Charlesville France was a 75th Infantry Command Post as the troops were moved up into the Netherlands after the Colmar Pocket Campaign in the south of France. The 75th Infantry troops arrived in Panningen Netherlands on February 15, 1945 about 2 days before 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken might have arrived in Europe. Losses were great after the Battle of the Bulge. Of the over 200 men of the 75th Infantry who went into that battle only 21 men came put alive. Replacements were still desperately needed after the battles in Colmar.
I am assuming Arthur Thorspecken would have reported to a command post before joining his men in the field. There were 5 command posts between Colmar France and Panningen Netherlands, so I sketched each. I can not confirm yet if Arthur was at one or all of these cities leading up into the Netherlands. I am assuming the command post would be packed up each day and moved to a new city.
That is how this sketch trip has progressed. I would arrive in a city, sketch and stay overnight and then pack up and drive to the next city. With finances in question due to my bank refusing to allow access to funds after a fraud charge on my card, the trip always felt like jumping without a parachute. If I could not get lodging, I could always sleep in the car for a night, but that hasn’t happened.
What I remember about this Charlesville Town Square lunch was that a fly wanted to drink my Coke more than I did. I finally gave up swatting him away and moved the bottle as far away as I could to let the fly sip to his hearts content. There were also hoards of children wandering the streets. Why were they not in class? There was a puppetry museum on the corner of the square, but that wouldn’t relate to 1945, so I let it pass.
After lunch, I went to Winston Churchill Square to sketch a war memorial. I found an odd quote from Winston in a small cafe. It said, ‘You should do something good for the body so the soul enjoys living in it.” – Winston Churchill. Now Winston was not known for being a fitness buff, so he must have been referring to food and drink.
Charlesville was occupied by Nazi Germany and the military crossed through the square in 104 was part of the Battle of the Ardennes but the square suffered little damage. Charlesville was liberated on August 31, 1944 during the rapid Allied advance through France. The British 2nd Army liberated the city. The city was firmly under Allied control in early February of 1945 when Arthur Thorspecken may have entered the city.