The concentric arcs
Strict geometric order on mown lawns.
Matti Blume โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Logan Swift โ Public domain ยท U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Logan Swift โ Public domain ยท U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Logan Swift โ Public domain
A German counter-offensive launched in December 1944 through the Ardennes forests of Belgium and Luxembourg. Hitler chose that sector because it was the most thinly defended and its weather grounded Allied aircraft. The Germans advanced and created a bulge in the American line โ hence the name. The fighting lasted six weeks in bitter cold and was among the bloodiest American battles of the war. Northern Luxembourg was partly destroyed in it, and the military museum at Diekirch documents it in detail.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet โ be the first.
The Luxembourg American Cemetery in the Hamm district east of the capital holds the remains of more than five thousand American soldiers, most of them killed in the Battle of the Bulge โ the German counter-offensive of the winter of 1944-45 through the Ardennes forests, the last major German attack of the war. The cemetery is arranged with strict precision: white marble crosses and Stars of David in concentric arcs on mown lawns, a chapel at the centre, and wall maps explaining the course of the fighting. The geometric order is deliberate and visually affecting even before you read a single name. Its best-known burial is General George Patton, commander of the US Third Army, which liberated much of Luxembourg. He died after the war in a car accident and had asked to be buried with his men, so his grave is here at the head of the rows. Entry is free, the site is entirely quiet, and it is administered by an American war memorials commission.
Strict geometric order on mown lawns.
Wall panels tracing the counter-offensive.
50 Val du Scheid, 1499 Luxembourg-Hamm