On our trips to Europe Kerrie often has the opportunity to increase her knowledge of history courtesy of Greg's passion for the subject. Over the years we have visited Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, the battlefields and cemeteries of the Somme, the Normandy Beaches from WW2, Gettysburg in USA and now it was time to learn about the Battle of the Bulge, the Maginot Line, find General George Patton's grave and discover what NUTS have to do with war.

We arrived in Thionville about lunchtime and dropped our luggage at the hotel. We still had a short ride to Veckring, the site of The Hackenberg Fort - the largest fort of the Maginot line. Its nickname is "the Monster" and why is obvious from the tour you are able to do.

The Hackenberg was considered a prototype for many other fortresses built along the border until 1940. It consists of 19 combat blocks and more than 10 km of underground galleries and is one of the best preserved forts of the Maginot Line. After the First World War, the French decided that it was very likely that there would be more conflict with Germany as Hitler became more powerful. The French decided to build a line of defensive forts in the early 1930's. The young tour guide gave a good background of the fort and explained the history in such a way that even a young boy from the Netherlands was kept interested. Inside the tunnels was cold and damp but, having read Trip Advisor, we were prepared and wore our bike jackets for the whole tour.

The Hackenberg environment has been preserved and an attempt has been made to keep it as authentic as possible with displays of military weapons, uniforms and living conditions. You walk for part of the tour and then take an underground train that was installed in 1934 to transport ammunition through the tunnels. This train takes you to Block 9 where a 163t retractable turret is shown in operation and where its 135mm gun is also on display. You then go outside to view block 8, an artillery bunker that was severely damaged during the battle that took place there in autumn 1944 between American and German troops. Back on the train, we returned to the entrance to the fortress through the tunnels marvelling at the scope and size of this construction. The technology used to build the forts of the Maginot Line (including stainless steel ovens in the kitchen) was years ahead of its time and seemed almost wasted as the Maginot Line was not successful in defending France.

Next day it was off to Luxembourg to pay our respects to General George Patton who is buried at The Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. Two impressive wrought iron gates mark the entrance to the cemetery. As we arrived we could hear the American National Anthem being played and soon discovered that there was a group of veterans laying a wreath at the memorial. We visited the maps of the battlefields of the area and read the names of 371 soldiers Missing in Action that are displayed on two memorial pylons at the side of the memorial. We then found Patton's grave, marked by a simple cross, between two flags in front of the memorial and behind the graves of the soldiers. As with all American military cemeteries that we have visited, this one was immaculately kept with not a blade of grass out of place. A true tribute to those who have given their lives in battle.

Back on the bike, we rode on to Bastogne. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, the German army surrounded the town of Bastogne with the American 101 Airborne division trapped in the town. The German commander sent an offer to surrender to the American commander - Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe. The offer was rejected with McAuliffe famously responding "Nuts!" The German commander didn't understand what the reply meant and was told it meant "go to hell". Instead, the Third U.S. Army redirected its forces northward, counterattacking the southern German flank and the town was not taken by the Germans. The town of Bastogne has honoured the Americans by calling the town's central square McAuliffe Square and placing a Sherman tank, that was part of the action, on display with a statue of McAuliffe. We had lunch in a restaurant called Le Nuts overlooking this historical site.

We then rode on to Lille for the night before crossing over to England the following morning.