Foy — Easy Company

Foy, BE

Foy became one of the most famous villages of the **Battle of the Bulge** through the experience of **Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division** — the unit immortalised in Stephen Ambrose's book and the HBO series *Band of Brothers*. The company held positions in the frozen **Bois Jacques** forest above Foy throughout the siege of Bastogne, enduring artillery barrages, sniper fire, trench foot, and temperatures as low as −20°C, often without adequate winter clothing, ammunition, or food. The attack on Foy on January 13, 1945 — led by **1st Lieutenant Lewis Nixon** after the relief of the company's previous commander — was one of the last major actions of Easy Company in the Ardennes. The village was taken after intense close-quarter fighting through its streets. The **Bois Jacques** forest above Foy still contains traces of the foxhole positions where Easy Company and other 506th units spent weeks in the coldest winter of the century.