Battle Of The Bulge: Then & Now - STAVELOT

Stavelot in Belgium would see heavy fighting during the Battle of The Bulge in WW2.

Kampfgruppe Peiper and his King Tigers would fight the US Army through the streets of Stavelot in a desperate battle for control of the city.

Follow me as I find Then and Now photos from Stavelot and provide the context of the images all on location!

#ww2 #thenandnow #battleofthebulge #ardennes #stavelot #kingtiger #tiger2 #tigertank #tankbattle #ww2tanks #wwiihistory #wwii #thenandnowchallenge

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[paulbfields]

The same tree.. that just gets me that the same piece of life has survived as we quickly lose all those that survived this war. Keep it up. You are doing a great historical service. I only wish I could take these walks with you

[stefanof]

When I was a child, I lived for 5 years in Parfondruy, a small village northwest of Stavelot. The stories about the massacres, I have often heard them. In 1967, there were still survivors. Excellent report.

[timoruimteaapje]

The dead German in your first photo is actually a soldier from Schnelle Gruppe Knittel. A victim of the skirmish between elements from Knittel's heavy company and elements from 117/A and Shermans from 743/B which took place at the Place du Marché (today the Place Saint Remacle) shortly after 20.00 in the evening of the 18th.

[kodiakkeith]

Captain Kent (1st Battalion, 117th, 30th ID) wrote an account of storming into the town at mid-day on the 18th with two platoons from Company A and two platoons from Company B just as the tail end of Peiper's battle group was crossing the bridge and passing through. Kent held the square (where the photo of the dead German SS man was taken) and sent two other platoons under a Lt. Murray toward the bridge with bazookas and rifle grenades. Murray's platoons were on the streets on either side of Rue Haute Rivage taking pot shots at the King Tigers. It was a bazooka hit on the gun mantlet from one of those men that ended King Tiger 105. Murray's men ended up in the buildings overlooking the bridge and stopped anyone else from crossing. He was later reinforced by the heavy MGs from D Company. What is not covered in the vid was that though most of Peiper's armor got through, all of his beans, bullets and gas (and additional armor like King 222) never were able to cross. All of Peiper's armor was running on fumes and thus he was forced to lager at La Gleize and get crushed over the next few days. My father was a mortar observer from Company D and was with Murray dragging an SRC-300 radio all the way to the bridge to call in 81mm mortar strikes on the bridge and beyond. My notes say the heavy mortars were emplaced along Rue de Parfondruy, but I don't think they could have been there on the west side of town on that first day. I think they must have been on the north side of town along the Malmedy Road on the first day and only shifted to the west on the following day when the town was totally secured. If those platoons under Kent had not arrived when they did and Peiper's supply column had gotten through the battle of the bulge would be a very different thing. Peiper could have turned north along several roads or just smashed back through Stavelot to rejoin the 5th Panzer Armee. There was little to stop those King Tigers and Panthers in those first couple of days.

[richardyoder]

Never get tired of the then and now photos, keep them coming

[martinuhr]

i was there this summer...on this Bridge...it was great feeling to feel History there....

[paulslavin]

I was in Stavelot Saturday night with some mates, I knew about Joachim Peiper but not the battle. Thank you for this great upload, it helped join the dots for me.

[TribeTaz]

Love these Then & Now videos. Amazing video

[frankvandergoes]

Tiger 222 was hit by multiple shots. It had 5 hits to its frontal armour, all of which bounced off, 1 hit to the gun recoil tube. And 3 hits to its side armour which also bounced off. Before the M10 got 2 shots into the engine which disabled the Tiger. The crew survived.
The Tiger was engaged by M4 Shermans from the 743rd tank battalion and M10 tank destroyers.

[stevevalley]

That was some awesome then & now pictures of Stavelot! A Big Thumbs up!

[TacoMyrick]

It must be really cool to actually be there and compare then to now. Thanks again for your efforts in sharing these with us.

[Eclipsor-fs]

The shot of the bridge at the end really moved me. On December 19th 1944, A co. 117th infantry regiment of the 30th infantry division engaged SS and fallschirmjager units over the Stavelot bridge. A person from my small town named Will Holleran was killed during that fighting and it was crazy to see the bridge even if it was just in a video. Great job and thanks for showing us the battle of Stavelot.

[dmprdctns]

Great stuff, man. Really enjoying the ride... Thanks so much. Liked - Subscribed.

[XavierKing]

WW2 Wayfinder thank you for sharing !!!

[westonbrewster]

Awesome Mate! All the way from the U.S.! Keep it up! 👍🏻

[RickJZ]

Great! Ardennes offensive is one of my favorite WW II topic to study. Awesome to see the images then/ now at the various sites of battle.

[Bennienl]

This year in December back to the Ardennes again. Re-visited La Gleize again with this town

[emilioalcazar-suvi]

All my life watching the dead german foto..and there it is the place..amazing work..!

[Albdentist]

Amazing the detail of knowledge shown by you and also found in the comments! So much has been researched, let us never forget..

[MarkBalcombe]

That tree "still standing there" bit absolutely beautiful, though I prefer the tree as it's now