BATTLE OF BASTOGNE: "ISLE DE LA HESSE" ROAD SIGN.
BATTLE OF BASTOGNE: "ISLE DE LA HESSE" ROAD SIGN.
[Belgium: Retrieved from roadside in the hamlet of Isle la Hesse, January 1945.]
Enameled Belgian road sign lettered in black "ISLE LA HESSE." 360 x 1000 mm. Yellow background bordered in red, ten holes used to secure the sign, and ten other areas where bullets or shrapnel have hit or penetrated the sign. Edges and pock marks showing loss of enamel and subsequent rust, verso rusted.
Provenance: The sign retrieved from the roadside in January 1945; sold to an English Collector several decades later.
The Chateau Isle la Hesse is 2 km outside the town of Bastogne to the west of modern day E25, and is still standing today and in use as a hotel. In late December 1944, it was taken over as the HQ for the 101st Airborne Division, being large enough to accommodate the various Commanders of the Battalions in action around the perimeter of the town. It was in this building that Generals Taylor, McAuliffe, and Higgins coordinated the defense of Bastogne and directed the push back in January 1945. During the siege there were 12,000 men from the 101st Airborne and 11,000 men from other units, all dug in around the town to form a defensive perimeter line. These men were fighting 7 German Divisions, with over 55,000 men, who encircled the town. The fighting continued from the 20th December to the 26th, when tanks from Patton's Third Army broke through the German lines and turned the tide of the battle. Casualties for the US forces were 3,000 (killed or wounded), and considerably more for the German army.
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BATTLE OF BASTOGNE: "ISLE DE LA HESSE" ROAD SIGN.
[Belgium: Retrieved from roadside in the hamlet of Isle la Hesse, January 1945.]
Enameled Belgian road sign lettered in black "ISLE LA HESSE." 360 x 1000 mm. Yellow background bordered in red, ten holes used to secure the sign, and ten other areas where bullets or shrapnel have hit or penetrated the sign. Edges and pock marks showing loss of enamel and subsequent rust, verso rusted.
Provenance: The sign retrieved from the roadside in January 1945; sold to an English Collector several decades later.
The Chateau Isle la Hesse is 2 km outside the town of Bastogne to the west of modern day E25, and is still standing today and in use as a hotel. In late December 1944, it was taken over as the HQ for the 101st Airborne Division, being large enough to accommodate the various Commanders of the Battalions in action around the perimeter of the town. It was in this building that Generals Taylor, McAuliffe, and Higgins coordinated the defense of Bastogne and directed the push back in January 1945. During the siege there were 12,000 men from the 101st Airborne and 11,000 men from other units, all dug in around the town to form a defensive perimeter line. These men were fighting 7 German Divisions, with over 55,000 men, who encircled the town. The fighting continued from the 20th December to the 26th, when tanks from Patton's Third Army broke through the German lines and turned the tide of the battle. Casualties for the US forces were 3,000 (killed or wounded), and considerably more for the German army.
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