Bastogne is a road and rail junction in heart of the Ardennes forest thirty kilometers north of Arlon, with a population of 13,000. It is famous for the part it played in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944. When the advancing Germans demanded surrender from the American forces garrisoned there, the response of General Anthony McAuliffe was terse -- "Nuts!" The ensuing siege leveled the town, but Bastogne never fell, and as a result the Germans were slowed enough for allied reinforcements to arrive and deny them their ultimate objective of Antwerp. A museum commemorates the battle.
Longvilly, Noville-lez-Bastogne, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardin are boroughs within the municipal district of Bastogne.
