Musée Décembre 1944 (December 1944 Museum)

Musée Décembre 1944 (December 1944 Museum) [S] -- There is no shortage of museums in the Ardennes to record its dark winter of World War II. This, one of the best, focuses on the battle waged by troops of the 82nd Airborne, 30th Infantry, and 3rd Armored divisions to eliminate Kampfgruppe Peiper. That battle reached its climax at La Gleize. In an old, reconstructed presbytery, signposted off the main street, are 15 dioramas stocked with 80 uniformed mannequins representing soldiers from both sides, along with military equipment, photographs, maps, and a half-hour film in four languages, including English, on the bitter fighting in and around La Gleize during which the village was entirely destroyed.

A rare German Royal Tiger tank, a shot-and-shell-scarred 68-ton behemoth armed with a high-velocity 88-millimeter cannon, stands guard outside, having been liberated from its original allegiance. Few American weapons could dent a Royal Tiger, far less knock one out, and a close-up view of this beast gives you some idea why. Historian and Bulge veteran Charles B. MacDonald recalled: "A Tiger advancing with machine-guns blazing or 88 blasting was a near-paralyzing sight."

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