The National Museum of Military History, Diekirch

The MNHM, or National Museum of Military History, was started in Diekirch in 1982 by a handful of enthusiasts and volunteers. Today, according to its own website, it covers more than 3,000 m² and has an international reputation for exactly what it set out to do, telling the story of the 1944-45 Battle of the Bulge without black-and-white simplifications, from the American side, the German side and that of the civilians caught in between.

Why Diekirch, and why this museum

The Ardennes offensive destroyed much of the centre of Diekirch, visitluxembourg notes, and it’s also a garrison town, with the Härebierg barracks at the heart of the Luxembourg army since 1955. It makes sense for the national war museum to be here. It was built up in close cooperation with hundreds of veterans from both sides and countless civilian witnesses, and you can see it in the personal belongings, letters, photos and maps displayed alongside the heavy kit.

What wins me over is the approach. It isn’t a museum of trophies, it’s a museum of people, soldiers and local families who spent one of the harshest winters of the war on the front line.

The dioramas, the reason to go

There are 50 life-size dioramas, tens of thousands of exhibits and around 50 vehicles from both sides, wheeled and tracked. visitluxembourg puts the collection at more than 100,000 military objects. The dioramas recreate soldiers’ daily lives and the fighting around the town.

The centrepiece, the museum says, is the detailed mock-up of the night crossing of the Sûre at Diekirch on 18 January 1945 by units of the US 5th Infantry Division. I’d start there, because it places everything else on the map of the town you’ve just walked through.

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Beyond the battle

A large part of the museum covers the Luxembourg army, from the Volunteer Company, which existed from 1881 to 1944, to the post-war army and its UN peacekeeping missions. There are rooms on Luxembourgers who fought in Allied armies in both world wars and in Korea, where, according to the museum, 85 volunteers served within the Belgian contingent of the United Nations Command. One diorama shows a bunker on White Horse Hill, near Chorwon, in 1952-53.

British visitors may linger over one piece in particular. After the grand-ducal family fled the German invasion in May 1940, Prince Jean joined the British Army and trained at Sandhurst, and the museum displays the uniform he wore with the Irish Guards during the liberation of the Grand Duchy in September 1944. Next to it is a revolver with an engraved crown, a gift from Luxembourg volunteers in the Allied armies when he was commissioned as a lieutenant in July 1943. The collection reaches back to the First World War too, with a German Pickelhaube of boiled and lacquered leather.

The museum also makes a point that may surprise you. Luxembourg’s present-day army is not even 75 years old, founded as the Second World War ended, yet the country’s military story reaches back to the early 19th century, and Diekirch, as a traditional garrison town, is where that story is told.

Hours, prices and getting there

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 till 18:00, and closed on Mondays and on New Year’s Day, Carnival Sunday and Christmas Day. An adult ticket is €5, and €3 if you’re 10 to 18 or have a student card. Under-10s and visitors with special needs go free, and groups of ten or more pay €3 each. With the LuxembourgPass it’s free. Dogs on a lead are allowed, there’s an audio guide to hire and guided group tours are booked separately.

Take the train to Diekirch on CFL line 10; the museum is at 10 rue Bamertal.

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Building a Battle of the Bulge day

The museum’s visit page suggests two nearby trails with traces of the war, the historic trail between Bettendorf and Reisdorf, remembering how the battle began in 1944, and the Schumann’s Eck memorial trail near Wiltz, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the offensive.

I’d do Diekirch in the morning and the Patton museum in Ettelbruck in the afternoon, as it closes at 17:00. With another day, the American cemetery at Hamm, where Patton is buried, completes the picture. For the wider context, read up on the Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg. Finally, if you enjoy walking, look at the International March of Diekirch, which began in 1968 with army roots.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Military History Museum and pick one that fits your day.

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