Thanks so much for the wonderful pictures. Man, that tank is just oozing history (for lack of a better word) and it doesn't take much imagination to picture the scenario that was described above! I've never been to Bastogne, and most likely will never have an opportunity to go, so I very much appreciate it when I get to hear stories like this one, so thanks to all who contributed!

DD

As some of you might know , Martin ? The Tank on McAuliffe's Square has been put back in it's place after a full facelift .

I took these pics today and I must say the Barracuda looks brand new .... everything has been restored , new coat of paint , a new pedestal ..... etc ..

My first thought was : Great Job . My second one was and still is : Hell , they sucked every tiny bit of history out of it .......

But it's one way or another because the tank was in a very bad condition .

They also removed the M4 from the Historical center for restauration ...

Best

Reg

Here is the story of the Bastogne tank;

This tank originally was named "Barracuda".

It participated in an assault from the south of Bastogne on December 30, 1944.

This Sherman and another one got separated from their unit and were heading north into enemy territory.

In the vicinity of Renaumont (west of Bastogne), they got under enemy fire. In an attempt to escape this enemy fire, the Sherman got stuck into a muddy, snow-covered, swamp-like terrain and was hit by a 75 mm round in the left flank and a "Panzerfaust" in the engine compartment.

Wallace Alexander (Rank Commander) got wounded and is reported to have died while being a prisoner.

Gunner, Cecil Peterman, and the Assistant Gunner, Dage Hebert were badly wounded as well.

Andrew Urda (driver) and Ivan Goldstein (bow gunner) were sent to Stalag XIIA (Limburg, near Wiesbaden).

The second Sherman, under the command of a Captain Robert Ameno was destroyed as well.

"Barracuda" remained on the battlefield until 1947.

At one time, the 704th TD Bn Association - and 4th Armored Division - had it repainted and put their markings on it.

Erwin

Erwin ,

Thank you for reminding me . I totally lost my sense of history ..!

Thank you Erwin ,

I never heard this one before .

I just found out that part of the story was placed elsewhere here.

Sorry for putting it in double.

As far as I know, now you are able to climb into the tank too.

Everything has been taken out of it, so it is now an empty shell.

I don't know if this is true, but I'll go check soon.

Erwin

I just found out that part of the story was placed elsewhere here.

Sorry for putting it in double.

 

As far as I know, now you are able to climb into the tank too.

Everything has been taken out of it, so it is now an empty shell.

I don't know if this is true, but I'll go check soon.

 

Erwin

Erwin ,

I've been there yesterday and found no way to get into the tank . You can peep inside the tank through the shell hole on the left flank .

Maybe they'll open the turret later this year ? Don't know about that .

Reg

Lennon,

Thanks for checking this out.

I only heard a rumor that it would be possible to enter the tank.

But I had my reservations with this as they - tourists and youngsters - might use the tank as a public garbage can (if you look into a barrel of one of the canons or look inside a bunker in the Ardennes, you'll know what I am talking about ).

Btw, I noticed that that tank got knocked out the same day Sgt. Homan K Jackson got KIA.

He was with the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion - 4th Armored Division.

He probably was killed when an assault of the 4th Armored to widen the Bastogne corridor collided with an assault of elements of the infamous 1st SS Panzerdivision on December 30, 1944.

I adopted his grave which is at the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Belgium.

Erwin

As some of you might know , Martin ? The Tank on McAuliffe's Square has been put back in it's place after a full facelift .

Well I didn't knew that thx for the info, and thx for those nice photos it realy looks like just out of the factory.

Thx Jeeper704 for the background info on the tank I did not knew that as well

I added a pic from march 2004 from the tank

-- attachment is not available --

As you can see, I combined the two great individual posts into one.

I got this picture by email this morning, unfortunately it's in french but it's about the tank maybe one of our fellows members with a better english then mine could translate the whole story.

Martin

-- attachment is not available --

Translation of the article:

(hopefully, my knowledge of French is good enough not to make big errors)

History of the Sherman of Bastogne

 

This tank, named "Barracuda" was part of the US 11th Armored Division; it was hit by a German shell on December 30, 1944 in the Bastogne area.

 

It was removed from the battlefield, restored and placed on a base (pedestal?) at McAuliffe Square (famous for his "NUTS" reply to the Germans asking for the surrender of the encircled city).

 

After several years, the tank needed some serious (face)lifting; for that, the Army removed it from its base to transport it to the Rocourt Arsenal (Liège).

 

It was returned to us on MAy 23, 2007, rejuvenated, restored to take its place on a new base, next to the statue of the General mentioned previously here and at the foot of the "Freedom Route" marker.

 

On this occasion, the group "COBRA" (The Bastogne Remember Americans Group) and the city of Bastogne organise an exposition with the unique thme "the Sherman in all its ways" (paintings, models, pictures, children's drawings, etc).

 

Monique, my wife (well, not mine, the wife of the one writing this article, haha - Erwin) - artist/painter - painted a work you see here below which had some success.

 

Explanation: the young woman on top of the tank expresses the joy of the population for the return of "their" tank.

Why is the tank being pulled by the wild boars? Because, for our province (Luxembourg) the wild boar represents the strength, its motto "une ardeur d'avance" (sorry, don't know the right English for this one - Erwin) which is not a sentence in written in vain.

And besides ...... this tank has no engine!!!

 

So here is the humor in this painting.

Hope it is understandable.

Erwin

Sounds good to me!

Thanks, Marion, so ............ can I go back to being a Sergeant now?

Erwin

I do love the boar pulling the tank. In fact we have a wild boar's head on our wall in our store. A gentleman in the area put it there a few years ago. I have to admit it's kind of strange having it on the wall but it sure does inspire conversation. Oh I digress, Sargeant Erwin...