The Bois Jacques lies on a quiet road running between the villages of Bizory and Foy.
Deep within this dense pine forest near Bastogne, you come across unexpected relics of war. The ground is pitted with holes dug by American soldiers during the winter battle of 1944-45.
They fought here in freezing temperatures to liberate the tiny village of Foy at the bottom of the hill.
A small monument was put up next to the road in 2015, close to the hidden foxholes, but it has been attacked by vandals.
An unmarked path to the left of the monument leads to a cluster of handmade wooden crosses planted in the forest to commemorate the soldiers of Easy Company, whose story inspired the TV series Band of Brothers.
It’s a quiet, haunting spot where visitors sometimes plant little American flags beside the foxholes.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
