Planning a one week trip to see WW1 - 2 battlefields in Europe - Advice ?

Looking for remnants....

They set off five mines at St. Eloi. Last I heard, the crater from the big one still was being used for the municipal water supply!

Worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) movie about the Great War I have seen is "Paths of Glory". Kirk Douglas realised that he would never make money on the film... but the story had to be told. He used a chunk of his own money to make the film.

Also, was in the nearest Big City (Brandon) a few days ago, spent $16 on "Passchendaele", put it to one side because I KNEW it would be a disappointment. Finally put it on the other night and was completely amazed because the disappointment just didn't happen. Remarkably true-to-life. Oh, sure, there is the odd technical flaw (artillery doesn't recoil fast enough, but you can't do that without a full charge, anyway) but I would give them about a 96 out of 100, which is about 3 times the score of the next-closest film. Anyone who worked on that one, even as an extra or behind the cameras, can hold their heads high with good reason. (BTW, I can't STAND Canadian movies!) This one should be shown free in every school in the country, some time in the days running up toward November 11.

But do go, see what you want.

Don't worry too much about not seeing it all now. You WILL go back.

And be sure to say a prayer.
 
The Metz area is well outside of the area that the Canadians fought in WWI, and WW2. (not sure where St. Julian is, so can't comment about that) If you want to visit the Canadian battlefields, the area from Yepres to Amiens is the WW1 area of operation, and Normandy through northern France within 30 miles or so of the coast for WW2

Juno Beach is a must see, as is Vimy Ridge.
 
I would suggest Juno Beach, Yepres, and the battle fields near some of the old Belgian forts if they are still standing. I am not too sure and cannot reccomend much, but good luck! When you walk on the battle field whisper a little mantra, such as mine, "Ye Soldiers of Old, Show me Where Souls Lie in Cold, That I may my hands Fold, and remember ye soldiers of old". It brings good luck and keeps the wandering souls on those old places from sticking to you. I heard of a gent who went walking over the fields and was not kind to the land/place, lacked respect and *ahem* used a monument for a urinal. He still has flashbacks from WWI, and doesn't sleep well. He's planning to go back with a few offerings, and a boquet of flowers for the monument. Hope his luck changes, but his fault.
 
Advice??

Take more than a week.....one month of battlefield/Canadian areas of intrest wasn't enough for me so I am going back one day to see more.....but I am a history buff.

Get a car though as mentioned earlier......trust me...and take pics and get some stuff to bring home.

In one week?.... must see places for Canadians...Juno Beach, Vimmy Ridge (not just the memorial) Dieppe, and visit Abbey Arden and leave a poppy/loonie for the Canadians murdered there.
 
I recently did a 3-week tour of European battlefields on my leave from Afghanistan. Concur 100% on Yepres, of all the sites I visited that was the best. Highly recommend the battlefield tour as well, it's run by a Canadian expat.
 
My Brother and I are starting to plan a trip to commemorate the end of WWI in 2018. His kids will be old enough by then to travel, although probably not old enough to care too much lol. We were thinking about either renting a car or an RV.

I figure there will be a lot of updating and enhancement done prior to 2014, through the centennials of each major battle, and it will all peak in 2018. Not to mention, I'll be an old fart myself if I even make it to 2045, and likely won't be able to travel then.
 
Some great suggestions here, I think I am narrowing down my list of go to places for this first trip. Nothing finalized as of yet. We will renting a car for sure.

I can't change the one week trip time on this one but I am happy to be going at all.

I appreciate all the ideas that are pouring in as they help me pick some really interesting sites to visit the first time around.

By the way, my french is a little rusty, how is the local english around these sites...etc ? Or should I start studying some basic phrases (started already but boy I sound like such a tourist) ?
 
Nabs said:
By the way, my french is a little rusty, how is the local english around these sites...etc ? Or should I start studying some basic phrases (started already but boy I sound like such a tourist) ?
Click to expand...

I found that on the Normandy coast, their English was not that good but if you are Canadian, they will do their damndest to make you feel welcome. One gentleman outside of Caen took me in, gave me tea and told me about his times during the war.......at least I think he did, didn't speak a word of English but damn he was still very grateful to the Canadian soldiers. But around Vimy and in southern Belgium, you will find that the younger ones will have a grasp of English but I would bring a French-English dictonary but in Belgium, they are pretty pround of their own language (Flemmish) so they may not use either French or English. Hope this helps.
 
Visited the Somme battlefield area this time last year the Canadian memorials at Beaumont Hamel and Vimy ridge,( take the guided tour ) are well worth a visit. Cemetaries are all over the place is this area from very small in size to much bigger.
We had a general one day tour of the Somme visiting numerous sites with a personal guide Peter Smith, costs a bit but well worth it as his knowledge of the area is amazing. Picked us up from our hotel in Peronne and took us around in his car.
His website is
www.fieldsoffrance.com
and can be emailed
hilary.smith@wanadoo.fr
If you have anything in particular that you are interested in he can taylor to the tour to suite.
Not connected in any way but thoroughly recommended.
 
Thank you for the heads up, Untergang, I'll be sure to display a Canadian flag or something on my pack so they don't assume I am American right off the bat.

Somtec, I will keep the guided tours in mind as the trip is still in the planning stages at the moment, thank you for the recommendation.
 
St. Julien (the big gas attack) is only a very few miles from Ypres. It was a small village at that time, completely rebuilt since, of course, for there was nothing standing by the end of the War. That is where the BEF ended and the French Colonials started, so that is where Fritz put the Chlorine through. ALMOST worked, but for A Coy, 8 B'n CEF (Little Black Devils). St. Julien was in the Canadian Sector in what the books call the Second Battle of Ypres. What we call Passchendaele (where they drowned the Tanks) is called in the books the Third Battle of Ypres. It's all quite close together by Canadian standards. You can walk to most of them from Ypres itself in a matter of hours (they did), but it's only a few minutes in a car..... and Fritz won't be shelling you along the way, either. So much easier!

Courcelette (on the Somme) is only a handful of miles from Regina Trench and it is about 3 miles from Flers. First tank attack, opening of Regina Trench (Battle of the Ancre Heights) a couple of weeks after that and you will find that you are perhaps 5 miles from Beaumont-Hamel.

By our standards, the actual battle areas are quite small. They made up for that in rats, intensity, gas, the evening hate, mud, tea in a Vickers, and the eternal stench of rotting corpses mixed with the acid tang of Cordite.

Great Bruce Bairnsfather cartoon: "Chuck us out that bag of bombs, mate; it's under your 'ead!"
My personal favourite is his "A Maxim maxim": "Machine guns form a valuable support for Infantry" (quote from the training manual).... and a picture of a fat little German soldier, passed out supported by a Maxim Gun, empty wine bottles all around him.

I remember clearly the day I went to do a newspaper interview with my old friend Pte. Rollie Hart of the Newfoundland Regiment. Interview was supposed to be about what the lkast day of the War was like for him. He was born on November 11, so it was his 22nd birthday; he said it was the best birthday present he ever had. "I think they must have ended it because I am such a hell of a nice guy. Only reason I can think of; we all thought that it was going to go on forever." (Rollie Hart to the author, 1979)
When I arrived for our interview, I found Rollie dropping an empty 26-ounce bottle in the garbage. He then opened a 40 and said, very quietly, "A man has to be drunk to tell the truth of it. I'm only half drunk, so I'm only going to tell you half the truth."

Think on that.

Then go have fun.

And be sure to say a prayer, just once, somewhere.
 
Attempting to be constructive.....

NICHOLSON becomes even more essential. His maps show what was where at the time of the fighting. The MODERN maps of that part of the world, road maps and so forth, don't show a lot of the tiny little places..... and yet this is where the fighting often was so fierce. Some of the places are too small to show on a highway map, but they are important to US. The biggest road map they make (and the Belgians do make some really big ones for so small a country!), PLUS Nicholson, and you are as ready as you can get.

But have fun.
 
My favorite Bairnsfather cartoon. "If you knows of a better 'ole, go to it!"He did puiblish a book of cartoons on the Canadiens and Americans as well, but I can't find them, just the British one.

I am wondering how far in advance you are planning this trip? Given the current conditions, air travel is just NOT happening untill that volcano shuts up.
 
Dachau is just outside of Munich, Auschwitz (Oswieczim) is in Poland.

I would save those for another trip, see where our guys were this time.

Besides, they both were well out of the combat zones most of the time... and they're the wrong war.

For right now, anyway.
 
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