A volunteer with the Santa Clarita Grocery told his first-hand account as a child in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.

On December 4, 1936, Florent Moriau was born in Brussels, Belgium. During this time, Europe had begun to see a shift in powers. In Germany, Adolf Hitler had broken the Treaty of Versailles by sending German troops to occupy the Rhineland. The lack of international response emboldened Hitler to continue breaking other international agreements with impunity. The very same year, Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini signed the “Pact of Steel” which bound Italy and Germany in full military alliance. 

Moriau recalled the scarcity of food during that time. He was sent to a farm by his parents because the farms were known to have plenty of food and were generally safer than the city.

“There was an organization who took the kids and put them in farms. I went to three different places,” said Moriau. “When you see the bread [during] those times, you could squeeze it and see the water come out, that’s how bad it was.”

Both German and Belgian forces worked in tandem, Moriau still remembers the cruelty of the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, operating on rumors. Many Belgians lived in hiding, according to Moriau. Moriau’s uncle, at one point, had been taken to Breendonk, a concentration camp, and ultimately survived by being placed to work in a sausage factory.

“When [the Gestapo] came to your house, you could say, ‘that’s it, I’m gone,’” said Moriau. “If they didn’t find anything, they still took you.”

On December 16, 1944, the Battle of the Bulge began, Moriau had just turned 8-years-old. 

“The first day I arrived, the Germans came back. We were completely encircled,” recalled Moriau. “My parents didn’t know if I was alive.They didn’t know [anything.]” 

Moriau spent the next few days hiding in the basement of the farm with other children. The Nazi forces never took the farm. Moriua recalled the daily occurrence of American soldiers laying down communication wires during the day and German soldiers cutting the wires at night. 

The Ardennes Campaign, later known as the Battle of the Bulge, was Germany’s last ditch effort to turn the tide of war in their favor. Using bad weather conditions as an advantage, the Nazis made an initial surprise attack on Allied forces which proved to make some successful gains. However, the attack resulted only in a large bulge in the Allied lines. By January 1945, the Allied forces had recovered all lost ground. 

The Battle of the Bulge proved to be the 3rd bloodiest battle of the war. American forces suffered some 75,000 casualties in the Battle of the Bulge, in comparison, the Germans lost 80,000 to 100,000 soldiers. The Red Army in the east had begun a counter offensive. A defeat for Germany was only a matter of time.

“Then one day the sky was full of parachutes.” said Moriau. “You couldn’t imagine how many people came out of those planes. At that time, we knew it was going to be over. When you saw the equipment [the Americans] brought, unbelievable.”

At the time, Germany was not as industrialized as America. German soldiers still used horses against modern cars and tanks the American soldiers were equipped with.

Years later, when Moriau first arrived in America, he met a veteran who was one of the paratroopers that day. The veteran gifted Moriau a dagger he had taken from a German officer. Inscribed on the dagger read “Alles für Deutschland,” which translates to “Everything For Germany.”

“War. Nobody gains. Everybody is a loser. No matter what you do. You may be the winner, but you’re still the loser,” said Moriau, shaking his head. “Everybody loses. Why war? When [life] can be so nice. Let’s face it, life is too short to make war.” 

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.