Procession: Tongeren-Borgloon Belgium

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Tongeren-Borgloon was a command post for the 75th Infantry Division as troops were sent by train and troop transport trucks to the Netherlands. It is possible 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken might have gone to this command post before joining C-Company in the Netherlands. If Arthur Thorspecken walked the streets of Tongeren, he would have likely stopped to see this statue celebrating an ancient victory against the Romans.

T0ngeren was occupied by the Germans in WWII. The Germans used the newly built Ambiorix barracks for training. The Allies liberated Tongeren on September 8, 1944. German V-Bombs were falling in the area in December of 1944.V Bombs created by the Germans were early cruise missiles. It was known by the Germans as the Hollenhund (hellhound). Allies referred to is as the buzz bomb or doodle bug.

When I got to the city square, I decided to sketch the bronze statue of Ambiorix the king of the Euronext. The statue dates from 1866 but the history dates back Roman times, 54 BC. Ambiorix defeated the Romans who invaded his country. Julius Ceaser referred to the Belgians as the bravest of all the Gauls. Ambriorix is shown in Germanic attire with a dragon helmet and his weapon of choice, a hatchet.

An older gentleman stopped to watch me sketch for a while. He explained to me that the costuming was all wrong. Many locals don’t like the Germanic attire on the statue, but they are stuck with it. The fence surrounding the statue 9s made of spears which is in keeping with Celtic tradition.While doing the sketch, a Sunday procession made its way through the public square. This is a Catholic tradition and half of the towns youth must have taken park. Women had angels wings and golden sleeves. Scholars and clerics marched together. A statue of the Virgin Mary was carried by 4 men through the streets.They marched right in front of me and past the merry go round to my left.

Belgium Battlefield

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In Gingelom Belgium, lt was quiet in the German encampment. There was activity in the Red Cross medic’s tent so someone must have been injured previously. A rather large crowd had gathered around the rim of the valley where the German encampment lay. I sat on the edge of the hillside and started sketching the encampment before the battle started. A single American vehicle had been captured at the northern edge of the camp. It was obvious that the Americans were outnumbered and they put their hands up and surrendered before there were any fatalities.

Ater this small victory the camp settled into a short lull. Then there was a rumble of engines that could be heard. The allied troops arrived from a dirt road that lead to the camp from the west. I am assuming it was west based on the directions of the shadows I put in my sketch. The first American scouting party was overwhelmed by the Germans and they raised their hands and were captured. After that squirmish  things grew quiet for a moment. Then the roar of the rest of the Allied troops could be heard as they rolled over the hills surrounding and into the camp. Americans lay on the ground to fire at the enemy, or hid behind a German motorcycle. A vintage American WWII aircraft buzzed the field, dropping an orange plume of smoke. There wasn’t enough smoke to hide the movements of the Americans but it added to the confusion. It started to rain which added to the challenge of getting a watercolor sketch done.

The Allies then flanked the tents to the south and moved towards the makeshift hospital. They searched every tent to be sure each area was clear as they passed through. The Americans (and Scott’s)  far outnumbered the Germans and they were able to clear the camp. After the victory. All the Allies lines up in a row, presumably for their final orders.

This was a fairly small reenactment and I don’t believe there were any fatalities, although I didn’t have a good line of sight for half of the German camp because of a large tree. Having a vintage American WWII aircraft buzz the battle field was an unexpected surprise. “Angels on our shoulders.”

So, would 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken been in a similar battle scenario? It seems that most of the fighting in The Ruhr Pocket of Germany involved going from building to building in tight urban combat. There would have been the constant threat of enemy sniper fire. For many of the battles Arthur Thorspecken’s C-Company platoon was working along with the 8th Armored group, “Thundering Herd”.. Having a tank roll into camp would certainly intimidate an enemy infantry if they did not have similar large armaments. It was discovered however that tanks do not do so well fighting in the tight quarters of an urban city. There just isn’t room to maneuver. The infantry does better fighting in tight house to house scenarios, according to the 75th infantry’s 1st Lieutenant Richard (Dick) Sasin.

Gingelom Belgium: The Briefing

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As the time of the WWII battle approached, there was a briefing among the allies in the entry way to a courtyard across the street from Museum Winter 1944. 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken would have been in charge of handing out similar orders to his platoon of 18 to 50 men. I jotted down a sketch in my pocked sized sketchbook and finished just before the meeting broke up. From my vantage point in the courtyard entry doorway. I could not overhear the plans being put in place. I would make a horrible spy but at least I would get a few decent sketches done.

One of the solders came up to me and looked over my shoulder at the sketch. In English, he complained jokingly that I had only drawn American soldiers with the helmets. That wasn’t true because I drew several fellows with berets. He p0inted out that Scotsmen like himself wore RED berets. I quickly pulled out a red colored pencil and scribbled in some red on a beret. The soldier was quite pleased and bragged to his buddy about how he had affected the art being made.

Army troop trucks started firing up and with a roar they were off to battle. I asked the owner of Museum 1944 how far a hike was it to the battlefield and she invited me to take a ride to the site in her father’s jeep.  As we drove to the field, we passed quite a few villagers walking to the battle site. I felt a little guilty since I wasn’t in a uniform,  but at least my shirt was drab green which camouflaged me.

The German camp was in a recess in a field with hills on three sides. There were no lookouts on top of those hills. Had there been lookouts, they might have noticed that hundreds of people were gathering on top of the hills surrounding the site. There was one rather large tree which divided the camp in two. On one side, to the East, there was a Red Cross medical area with nurses. I decided to focus on the front end of the camp, with a few scattered tents.

 

Winter 1944

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While I was in Belgium, I took a slight detour off or the 75th Infantry WWII route to go to a museum dedicated to relics from the Battle of the Bulge. The 75th Infantry had served in the Battle of the Bulge but that was in the Winter of 1944, almost a year before my father 1st lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken got to Europe.

The  Museum Winter 1944 is in Gingelom Belgium. When I drove into the little rural town I was a bit annoyed because the road leading to the museum was closed. I drove around the block and found a church to park next to. Then I hiked the rest of the way to the museum. As I got closer, it started to feel like a Twilight Zone episode. A nurse walked by but her outfit didn’t feel modern.

The I rounded the corner and found a phalanx of American soldiers standing around and chatting near a Sherman tank. I wasn’t expecting this. The sketchbook immediately came out of my art bag. There were dozens of vintage American WWII vehicles parked in the street. Before I started sketching I walked up to the solders and asked what was going on. Thankfully one spoke in broken English. He explained that there was going to be a battle in a couple of hours. The Germans had a camp set up an camp outside of town in a field and the Americans were planning an attack.

Though I wanted to go in the museum, it would have to wait, since history was coming alive right in front of me. I did go into the museum after the battle was over. I loved that there was an artists watercolor kit which is almost identical to what I use.

One vehicle had a loud speaker that was playing tunes from the 1940s. Once in a while a solder would look over my shoulder as I was documenting the scene and say “zeer” or “leuk.” I repeated the one phrase I had learned best in Belgium which is “bedankt.” Which means thank you, in Dutch. Some solders also spoke in French, but I didn’t pick up any loud boisterous American slang being thrown around.

As I was finishing up this sketch, all the American Army trucks fired up their engines and they drove off. I was told they were parading the vehicles around the town. When they were gone, I walked up to the one vehicle that did not drive off, which was the Sherman Tank. An American flag fluttered above the tank harkening back to a time when the Stars and Stripes truly represented well ingrained patriotic ideals.

City of Namur Belgium

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After seeing a very detailed model of the Citadel, I felt the need to do a detailed sketch of the city of Namur Belgium seen from the fortress. The four foot high fortress walls made it impossible to sit and do a sketch, although I saw a couple precariously perched on top of the wall. If they fell forward they could drop several hundred feet. Ahhh young love.

I stood at the wall and used the top of the wall as my desk. I was wearing 3 layers for warmth since the winds can get brisk and I needed a waterproof shell since I have been rained on just about every time I start to do a sketch. There was some sort of retreat going on down the hill to my right. They were having a race where two people had to work as a team navigating a series of obstacles.  They had a ball or water balloon between them and they needed to keep it balanced without using their hands. I stopped sketching to watch the hilarity as couple after couple failed. There was also a running group running up and down the thousands of stone steps around the fortress. No, my exercise this morning is to sketch of the city.

I love sketching old forts. I could spend a week here and not run out of sketch opportunities. I kind of regret not sketching the tunnels the American army used as a command post. However, I need to get to the front lines where the troops were preparing to defend the Netherlands at the Meuse River. Different countries s-ell the name of the Meuse differently. I am certain troops at the time often were not sure what town they were in or even what country. They just wanted to survive. I know for sure that Holland was the final destination for 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken who arrived in Europe on about February 17, 1945.

The 75th Infantry histories I have been reading refer to the Netherlands as Holland. That conjures up images of wooden shoes and windmills. Seems like a quiet romantic setting, but not at war time. Before I left, I found a thread from someone who wanted to know how his father might have died in Holland in 1945. His father was also in the 75th Infantry. The Americans were on the West Bank of the Meuse and the Germans on the East bank. Both were in sight of each other maybe 100 yards apart. The most likely cause of a death would be a random mortar blast, or a dangerous trip across the Meuse  River at night to gather intelligence. I do not know if 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken was ever on one of these very dangerous recon missions.

 

Namur Belgium: The Citadel Fortress

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It was a rainy day when I went to sketch the Citadel in Namur Belgium. I had to take several breaks from sketching to let the rain die down. There was a quaint little restaurant at the Citadel called Le Fief de Namur and I went there for lunch. It felt very old world and the food was healthy and delicious.  A man at the next table wished me Bon apatite.

The chances that 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken was at this giant fortress are slim, but the 75th Infantry did have a Command Post here. The command post would have been in the labyrinth of tunnels under the fortress. I asked about a tour that is offered of the tunnels stressing that at some point I might want to stop for some time to complete a sketch. I was told that was impossible. I would have to keep up with the tour.

Instead, I decided to walk through the museum in the fortress. The exhibits were impressive coving ancient history from the geological formations to medieval times. The most impressive exhibit was a scale move; of the fortress. Such models were built to study the possible weaknesses of the fortress. The level of detail in the model was impressive. The model has been exhibited in several fine art museums as well. I considered doing a sketch but it would have taken at least 3 hours to complete. I already had several sketches of the fortress and planned to do another of the view overlooking Namur.

The museum exhibit incorporated a series of panels. Some of the panels were blank to represent the many unknown holes to be found in any history. The panels floated through the exhibit as if on a monorail, at times the panels would spiral overhead. When the Citadel became less functional as a protective fort, sections of the vast property were turned into theater and sports complexes. Unfortunately there was little in the museum about WWII. The Germans captured the fort in May of 1940 and then the Allies took it back and used an air field close to the fortress before my father got to Europe in February of 1945.

Namur Belgium: The Citadel

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The Citadel in Namur Belgium sits on the confluence of two large rivers, The Meuse and the Sabre. The Citadel is a huge stone fort that has overlooked those two rivers for centuries. In February of 1945, the tunnels under the Citadel were used by the 75th Infantry as a command post. Napoleon nicknamed the Citadel Europe’s remote mound due to the extensive network of underground tunnels.

The importance of the Citadel diminished when 9 forts were built around the city of Namur Belgium. When the Germans attacked in 1940 the forts fell after 3 days of fighting. Namur was liberated by Allied forces on September 6, 1944. Namur is near where intense fighting incurred at the Battle of the Bulge in Decemeber of 1944. Although the city itself was not the center of the conflict. Perhaps that is why it was once again used an a command post as troops headed north to form a defensive line along the Meuse River up in the Netherlands.

It is possible the 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken might have reported here before joining troops up in the Netherlands. Since 80 years have passed since February of 1945, I decided to sketch anything that might have been around at the time. This tree with it’s age old roots growing over stone work would have certainly been alive and growing at the time.

Charleroi Belgium: Ibis Styles Aero 44

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I find the small pocket sized sketchbook is great for quick informal sketches at moments like waiting for the food to come at dinner. To my right there was a large table full of guys that seemed to be together on a business trip. It was a jovial scene with everyone sharing photos on their cell phones.

Of course in WWII no Infantry soldier was allowed to shoot photos or write anything about where they had been or where they were going. ‘Loose lops sink ships” was the propaganda slogan to encourage troops to keep their lips sealed. My father 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken never wrote or said anything about the war. He kept his lips leaked up until his dying day. As a child I thought I heard him say one that a bullet had hit a tank right next to his leg once. His C-Company platoon was  assigned to work with the 8th Armored Division when the 75th Infantry Division pushed into Germany. So the tank aspect of my vague memory holds up.

Two other 1st Lieuenants from the 75th Infantry did write about their experiences in the war, and I am using their writings as a way to get a sense of what a 1st Lieutenant would have gone through in WWII.

The scene I sketched in the hotel restaurant probably isn’t much different that a scene in an infantry mess hall except for the fact that there was a woman in the room at the far table. Belgium was liberated by February of 1945 when Arthur Thorspecken might have been in the city ready to join the 75th Infantry as they moved up to the Netherlands.

After this dinner, I went up to my room and discovered that my travel credit card was missing. I tore apart my luggage and could not find it anywhere. Then I remembered getting gas on the drive to Charleroi Belgium. The gas pump just wouldn’t work with my card. I got frustrated and finally went inside to pay in Euros. I must have left the card in the machine in my frustration. In the morning I decided to make the drive back to the gas station. It was a long shot, but I had to try. I pulled into the gas station and pulled up to the same gas pump. Of course the card was not in the machine. I went inside the store with a vague hope that some good Samaritan had turned the card in to the attendant. I don’t know how to speak Flemish, but with some German, English and some hand gestures I explained that I had lost my grey card. The color gray caused the attendants eyes to light up. He went in the back room and came out with the card. For once Lucy was on my side. I had a brief retreat but pressed forward to the next city. Now if I use the card in a machine, I keep a finger on it at all times.

Muse des Chasseurs a Pied: Charleroi Belgium

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This is a military museum in Charleroi Belgium (Av du Général Michel 1/B, 6000 Charleroi, Belgium). Translated the museum name is The Museum of Foot Hunters. Charleroi is a city that the 75th infantry used as a Command post at the start of February 1945. It is possible 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken could have reported to this city to join the C-Company troops heading to the Netherlands.

The U.S. 75th Infantry Division was in the Charleroi area of Belgium in February 1945, after operations in the Colmar Pocket and during their advance into the Netherlands. Soldiers received showers and clean clothes there before resuming their journey to engage in fighting along the Maas River in the Netherlands. This period served as a valuable pause, allowing the troops to rest and refresh after intense fighting. The stop in Charleroi was a transition point, where soldiers were equipped and organized before advancing to the next phase of operations. It would be an ideal time for 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken to join the troops as a replacement.

The Museum of Foot Hunters is located in the barracks of Corporal Trésignies in Charleroi, a Belgian hero of the First World War who was a militiaman of the 2nd Regiment of Foot Hunters, killed during an offensive against-the Belgian army at Burned Bridge in Vilvoorde Belgium.

Unfortunately this museum was closed when I got to it. My research showed that there were some sections of the museum devoted to WWII history. High school students were running around the block the whole time I was sketching. Some of the girls stopped running and formed a conversational clutch walking at a brisk walking at a brisk pace. A repairman parked his repair truck right in front of me, so I only focused on the half of the scene that I could see. Luckily my sketch outlasted his repair work and I filled in the areas his truck had been blocking.

It seems amazing that a corporal would have such a luxurious villa in the city center. So did 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken walk past this building? It is possible, since the building certainly pre-dates 1945.

 

 

Winston Churchill Square War Memorial: Charlesville France

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The 75th Infantry Division used Charlesville France as a Command Post as troop headed north to the Netherlands after intense fighting in the Colmar Pocket in France. The Germans had been pushed out of France.

This War Memorial in Charlesville-Menzieres is located in Winston Churchill Square. The memorial commemorated the residents of Charlesville who were killed in the First World War, the Second World War, the wars in Indochina, and Algeria.

The bronze figure is a victorious angel, holding a laurel in one hand and a flag in the other. Translated, the text on the column says, “The City of Charlesville to his children dead for France.”

At the base a seven soldiers rushing forward and looking up towards victory. An injured soldier on his knees, encourages the others to push forward. The large stone base is engraved with the names of the 551 soldiers from Charlesville who died for France.

Gorgeous well tended flowers adorned the base of the memorial. As I sketched school children sat on the benches and ate lunch. A young boy and girl had a long conversation. The girl seemed most interested in devouring her baguette.