​​Hasselpath Memorial Site

​​The site contains remains of foxholes and forest bunkers that were used by German and American troops during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944 to 1945.

In the autumn of 1944, the Ardennes front became quiet and static. The US 99th Infantry Division was spread across a frontline between Lanzerath (Belgium) and Monschau (Germany). The Division, about 10,000 young and inexperienced soldiers nicknamed the ‘battle-babies’, endured rain, snow and cold.

The area where the memorial site stands today was occupied by parts of the US 99th Infantry Division. The command post was in a hunter's lodge, named ‘Sam Suphy’, about 300 yards from the site.

On 13 December 1944, US soldiers crossed Hasselpath  and Wahlerscheid (known as the "Heartbreak" crossroad), to attack the Roer river dams.

On 16 December, the Battle of the Bulge began. The area between Losheim and Hasselpath became a main target for German troops, and fierce combats took many lives on both sides.

As a result, German troops occupied the Rocherath forest and the area of today‘s memorial site became the position of the German 277th Volksgrenadier Division. From here, they launched many unsuccessful attacks towards the Elsenborn ridge. Numerous wounded German soldiers and American prisoners visited the first aid post that was located here, before being evacuated to Kloster Steinfeld, Germany. Many of them died here as well, demonstrated by the graves found around the hunter's lodge.

​The existing memorial site was inaugurated on 13 May 2000, in the presence of American and German veterans who belonged to units involved in the fighting here. Official representatives of the Belgian, American and German governments were also present.