Battle of the Bulge trip

Königstiger (King Tiger in) La Gleize

During the first weekend in July 2011 I visited a bunch a museums in Belgium and Luxembourg. All the museums focused on the events that took place from the 16th of December 1944 till January the 5th 1945. For more historical info check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge.

In 2 days we visited 6 museums and my focus was off course their weapons collections. Although "a bit" off topic, I really want to show a picture of the Köningstiger (King Tiger) that was located in front of the Museum in La Gleize. I had never seen such a "Monster" before and it made quite an impression on me.

We visited the following museums and I ranked them (the first one being the best according to me). Please note that my main interest is German small arms and therefore the list is ranked from this viewpoint.

1) Baugnez 44 Historical Centre Very modern sphisticated museum with fantastic original items. Also the militaria enthousiast will like it a lot.

2) Museum National d'Histoire Militaire One of my all time favourites. Massive collection with a lot of small arms. Especially the mp44 seems to be overrepresented.

3) Musée de la Bataille des Ardennes Very nice museum. A lot of focus on the Allied side. Fantastic weapons room but easy to pass by!

4) Historical Museum December 1944 Also very nice museum. Especially the "Königstiger" in front of the museum makes a stunning impression! Also one of the few museums with a MP41 in their display.

5) General Patton Memorial Museum I guess if you are interested in the Patton story this is a nice museum but if you want to see small arms or displays you can skip it.

6) Poteau '44 Museum Skip this one! Really dissapointing collection. They have a massive room but hardly any stuff. The only mp40 they had was even a 100 euro reproduction.

Below some pictures without comment. If you are interested in more details send me an e-mail info@mp40.nl