Battlefields Tour

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
lmg
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by lmg »

I didnt mention that I would love to do a visit to the North African campaign memorials (once Libya calms itself down). Anyone on here done that?
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Leigh (LMG)



geordy paul
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by geordy paul »

herman wrote:The Menin Gate at dusk for the last post is an experience in Yepres along with the many sites in the locale.
8pm every night, everybody should experience it at least once.
sledgegreen
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by sledgegreen »

The Douamont ossuary - I visited it almost 40 years ago when I was about 10 and still remember the effect that it had on me.

Few things convey the scale of the slaughter like a room full of skulls. And then there was a stack of thigh bones like a firewood pile about 4 ft high and 8 or 10 feet long. And more rooms full of bones which were not sorted, just jumbled together.
Mad Cow
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by Mad Cow »

Stayed in Brugge (or Bruges if you prefer*) a few years ago and did a guided tour, the guide was a Kiwi but she was married to a local and had fantastic local knowledge. She started by asking where we were all from. As it was an English speaking tour, there was us, Australians, Kiwis, Canadians and a couple of Yanks, so she made sure we went to all the relevant cemeteries including the impressive Tyne Cott as well as the Pashendale Ridge, the Menin Gate, Ypres Cathedral, a mine crater and a trench system recently excavated in an industrial estate near Brugge.

If riding around the area look out for the shells sitting on the concrete telegraph poles, the local farmers are still ploughing them up 95 years later. They leave them there for the Belgian Army who have a unit dedicated to driving around, collecting them and defusing/detonating them. The green ones are gas shells that are aparently still dangerous to this day.



* I've never worked out why we use the French name for a Flemish city? After all we don't call Zeebrugge "Bruges sur Mer" ;)
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Tourider
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by Tourider »

Colditz Castle is now a youth hostel, you can stay there for about £27 per night half board, a full tour focused on its time as Oflag 4c costs 15 euros.
The Mohne Dam in Sauerland, stay in Lippstadt about 20 miles away. It's a beautiful little town full of half-timbered buildings around the town square where they have free concerts on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer.
The trip up to the Eagle's Nest is a bit of a rip-off, pass the visitor centre and pick up the Rossfeld Panoramastrasse. It's a toll road (about 4 euros) that skirts round the Eagle's Nest on adjacent peaks that give splendid views over Salzburg and the Drau Valley.
Dauchau Concentration Camp is on the outskirts of Munich, free entry and a "guided tour" handset costs about £2.50.
Other places worth a mention are Pennemunde Rocket Site, Mittelbau Dora forced labour Rocket factory, Wevelsberg Castle (the SS "centre of excellence") and Prora Holiday Camp on Rugen Island.
Norrie77
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by Norrie77 »

Hi Keith
FWIW with only seven days to play with I would recommend the WW1 sites around the Thiepval ( Battle of the Somme ) memorial and the Ulster Tower (it's only 5 minutes away from the main memorial )and the surrounding area also the Menin Gate ceremony in Yrpes.
WW2 as has been said head for the Ardennes area Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge)nice wee museum at Leglise with,Malmandie where a number of American troops were murdered the names of which are on the wall of the wee memorial shelter and there are some nice roads to play on in the area as well if you are on the bike,what ever you choose to do enjoy your adventure.
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nug800
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by nug800 »

A small group of us have regular visits to France to explore the WW1 battlefields & have had two trips this year to Verdun. The most recent was last month where we had extreme temperatures (40 degrees !)which made things pretty hard going. The forests around Verdun conceal many interesting sites that are off the beaten track & often only accessible on bike or on foot. There are Forts & Bunkers that appear almost untouched since the fighting ceased. trenches abound & even barbed wire & spikes are still all over the forest floor so care must be taken not to injure yourself. Definitely worth a trip if you like exploring plus there are plenty of maintained sites to visit as well as the memorials.

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Hewitt
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by Hewitt »

There is a German WW2 gun battery at Azeville, about 4km inland from Utah beach. Being so far from the beaches it is usually very quiet. It consists of 4 gun emplacements all linked by a maze of tunnels with ammunition stores, barracks, casino, the lot. There is a 14in hole in one of the guns which was 'drilled' by a US battleship on D day. The shell failed to explode but still killed around 14 troops as it passed through the bunker.

It gives an amazing insight into what life was like in the batteries. If you are claustraphobic, avoid as some of the tunnels are very small and very long. It costs 5 euros to enter.
lawsonsplumbing
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by lawsonsplumbing »

Buy books before you go by Major & Mrs Holt, excellent battlefield guides giving choices of routes depending on what you want to see. Crucially they include detailed maps of everything to be seen along the route chosen, these maps have everything else excluded so they are mega easy to use, there is nothing worse than going somewhere to see something and returning home only to find you missed something you could have seen at the same time. This happened to me once when I stayed in Bertangles, North of Amiens to explore the Somme. After returning home I found out Baron Von Richtoven was shot down & buried at Bertangles, less than 500yds from where I had stayed Doh. I never travel now until I have a book on the area by Major & Mrs Holt, I won't miss anything again for the sake of buying a book!
That's the best advice I can give, every battlefield comes alive with reading the history of what happened and make the experience so moving.
gsdman
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Re: Battlefields Tour

Post by gsdman »

I have just ordered the ypres book and a free map is included so Im going to reserch a visit as I have a tunnel ticket on hold as I was going to holland to collect a dog in the summer but it never came off. So its the little nudge I needed.
Thanks Tez
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