100418 | UNITED STATES & BELGIUM. Battle of the Bulge bronze Plaque

100418 | UNITED STATES & BELGIUM. Bronze Plaque. Issued circa 1947. Commemorating the Battle of the Bulge and engraved to Armand Colle (54x68mm, 121.34 g, 12h). By J. P. Jacques.

 

Aerial view of the five-pointed star shape Mardasson Memorial set upon raised platform; Great Seal of the United States in the sky above / BATTLE OF THE BULGE / MEMORIAL / BASTOGNE BELGIUM / "ON NO OTHER SOIL / THE EARTH OVER HAS MORE / AMERICAN BLOOD BEEN / SPILLED IN THE COURSE OF / A SINGLE BATTLE" / COL S.L.A. MARSHALL in nine lines; "ARMAND COLLE" engraved on cartouche below. Edge: Plain.

 

Cf. Johnson & Jensen 8 (25 September 1980), lot 597 (for a similar plaque engraved to Madame J. Dossin); cf. Liberaal Archief 652 (for a similar plaque engraved to the CGSLB [Centrale Générale des Syndicats Libéraux de Belgique]).

 

As Issued. Yellow-tan surfaces. Includes original box of issue. Very rare and historically important.

 

Seen by the Germans as a way to split the Allied forces on the Western Front, thus allowing Adolf Hitler to focus more concertedly on the Soviets and the Eastern Front, the campaign initially proceeded favorably for the Germans, who caught their adversaries by surprise. As the battle drew out during the dead of winter, however, the tides began to turn, and the Allied forces were eventually able to exhaust the German resources. Entrenched on the Eastern Front with the Soviets, who had moved up their planned attack in order to capitalize on their beleaguered opponent, the German army would have little left to continue and would eventually begin surrendering in the spring of 1945. The battle served as a decisive Allied victory and an important turning point in the war, and was the inspiration for a memorial later built and dedicated to the Americans who had lost their lives there.

 

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