I took a plane, a taxi, a train and a bus to get to my final destination – La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium, some 5714 miles away (as the crow flies). It was my first trip to this quaint town. As I customarily do, I was traveling solo.
As I disembarked from the bus and glanced around, I was immediately enamored with the enchanting town perched on the banks of a bend of the103 mile long Ourthe river. Surrounded by the Ardenne forest, La Roche-en-Ardenne lies in a deep gorge amid rocky cliffs. I heard water rippling over the small waterfall and smelled pine trees. Also, appealing were the ruins of a 11th century medieval castle overlooking the town of approximately 4,000 people. My kind of town. River, forest, medieval castle and fresh air. Quaint. Gastronomic food. Walkable. Teeming with history. One has to want to go to La Roche-en-Ardenne, it is so out of the way and set in that deep ravine. A few roads in, a few roads out.
What would propel me to be so adventurous and visit a town in the middle of the Belgian Ardennes?
A little history here. Though I visited numerous towns in Belgium in the seven years I lived there during my twenties, World War II history was not on my radar. I did visit Bastogne, where the 101st Airborne Division, made their stand against the German offensive but I was ignorant of the famous Battle of the Ardennes – Hitler’s last counter offensive that ultimately changed the course of World War II in Europe. It would be decades later I began researching the Battle of the Ardennes (also known as the Battle of the Bulge) as I was thinking of writing a novel that took place in Belgium during World War II. Because of that research, I started making military pilgrimages to many of the battlefields and over time become an aficionado of the Battle of the Ardennes. My ultimate goal was to visit every World War II Museum in the Ardennes, including the Henri Chapelle American Military Cemetery. My purpose for being in La Roche-en-Ardenne was to visit the extensive military museum.
Prior to World War II though, La Roche-en-Ardenne was referred to as the “pearl of the Ardennes” with its winding Ourthe River, amid a thick ancient forest. The town boasted over 40 hotels at one time before the war and was considered a tourist town. Most towns in the Ardennes fall within two categories, a cluster of houses at a crossroad or a river valley settlement. La Roche is both a river valley settlement and a crossroad town first settled during the Neolithic era. At night, lights twinkled in the dark reflecting off the river, stillness enveloped the town and traffic became nonexistent – La Roche returned to nature. Peaceful, tranquil and beautiful, I returned several times as it became my spiritual haven.
Unfortunately, on December 26, 1944 the town was almost wiped off the map as the US Army High Command dropped 150 tons of bombs on the town in two days. The mission was to destroy the American built Bailey Bridge crossing the Ourthe River. Destroying the bridge prevented General Von Runstedt’s offensive from advancing further into Belgium and with the destruction of the bridge, German supplies could not get through.
While the US Army was eventually successful in destroying the bridge, the town paid a high price. Since there was no forewarning of the bombing, at least 112 civilians were killed, houses blown apart, infrastructure destroyed, no electricity nor running water. The remaining population became homeless. Noted Jean Lefevre, a local inhabitant wrote “The air raid on the town, unexpected, incomprehensive for us, with its destructions, its fires, its dead, its wounded, could but create panic. Distraught groups wandered through the streets not knowing where to go, carrying bundles on their shoulders, pushing a cart or a wheelbarrow with sick or elderly person or with a moaning wounded person.”
War correspondent M.G. Levy wrote “In place of the charming little town, we discovered a valley of hell.”
Contributing to the destruction of the town was the fact US Army explosives were stored in the basement of the City Town Hall. A direct hit on the Town Hall obliterated the building and its surrounding quarter.
As I remember the town today, completely restored, I can only think of the resilience and courage these people had in rebuilding the town to its former glory. To rebuild from nothing takes stamina, vision and more importantly hope.
I think of Ukraine today and its invasion by Russia. Are the Ukrainians not suffering as La Roche-en-Ardenne suffered on December 26, 1944? I can only hope in the years to come, Ukraine will rebuild itself as their people are also steadfast, steely, and courageous. I also hope their loved ones will return from unknown areas as La Roche waited five years after the war, for their soldiers to return home.
Reference: Historic Heritage La Roche en Ardenne.