The struggle is to save the historic headquarters of military Bastogne in the Belgian Ardennes end. According to the Telegraph, the campaign follows the decision of the government to close 23 barracks across the country in 2011, including the so-called “Heinz headquarters in Bastogne where the U.S. General Anthony McAuliffe had his headquarters during the famous Battle of the Bulge in 1944.
The announcement by Defense Minister Pieter de Crem has provoked a storm of protest from the U.S. and British war veterans and many others living in Belgium.
A group of veterans has written to Howard Gutman, appointed new U.S. ambassador to Belgium, appealing to him to intervene and help stop the closure.
The barracks is home to the Belgian 1st Artillery Regiment, currently deployed in Afghanistan, and also houses a small museum dedicated to the slaughter of U.S. and British troops.
The Battle of the Bulge has a special meaning for the Allied war veterans, which is seen as a turning point in WW2.
Since December 16, 1944 until January 25, 1945, snow cover Bastogne was surrounded by German troops and appeared headed to capitulate.
In the small town deep in the forest of Ardennes near the Luxembourg border, thousands of U.S. soldiers, including the 101st Airborne Division, commanded by McAuliffe, whose seat was in the basement of the barracks and assigned for closure.
It was from here on 22 December 1944 that the German commander Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz McAuliffe sent a note demanding the release of Americans, which famous McAuliffe sent a terse reply, saying: “Nuts!”
The German offensive and ended in failure, with more than 19,000 deaths, the Battle of the Bulge became the single biggest and bloodiest battle U.S. forces with experience in WW2.
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery later said the battle was “one of the hardest I’ve managed” and, addressing the House of Commons, Winston Churchill described him as “undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war. ”
Barracks Museum has been in recent years by two retired soldiers Belgian Marecaux Eric and Michel Lemoine, and guided tours are very popular, especially among U.S. and visiting British tourists and veterans who are attracted to the area because of its history.
A government official Belgian Defense Department defended the decision to close the barracks, saying he “had not been taken lightly.”
He said its possible conversion into a prison to help tackle an acute shortage of prison places in the country.