The First Night in Bastogne
The Woods, the Field, and the First Night
When Easy Company arrived near Bastogne on December 19, 1944, they weren’t prepared for what they’d see.
Along the road to the front, they passed American troops retreating in chaos. Faces blank. Equipment dropped. One shouted, “Run! They’ve got everything!” Easy said nothing. They walked on.
They reached the Bois Jacques — a wood of pine trees planted in neat rows. From there, the ground sloped toward Foy, just a kilometer away. Behind lay Bastogne. Ahead, the unknown.
They dug in fast. Their foxholes lay 30–40 feet into the trees. Outposts lined the forest edge. Battalion headquarters was placed just behind the main line.
No one knew exactly where the boundaries were. They had little contact with other units. It was all confusion and cold. And yet, they held.
In the silence, the stories grew: shell casings everywhere. Bodies, both American and German. Tree limbs snapped by artillery. Frost-bitten feet. Frozen canteens. The pitch black of those woods.
Men clutched their rifles and waited for whatever would come.
Understanding It All — Visit the Bastogne War Museum
To truly grasp what this first night meant — and how it fit into the massive German assault known as the Battle of the Bulge — there is no better place to start than the Bastogne War Museum.
Located just outside Bastogne, this museum offers a detailed, immersive experience of the battle, complete with exhibits that focus on the experiences of soldiers and civilians alike.
The museum’s storytelling makes the broader military strategy understandable — while also honoring the small, human moments that defined the battle.
Even more remarkable: the museum owns the Bois Jacques itself. With a ticket, you can walk both the museum and the very woods where Easy Company dug in. The preserved foxholes are still there. You can stand where they stood.
It's a rare, tangible link to history — a chance to move from understanding to witness.
A Long, Cold Night
That night in the Bois Jacques — cold, sleepless, and tense — became the opening chapter of Easy Company’s long ordeal in Bastogne. Their foxholes, their fear, their silence in the trees all speak of the kind of endurance that doesn’t come from orders, but from brotherhood.
Today, the Bastogne War Museum offers a window into that night. And the Bois Jacques itself, now preserved, offers a path into that frozen darkness — and into the heart of the story.
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Read more: Band of Brothers, Beyond Band of Brothers, Brothers in Battle, and Shifty’s War.
Photos courtesy of: U.S. Army Signal Corps, James Skeffington, and Unsplash.
Ready to go? All the details you need to plan your visit — including how to see both the museum and the Bois Jacques — are in the Band of Brothers Travel Guide available here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW5C6GRY