Wargaming Your Way Across Europe

Part III: Belgium

by Charley Elsden

"There'll be a hot time in the town of Berlin, When the Yanks go marching in.
I want to be there boy, to spread some joy, When we take of Berlin!
There'll be a hot time in the town of Berlin, When the Brooklyn boys begin
To take the joint apart and tear it down, When we take of Berlin!
They're gonna make a row and show them how, To take the town back in Michigan.
They're gonna take a hike through Hitler's Reich, And change those'Heil's" to 'Give me some skin!"

    --Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, 1944

"Nuts!"

    --General Anthony McAuliffe, 101st Airborne Division, Bastogne (Later in 1944)

In this "crossroads of invasion," the history is layered on so thick, that every time you turn a corner, some famous figure has been there before you, usually with an army. Besides all the specific sites we saw, every once in a while our Tour Manager Deryck would toss off the fact that at this crossroads, the revolting Belgae tribes attacked a Roman Legion. Here the local merchants and peasants fought off French Knights at the Battle of the Golden Spurs at Courtray (Kurtrijk) in 1300 AD. Marlborough came this way, and Wellington, and great Belgian border forts held off the Kaiser's army in 1914 until the Germans could laboriously bring up their largest siege guns.

On arrival in the town square of Bastogne or "Place McAuliffe," one sees a Sherman, a statue and plaque to General McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne, and Le Nuts Cafe, where everyone filtered down after getting the luggage up to their rooms. We had a good dinner there. In the morning we had an excellent breakfast and walked about a bit in the streets which mostly go up and down local elevations. It was very moving to me personally to be on these historic paths. After a quick stop at the town visitor center, which had just opened up for the day, we saddled up for the big stuff. We drove outside the defensive perimeter, marked by Sherman tank turrets (what else?) and went to the fine museum at the Bastogne Historical Center and Mardisson Monument.

The excellent museum here was a presentation of several large circular rows of dummy cases and even dioramas with the figures in full uniform from general to medic, from Waffen SS Grenedier to Paratrooper. Much of the equipment and uniforms you see only in books was on display. The orientation film was made up of black and white film shot during the Battle of the Bulge. Many of the famous still photos come from this footage collected here, and are recognizable in various sequences. Our selft styled "tank nerds" had a blast identifying a bewildering array of AFVs as they flashed before us. The large stone monument outside includes the names of all 50 US States with the unit patches worn by US units involved, and much other information as well. On the grounds were AFVs, including a German Hetzer and others.

During our drive along the hillside roads, we made a quiet stop in the beautiful little town of La Roche en Ardennes. Here in a valley, a small river wanders past a Medieval/Renaisance series of buildings. But a Pershing Tank on a pedestal lets us know that this was a World War II site as well. Many of these towns have a tank from the unit which liberated them.

One of our hosts had this to say about the practice: "Yes, there are more Shermans in Belgium than Volkswagens!" Here we saw the first of many small museums (Musee de la Bataille des Ardennes), which had dummies clothed in WWII uniforms and equipment, sometimes in little dioramas with vehicles and heavy weapons. Many of these are growing; of the 15 historical museums we saw, widely traveled tour leader Bill Owen remarked that the ones he'd seen before had been expanded since he'd last been there. At this museum there was a separate small floor for British, American, and German cases! And under the stairs, a simulated basement where a Belgian "family" sheltered from the shelling! During our two weeks, we were eventually to see everything from German and Allied Army nurses to regular dogfaces, aviation uniforms--the works. Now we were in the Belgian province of Luxembourg, as opposed to the Grand Duchy of that name, which is the separate country mentioned above. After a tall glass of beer in a local restaurant's front yard, we split up to stroll down the peaceful street overlooking the slowly flowing river.

The unusual Museum Ardennen Poteau '44 has small dioramas and artifacts from an encounter the US 14th Cavalry had with the advancing German 9th SS Panzer Division (Hohenstauffen). A nice couple shows you the farmhouse which is preserved as it was. "I didn't have to restore anything," says the owner, "here you can see the bullet holes." This is as close to the action as you'd ever want to get! We also had a smooth ride in a reconditioned German Sdkfz 251 halftrack, which was named "Ludwig." Veterans come visit all the time, in fact just the day before a US veteran had been by, and the proprietor showed us the second tank in his diorama, in which this American had ridden during the action.

But the most famous veteran visitor was a German named Ludwig. Now the owner was working also on an American Stuart tank, and was generally a buff, with artifacts from the battle for sale upstairs, where his wife offered you a cup of tea. The first thing he found when he bought the property was a pair of German combat boots, which he saved. Years later, when an ex-Whermacht visitor came by, the gentlemen told the story of his own experience on this spot. Asleep when the action commenced, he was awakened in a horrible fashion when the German tank he slept under backed over--his feet! Evacuated, he hadn't returned until this visit. When he mentioned how his boots had had to be removed, the owner brought up the pair he'd found, and sure enough-"Hey, those are my old boots!" Ludwig was at the time a mayor of a town in Eastern Germany. So when the halftrack was found in Hungary, where it had been used to make films, it was named after this memorable visitor.

We now emerged from the narrow, winding, wooded hillsides so familiar from Bulge wargame maps into flat tilled fields characteristic of most of the small nation of Belgium. Here we were on the Prussian line of communication as that early 19th century army prepared to meet the troops of the defeated but now triumphantly returning Napoleon Bonaparte, who was marching north to meet them. That night we stayed in Liege, where the best thing to do until dinner is served at 7pm is to drink Belgian beer, some of the best brewed in the world. The food here was very good, and an excellent excuse of course to refill your glass once again.

When morning came, we travelled from Ludwig's obscure personal WWII anecdote to a famous major site of that conflict. Scene of the daring and famous fight from the early war: this was Fort Eben Emael, which is restored and heated for visitors.

Commanding the heights above the Meuse River just above the beginning of the border with Holland, the fort includes dummies in uniform in the many living quarters and other rooms of the fort. Unlike Maginot, this was a comfortable post, and the soldiers could frequently make a visit to town. We climbed up a narrow staircase to Cupola 120, with its pair of disappearing guns of that size still in place; one extended out to fire, the other pulled in for reloading. In the days before of the daring German paratroop assault, only four men knew about the mission: Hitler, General Student, and two German officers in charge of the assault and support troops. In one chamber, a diorama with dummies showed them planning the attack. In another, a machine gun position, recorded battle sounds make the visitor feel he is with the Belgians trying to beat off the attack!

In one corridor, you can see the shattering results of a 50 kg shaped charge set off inside by invading Germans. While both an introductory film and a small gift shop were there, it was the fort itself which is the centerpiece, with its barber shop and sick bay, its bunk beds and the memorial room where the actual casualties were taken during the action. Outside on the grounds are a few AFVs and a memorial that marks the spot where an American officer was killed during the late war liberation. Flags of many European Union nations fly along with the US flag, as in most other sites we visited. This was an oddly moving site, symbolic of the old style of fortification warfare being defeated by the new airborne tactics.

Soon we were on the road again, to the most famous 19th Century trip site. On the way we passed Tongres, where in 58 BC revolting Celtic Belgae had attacked a Roman Legion. "Barbarians," says someone. "Celts," says I. "Pagans," says someone. "You say that like it's a bad thing," says I. At the empty road intersection were twelve foot long models of a Roman catapult and a ballista--not the sort of thing one sees often by the roadside back home!

The country was now generally flat and well farmed--a different type of country altogether. After a rest stop with memorably good food for a highway stopover, we entered that most famous battlefield of French and English history--Waterloo. Here our guide showed us first the indoor Panorama, a huge circular painting (yes, like the Cyclorama at Gettysburg) of the French cavalry charging British squares at the climax of the battle. The gorgeous uniforms contrasted with the smoke and death of the fight. I had been prepared for the compactness of the battlefield by comments previous visitors had made to me--only 4 km wide with 1 km between the main lines. What surprised me now the most was the rolling nature of the terrain. This is similar again to Gettysburg, where Pickett's Charge was made across many folds in the ground. Here at Waterloo, there were also many places where units could disappear and reappear. We drove to Chateau Hougoumont, where we dismounted and walked into the complex. The guide pointed out the most famous places where the combatants had clashed. Around the garden, the 8 foot wall was still loopholed every 20 feet. We drove past the privately owned farm complex at La Haye Sainte, with a good view from over the walls from our tall bus. The village of Papelotte where the Prussians attacked was also there as if the battle had happened only yesterday.

I refused to climb "Silly Billy's Hill" as the fictional Sharpe would have called it, the Lion Hill monument to the Prince of Orange that has so disarranged the original terrain by the Visitors Center. Bill's previous tour had tried it in 1991 and not found it worthwhile. I did some shopping instead. While there were no wargaming items to be bought, I would later pick up the new board game WATERLOO: NAPOLEON'S LAST BATTLE by Richard Berg, and organize a mini-tournament at my club, using my trip to springboard a renewed interest in the battle. I had gamed part of it out (playing D'Erlon) using the computer moderated Carnage and Glory system in a game with designer Nigel Marsh just before the trip as part of my "research" for the journey. This paid off, as I now had a nodding acquaintance with the ground I was seeing for the first time. Good show. (Previously I had played this realistic system to game Salamanca, New Orleans, Utitsa, and finally (as Kutuzov) the huge 100 player ballroom sized JodieCon Borodino 02 (see www.jodiecon.com).

Ghent, where we stayed next is a beautiful town, retaining the atmosphere of the early modern period. Ghent is large city with some narrow streets--including the one in front of our hotel, where in the few minutes unloading our luggage, we managed to block a streetcar with our large bus. For a moment the two behemoths confronted each other, and I felt like I was in a Japanese monster movie, than our giant bus backed slowly out of the way. One of my good moves was to suggest the four of us having dinner try a chocolate milkshake for dessert ...umm, Belgian Chocolate, remember? Wow! Since the next day was Easter Sunday, a few of us spent it under a huge overpass on our parked bus, where we played out a Battle of the Bulge German armor column attack on the back table (35" x 80"), using Spearhead.

It had turned out that it was hard to game while moving. Not only did the pieces tend to move a bit, but standing up to play was difficult. So now we gamed out part of the day while standing still! We Americans did a good job of slowing the Germans down; they didn't get through until too late. Blowing one of the bridges was a big help. We also had two (17"x 50") tables up front for board games, which a few would use later on. So our customized wargames bus was pretty comfy, with only ten of us plus two "crew" of driver and tour manager inside. The cooler with drinks was up front and the tiny bathroom under the rear exit stairs.

Later that afternoon, our gamer host, Edwin Van der Straeten of The Red Barons wargaming club took us on a walking tour of the city center. Edwin told us about how when Charles V the Hapsburg Emperor , who was born here, retook the city, that ruler executed some and forced prominent members of leading burghers to parade in front of him--in their underwear, wearing hangman's nooses around their necks! Today this is still commemorated in a solemn annual parade where modern Belgians are dressed in that fashion. Whew!

In a local pub, we now sampled some excellent beer, brands like Stella Artois, Dumel, and my favorite Trappist Ale (Dubbel is dark, Trippel is light). A second local gamer joined us, and we learned about local customs. Tourists nearby were trying out the 24" tall Whack Glass, a strangely shaped giant container which was supposed to be drained in one chug. Because it had a wide top, a narrow middle, and a wide bottom; the liquid from that final bottom section hit you hard (WHACK). The expensive glasses were once so treasured that you had to give the bartender your shoes as security! Luckily, Belgian hosts don't expect that any longer.

Flanders, of course, is the land of the Flemings (I did not realize that). Politically, Belgium is split by language and culture. Our hosts suggested that the French speaking Walloons would just as soon join France, while the Flemish would rather stay as a separate country--no, they don't want to join Holland, as an outsider might expect. Perhaps this is because, as confusing as it is to an outsider, both factions are Catholic. It was our host's private opinion that the two communities might split up in another 50 years. We now went out to a very fine Greek restaurant for dinner with some host family members on this major holiday. With wives and children in attendance, some of the conversation turned to more general subjects, such as traveling, comparing the USA and Europe, and so forth. This made a nice social interval for our intensly male only, gamer only group!

Moving ever West, we now passed near the site of Courtray (Kortrijk), The Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1300 AD. Here the local townsmen including weavers and others had pushed the French knights out, using pikes anticipating the Scots pikeblock ('schiltrom') victories against the English. The many canals and ditches showed that we were only 60 mile from the seacoast. Then we arrived in Ypres, which is hard to find on a map, unless you know that the Flemish is 'lepers.' Since the capital 'i' is easily confused with an 'I', I asked "Lepers? What lepers? Do we really want to see lepers?" Silly me.

In this historic town, 800,000 men perished on both sides in the series of WWI battles. On the Menin Gate are the names of 50,000 British soldiers lost and never recovered. Now my name is spelled Elsdon in England, where the ancestral village of that name is in Northumberland, just below the Scots border. So I looked at the list for the Northumberland Fusiliers. Sure enough--there are listed W. Elsdon, 2996 and W. Elsdon 10658. Relatives? Who knows. I took off my hat for a moment at the thought of these men with my name who had ended up here. Northumbrians were also very involved in WWII D-Day, making up most of the British 50th Division, the first unit on Gold Beach.

The Cloth Hall, or cathedral style government building, is famous in WWI photos. Totally levelled, it has been fully restored, and is now home to the In Flanders Fields Museum, which tells the story of the First World War through the words of many individual participants. It features moody atmospheric set pieces to exhibit the experience of what was probably the most horrible war ever fought for the soldiers who served in it. The sunlit town around it seems in another dimension of prosperous, clean, happy times. The contrast could not be greater between war and peace. On the short walk back I picked up a small assortment of Belgian chocolate in three varieties of milk, dark, and white from a local shop, and a video on the Battle of Ypres from a military history book store. Then it was time to turn south and leave Belgium in fact, but not in memory.

Wargaming Your Way Across Europe 2003: A Tour Commentary

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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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