Tracing the 99th Infantry "Viking" Battalion in the Ardennes

New Book and Compilation of Research Travel Notes

This week, I finally made time to compile my travel notes from a research trip through the Ardennes forests some years back. That journey was about more than just history—it was about helping the families of several soldiers from the 99th Infantry "Viking" Battalion piece together what happened to their relatives who fought through the brutal winter of 1944–45, in the thick of the Battle of the Bulge. Walking those forests, tracing their footsteps, and standing in the places where—for some—their stories ended… it was heavy. Emotional. But also necessary.

This isn’t a complete account of what the unit endured, but rather my daily research notes—the thoughts and discoveries made as I worked to find answers to questions that have lingered for 80 years. I hope you find something in it that resonates.

Buy the book at Amazon

Here’s the introduction from the book:

Foreword: Walking the Battlefields, Keeping History Alive

I’ve been fascinated by history, especially World War II, for as long as I can remember. That probably comes from my dad, who was deeply interested in the subject and had connections with Normandy veterans. Some of my best childhood memories are of American WWII veterans visiting us during summer vacations—listening to their stories, completely absorbed. That, and reading “The

Longest Day” by Cornelius Ryan, cemented my belief that preserving these narratives matters.

As I got older, that passion for history turned personal. Despite having an Italian surname, my family knew next to nothing about its origins.

At 21, I set out to change that. What started as a simple curiosity became a full-blown quest—digging through the National Archives in Norway, scouring libraries, chasing leads across international archives, and even making trips to Tuscany. Eventually, I pieced together the lost story behind my name—but that’s a tale for another time.

That journey taught me something important: history isn’t just in books. It’s scattered across documents, memories, and landscapes, waiting to be pieced back together. That realization led me to the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate)—a unique Norwegian-American unit that fought in WWII. I’ve spent years researching them, writing articles, and walking the battlefields where they fought. I was even lucky enough to travel through Europe with a former officer of the battalion, hearing his firsthand account of it all (Coming soon as research notes).

This compilation is a product of that ongoing exploration. These notes are from my visits to the Ardennes in July and December 2023, retracing the footsteps of the 99th during the brutal winter of 1944–45.

It’s not a polished historical analysis—more a collection of moments, observations, and reflections from being on the ground.

I’ll be sharing more of my research and battlefield reports on Battlefield Legacies, my digital space for uncovering and preserving these stories.

While my primary focus is on the 99th, I’ll also cover the 2nd Armored Division and the 30th Infantry Division, both of which fought alongside them.

These are, in many ways, unedited notes—a work in progress rather than a finished narrative. History is never truly complete, and neither is the process of understanding it. This is just one step in preserving the stories of those who came before us.

So for now, I hope these notes help bring the story of the 99th a little closer—because history is best understood when you walk where it happened.

Best regards, Antoni