Knee Deep Into History Battlefield Tours

01/18/2025

Last chance to register for tomorrow's online Seminar: "From WW1 to WW2: A Look at Key German Leaders" by Markus Klauer. To register, please email your name, state and country to [email protected]. We'll send you the Zoom link. See you tomorrow!

01/16/2025

Reminder: Join us for our first online Seminar of the 2025 season. Our topic this Sunday is "From WW1 to WW2: A Look at Key German Leaders." To receive the login details, email your name, state and country to [email protected]. Hope to see you there.

01/14/2025

Join us on Sunday 19 January and Sunday 26 January for our first online seminars of the 2025 season. The topic is "From WW1 to WW2: A Look at Key Leaders." We'll discuss the personalities and career paths of key German and American leaders in the European Theater of Operations during WW2. Many of them received their baptism of fire in WW1.

Full details are in the jpg below. To receive a login link, email your name, state and country to [email protected]. Hope to see you there!

01/08/2025

Here's a link to our first newsletter of 2025. Read it to view our Winter 2025 Seminar Schedule. We also have a recap of the 80th Anniversary Battle of the Bulge Tour and an important travel tip for people going to Europe this year. Enjoy!

https://mailchi.mp/aaca12371df1/winter-2025-seminar-schedule-battle-of-the-bulge-tour-recap-plus-travel-tips

12/31/2024

Here's our latest newsletter with a look back at 2024 and suggested resolutions for 2025. Enjoy!

12/24/2024

A few more photos of McAuliffe Square and the windows of Bastogne in December 2024.

12/24/2024

Our latest post on the Slow Travel Tours blog:

A Knee Deep Into History Tour brings a battlefield to life for its participants. There is no better way to experience a battlefield.

12/21/2024

It rarely gets better than this!!! 80 years to the day [21 Dec. 2024] of his father's wounding I have the privilege of guiding Kevin and Alice Hinkle to the spot where T/5 Kenneth D. Hinkle, "B" Co., 159th Combat Engineer Battalion was badly wounded during an assault of the 212th Volksgrenadier Division, situated just west of Hill 313, and southwest of Echternach, Luxembourg.

Readers can see the area marked on the map from the National Archives. On the Google screenshot, we drove approx. to the point marked "Chalet de Vacances" and walked into the woods from there. Once in the woods, we found numerous fox holes and shell holes.

From the combat report: "Shortly after noon, "B" Company reported 450 to 500 enemy troops moving west along road one (1) kilometer north of their present position on foot. Artillery fire was called from the 10th Armored, but it was unobserved.

About 1300 hours artillery and mortar fire started falling on "Hill 313" and high ground to west being occupied by "B" Company. The fire was of a devastating nature and lasted for thirty (30) minutes. Five (5) minutes later it was found out this was an artillery preparation for a large scale attack. From three draws to the north of the position came what was estimated to be a force of about 400 German troops.
..

By 1440 hours the attack on "B" and "C" Companies was becoming rather precarious. Radio communications were severed at this point with Battalion and "B" Company. "B" Company seemed to be catching the brunt of the attack at which point a very unorthodox and confusing method of attack was being employed. Every other Jerry carried a "Burp Gun" (Schmeiser Pistol), thus giving them tremendous firepower. A large percentage of them were wearing GI clothing and all were frantically yelling in English, "Get the bastards and kill the sons of bi***es."

The superiority of manpower and firepower of the Germans soon became the deciding factor. They advanced faster than they could be shot. "B" Company soon became separated from "C" Company by a wedge driven down the line of responsibility. [Randy's comment: Route 118.] Company "B's" defensive position was soon overrun, units down to and including squads, were cut off. With communications virtually impossible, the company had to withdraw, not as a unit, but by small groups infiltrating back.
..

By 1700 hours both companies had disengaged the enemy, and were reorganizing in Scheidgen.
..

"B" Company having been badly disorganized, with about forty (40) men still missing was ordered to Altrier [Randy's comment: A few kilometers away and shown on the map, but not the Google screenshot.] for reorganization purposes..."

After walking "B" Company's location and touring other portions of the battlefield, Kevin and Alice laid a bouquet of flowers at the Hill 313 Memorial.

I always enjoy helping family members "see" the battlefield where their father or grandfather or great grandfather fought, but to be able to do it on a significant anniversary is even more meaningful.

Tomorrow is another day, and we'll have time to explore this region of Hitler's Ardennes Offensive a bit more.

12/18/2024

Sometimes one just stumbles onto history: Our Ardennes / Battle of the Bulge Tour visited the Aachen Christmas Market as a cultural outing. On the way back to the car, but in the main shopping district, I literally stumbled upon this marker on the walkway. It reads something like this:

1933 - 1945, Paths Against Forgetting

At 10:00am on 1 April 1933 [N**i] SS and Stormtroopers were posted in front of Jewish businesses and in front of Jewish doctor and lawyer practices. "Don't buy from Jews" was their alarming call. Beginning in 1938 numerous Jewish businesses and firms were "aryanized." This means illegally expropriated or sold far below value in favor of non-Jewish Germans, until people were finally expelled, deported and murdered.

It was a good / necessary reminder of a terrible past.

12/18/2024

On a quest, exploring fox holes and bunkers near Parker's Crossroads. What's better than experiencing the battlefields in beautiful December weather?

12/18/2024

The windows of Bastogne, part 1, December 2024. On my morning walk I enjoyed looking at the windows of Bastogne during this 80th anniversary.

12/15/2024

A few photos from our 80th Anniversary Battle of the Bulge Tour--Day 1. After paying our respects to fallen soldiers at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery we spent the late afternoon visiting some of the sites where the offensive began. The photos below are of Hollerath, Germany, along the Westwall and where the 277th Volksgrenadier Division advanced against the 99th Infantry Division. There was just enough snow (and a bit of ice) to add atmosphere in the late afternoon.

10/03/2024

A thousand thanks to the individual who told the story of Lt. Orvin E. Nelson by leaving the copy of a letter written to his wife on Christmas Eve 1944!!! Some history buff or family member left this set of documents chained together, somewhat protected in plastic sheets and placed under a bowl adjacent to the Hill 313 Marker.

Nelson was a Lt. in the 10th Inf. Regt., 5th Infantry Division. On Christmas eve he penned a letter to his wife while sitting in a jeep close to that spot. The papers state that he was wounded in Germany. A quick look on findagrave.com suggests that he died at the age of 75 on 27 April 1996 and is buried in the City of Mesa Cemetery, Mesa, AZ. His wife, Jeanette, died in 2014 at the age of 92. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, but I have not looked into the action for which he was awarded the Bronze Star.

What a wonderful way to bring a little corner of France back to December 1944. More of us need to do this!!!

10/02/2024

Hill 313, Echternach, Luxembourg -- a Life Parable: You can just enter the woods 100 feet or so, and find a memorial marker up a small incline; or you can hike a few hundred meters up a steep hillside and see the foxholes and shell holes where the action took place in late December 1944.

Having named the company Knee Deep Into History, you should know my choice!

I spent my last full day in Europe exploring this area for a private tour in December, and it was a wonderful day!

10/02/2024

Battlefield tour tip of the day: Use a pair of dirty socks or underwear to clean the mud out of the rental car. This will eliminate a cleaning fee AND you'll have at least an additional ounce of free weight for rusty bits, chocolate, Champagne, etc.

09/28/2024

Sometime to look forward to... High speed rail between CDG and Paris. Great for those who stay at an airport hotel and who want to get into Paris.

09/28/2024

Today (Saturday) marks my 21st day in Europe. Time for another round of laundry before the last tour. Here's your travel tip: Using Google maps you can find the closest "Laverie" to your location. Many of these are now electronic, with instructions in multiple languages. Also, many of the hypermarkets--Cora, Intermarché, L'eclerc and Carrefour--either have laundromats outside or just inside their buildings. Doing laundry with the help of Google maps and Google Translate is easier than ever before.