Atlas of Battles

siege, major, interwar and Second World War

Siege of Bastogne

Siege of Bastogne was a siege conducted on 20 December 1944 at Bastogne, in what is now Belgium; it lasted 7 days. It was part of the Western Front, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: American victory. Recorded strength: 101st: 11,000 enlisted + 800 officers; Remaining units: 11,000+; Total: 22,800+ men (initially) against 54,000 men.

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Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge
Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge. CORNELIUSSEON (talk · contribs), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought20 December 1944lasted 7 days
WhereBastogne, Belgium50.004N, 5.720E
OutcomeAmerican victory
BelligerentsUnited StatesagainstNazi Germany
Casualties and losses3,000+ total casualties (2,000 in the 101st)andUnknown
Part ofWestern Front1939 to 1945

Where it sits in the Western Front

Siege of Fort Hegra, 1940Battle of France, 1940German invasion of Belgium, 1940Battle of Maastricht, 1940Battle of Sedan, 1940Battle of Boulogne, 1940Battle of Dunkirk, 1940Battle of the Ypres-Comines Canal, 1940Siege of Lille, 1940Dunkirk evacuation, 1940Battle of Pont-de-l'Arche, 1940Battle of Lanzerath Ridge, 1944Operation Madelaine, 1944Battle of Moerbrugge, 1944Siege of Dunkirk, 1944Battle of Metz, 1944Battle of Opheusden, 1944Battle of Vianden, 1944Battle of Broekhuizen, 1944Losheim Gap, 1944Battle of Clervaux, 1944Siege of Bastogne, 1944Battle of St. Vith, 1944Operation Nordwind, 1944Operation Bodenplatte, 1945Battle of Bure, 1945Battle for the Kapelsche Veer, 1945Operation Blockbuster, 1945Battle of Würzburg, 1945Ruhr Pocket, 1945Battle of Hamburg, 194519401945Siege of Bastogne, 1944
31 placed engagements of the Western Front in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date20 December 1944
to 27 December 1944
PlaceBastogne, Belgium
50.004N, 5.720E
KindSiege, interwar and Second World War
Strength101st: 11,000 enlisted + 800 officers; Remaining units: 11,000+; Total: 22,800+ men (initially)54,000 men
Casualties and losses3,000+ total casualties (2,000 in the 101st)Unknown
Commanders
Siege of BastogneSiege of BastogneBattle of ClervauxBattle of the ArdennesBattle of BureBattle of ViandenBattle of RossignolBattle of the ArdennesBattle of BureBattle of RossignolBrusselsCologneLuxembourgSaarbrückenBonnMetzCharleroiReims100 km50.004N, 5.720E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Siege of Bastogne
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 25 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Siege of Bastogne today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-08-11. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 502 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 0 to 566 m, 566 m of relief, steep country and today it is 52% grassland, 18% tree cover, 17% cropland.

grassland: 52%tree cover: 18%cropland: 17%built-up: 12%grassland 52%tree cover 18%cropland 17%built-up 12%
west to east, 10.0 km441 to 539 mnorth to south, 10.0 km0 to 544 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1944

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: GER 67TH PZ CORPS (ELMS)Defender: US 10TH ARMD DIV(-)(+)
Strength36,6784,849
Casualties3,000 (8.2%)1,151 (23.7%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1057
Outcomedefender won
Duration2 days
Front width12 km12 km
Attacker advanced15 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 485), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Siege of Bastogne is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 243 in present-day Belgium.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q708181, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Siege of Bastogne, revision 1385528017, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.