House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a bipartisan congressional delegation to the Belgian town of Bastogne to join weekend-long commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of World War II's Battle of the Bulge.
Today, our bipartisan delegation arrived in Belgium for the 75th anniversary of the #BattleoftheBulge. In Bastogne, we joined our U.S. soldiers and allied leaders to celebrate this historic victory. We were proud to honor our brave veterans who served in World War II. pic.twitter.com/ZEZ9yD4hQu
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 14, 2019
Why it matters: The battle, which began Dec. 16, 1944, and ended Jan. 25, 1945, was the last major German Western front offensive of the war.
- The Americans "suffered some 75,000 casualties" during the fighting and Germany up to 100,000 soldiers, per the U.S. Army Center of Military History, which notes the German strength "had been irredeemably impaired."
The big picture: Hundreds of actors re-enacted the battle, also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, over the weekend, per Euronews.
Bastogne is all in with reenactors coming through in period jeeps and trucks pic.twitter.com/DQAJnr5zxq
— Sarah Ladd (@ladd_sarah) December 15, 2019
