First purchase for me at the La Gleize Show last weekend was a copy of 'Duel In The Mist Vol 3' which covers the fighting around Trois Ponts and Wanne - I was actually staying in Wanne so the book became a sort of battlefield guidebook.
Anyhow, I was intrigued by the references to the 'Petit Spai Chateau' : apparently in WWII it was a childrens' home which was commandeered by KG Knittel on 19/12/44, the inhabitants being banished to the cellars. The only man - a chaplain - in the house was led away and later his body was found in the woods. After the fighting between KG Hansen and the 82nd Airborne nearby, it is believed that Knittel ordered the shooting of 11 US POWs behind the chateau. It was a busy place throughout the battle as everything the Germans tried to put across the Petit Spai Bridge ( including the Jagdpanzer IV which collapsed it ) had to drive past the front door, and a battery of 15cm guns was emplaced nearby to support KG Peiper at La Gleize.
I was rather intrigued - there were no signs for a chateau on the road, and my hiking maps didn't show it. So I thought I'd nip down there for a look.
The track down the valley looked very little-used - in the pic, the mist was just burning off...
There just seemed to be no building at all....but as I got toward the bottom, something seemed to be in the trees....
It gave me a bit of a shock - I'd walked almost right into it.
It was oppressively quiet, there weren't any signs saying 'Dangerous Structure' or 'Keep Out' so, while not wanting to be shot for trespass, I moved in close for a look.
It was only when I downloaded the pics that I noticed the bullet marks in the windowframes....
I don;t want to get all mystical, but they do say that buildings can absorb the atmosphere of events which have happened there. I must say that this was the spookiest WWII location I've ever visited ( being on my own didn't help ! ).
Certainly I walked briskly back up that track, casting the odd glance over my shoulder........
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