Houffalize

Houffalize is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in the province of Luxembourg in the south-east of Belgium. The municipality covers 166.58 square kilometres and had 4,802 inhabitants on 1 January 2007, a low density of about 29 people per square kilometre that reflects its rural setting. It is made up of the districts of Houffalize, Mabompré, Mont, Nadrin, Tailles, Tavigny and Wibrin, and a long list of smaller hamlets such as Achouffe, Cowan, Engreux and Filly lie within it. Houffalize was a strategic crossroads during the Battle of the Bulge in the Second World War, where the generals Montgomery and Patton met after counter-attacking from the north and the south. The town was flattened on the night of 5 to 6 January 1945 by ninety RAF Lancaster bombers, which aimed to block the crossroads used by German supply columns. Today it is a founding member of the Douzelage, a twinning association of 24 towns across the European Union that began in 1991.