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Elsenborn Training Area


Johan Willaert
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Johan Willaert

Elsenborn Training Area is run by the Belgian Armed Forces...

 

Built for the German Imperial Army, the Camp became Belgian property after WW1.

Elsenborn is best known for the bitter fighting that took part there in December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge...

 

I just spent a couple of days there in training and visited the local museum run by the Camp Staff. It not only tells the story of the Camp, but a large part of the museum is dedicated to the events of 1944-1945.

Two collectors have their collection on permanent display and the museum also houses lots of Dug-Up artifacts found on the different parts of the Camp.

The different displays have some minor flaws, but are nice and worth a visit when passing in the area. Butgenbach, Rocherath, Krinkelt, etc are nearby!....

 

More info: www.camp-elsenborn.be

 

Some impressions:

 

PAK40 Gun at the entrance, with Siegfried Line concrete blocks in the background

PAK40.jpg

 

Jeep with .50Cal MG

JeepMG.jpg

 

.30Cal MG Position

FoxHole.jpg

 

81mm Mortar Position

81mmMortar.jpg

 

39th Inf Regt Helmet Liner

AAAO.jpg

 

US Dug Up Relics

BoVo.jpg

 

Willys MB Wreck

MBWreck.jpg

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Johan

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  • 5 years later...
I can't imagine setting off a mortar inside a house like that, especially inside a small room! :blink:

 

From memory I think the display was such that one half of that room was made to look exposed to the elements, having "taken a hit from a shell"...lending itself slightly better to a mortar set up. That said, not sure I would want to be sending out 81's from such a position!!

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  • 1 month later...

Johan,

 

Interesting thread with good photos. My dad still has many memories of the area. He has told me how they were originally setting up a gun position with their 75 Packs and noticed high ground nearby they did not control. Dad said he pointed this out and the pieces were later moved over a rise and dummy positions were installed at the original site with cut logs simulating the guns. The next day the Germans "shelled the hell", (to quote Dad exactly), out of the dummy positions. A few Germans rounds skipped over the rise busting near the actual positions but inflicted no damage.

 

Thanks again for the post.

 

Greg

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Johan Willaert

Thanks Greg and Jon...

 

This is the other side of the Jeep, or at least what was left of it...

The original MILITARY tire is especially nice.;;

post-92-0-08392300-1350326586_thumb.jpg

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  • 9 months later...

My grandfather was based here during the Battle of the Bulge (2nd Infantry Division, 23rd Infantry Regiment, K Company) and up the road a little ways closer to Berg when the breakthrough happened and his unit served as a provisional line for the front line troops to retreat through and reform (They were called the Hoke Battalion - it was all of the company clerks, band members, cooks, rear echelon troops). Thanks to Pierre Constant and Eddy Loos, my wife and I were able to see the museum in 1999. What a great experience! It was unbelievable to be in the Ardennes nearby checking out the old German bunkers, tank teeth, and foxholes with the troops at Camp Elsenborn firing the 155MM nearby.

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  • 3 months later...
Backtheattack

Elsenborn is a great museum for anyone who ist interested in the Battle of the Bulge. Thank`s for the stories dealing with this part in the northern shoulder of the battle. Here are some pics I take while my visit there.

post-104851-0-73501000-1382966371.jpg

post-104851-0-15354500-1382966383.jpg

post-104851-0-80065400-1382966391.jpg

post-104851-0-83266100-1382966400.jpg

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