of the Moselle.

Next:  three border crossings and Roman remains