Wargaming Your Way Across Europe

Part II: Luxembourg and a Bit of France

by Charley Elsden

"Grant us grace fearlessly To contend against evil And to make no peace With oppression"

    --Memorial Inscription, US Cemetary, Luxembourg

Small wealthy countries seem like gated communities, with their storybook village squares; places where you can forget your troubles for a while while shopping, snapping a photo of the guards outside the palace, or having a nice beer with lunch at a table of an outdoor cafe. Luxembourg City, the capital of one such small nation, is tucked into the mountainous Ardennes. The remains of the original fortress there are the Bock Casemates, a less familiar place of interest, which stands as a symbol of its medieval and early modern rulers. Hewed into a rocky hill overlooking the city, it once controlled the area during many disputes between major European powers. The site was first fortified by Count Siegfried in 963. In sucession, this 'Gibralter of the North' would be posessed by the Burgundians, Spaniards, French, Austrians, and the German Confederation. Climbing around along the long rock corridors, narrow winding staircases, and storage chambers, one came suddenly out into a magnificent view of the river and old buildings, from a platform with an old cannon that once served as a guardian of the ruling house. It took an international treaty to demilitarize the city by demolishing the superstructure of the fortress in 1867, which commanded the strategic gateway to northern Europe. But the underground sections could not be razed without causing a landslide and taking the city with it! In WWII, the 17 kilometers of tunnels sheltered up to 35,000 people from air raids and shelling.

Here too we stopped at the Luxembourg American Cemetary. We had agreed not to spend our limited time at all of the many military cemetaries along our road, but here at the beginning of our northern journey, this one was special. Liberated by the 5th Armored Division on 29 December, 1944, the area donated a 50 acre park which is one of 14 permanent WWII US cemeteries erected on foreign soil. Large granite operations map shows the flow of the fighting in the ETO. Here George S. Patton Jr. is buried with over 5,000 of our men. Many people are surprised to discover he is buried Over There. To which I personally add: "Remember, Thou art mortal."

These days crossing national borders in the EEC is done without fanfare, and everywheree we went used the Euro (until Britain). So we slipped quietly into France for our first foray into this country. Near Thionville just north of Metz, we drove through the peaceful green fields at Galgenberg and up to a huge bunker set into the back of a wooded hill, which had been invisible from the front facing Germany. A small cupola on top and some rusty barbed wilre on the hilltop was the only indication of this entrance to the vast underground city that was The Maginot Line. The warm Spring day turned chill as we descended into the vast tunnel complex. While our young tour guide at first warned us that we could only spend half an hour, we were so enthusiastic that he stayed down underground with us for a good hour and a half, as we explored the barracks, kitchens, artillery ammo store rooms, bakeries, offices, and other rooms making up 1400 meters of this once lively but Spartan army community, where soldiers served for 3 months at a time in the dampness without coming up to see the light of day!

Once past the machine gun position covering the first bend in the entrance tunnel, we threw questions out as rapidly as an automatic weapon, as the technically minded James ran about checking key dimensions with his tape measure! Garners love forts, and here we were deep inside the Mother of All Forts, and determined to make the most of the opporunity. Luckily Deryck was there to translate. .

Unlike the more restored part of the line further south in Alsace at Fort Schoenenbourg (as indicated by its pamphlet), the section we saw was not yet reconstructed for modern visitors. Here things lay in ruins. Yet much of the original equipment and furnishings remained even in a run down state. The visitor felt almost like an archaelogist, peering in on times gone by. Here in the kitchen, a meat cleaver hung in the wall where it had been set there ... how long ago? In a storage chamber, an artillery hoist for shells dangled from the ceiling mount, and below it a mine type car on tracks was ready to receive its next load and be pushed down the metal tracks to one of the two artillery turrets. Eerie and removed from the modern world above, this secret network lies today a stark witness to one of man's many efforts to prevent war from coming.

Wargaming Your Way Across Europe 2003: A Tour Commentary

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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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