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Places of interest in EU (ww1/2)

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-=KnIfE=-

-=KnIfE=-

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Nov 21, 2005
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Dunstable, UK
www.silveredge.4thewww.com
#1
I'm looking to travel around Europe in a few weeks time with my girlfriend to see lots of WW1 and WW2 places of interest.

I'm wondering if any of you guys have any suggestions for places to visit. I'm definately gonna be going to the Normandy coast, Ypres, Berlin's War Museum, and probably some concentration camps like Auschwitz, but I'm looking to find a few more places to visit, so suggestions are very welcome.

We're gonna be staying at B&B's/hostels while we're doing it as well and any help with accomodation is also welcome.

So yeah, any ideas?
 
#3
My first date with my then future wife was at the Panorama museum of the battle of Stalingrad.

In France there is a very good armour museum in Saumur http://www.musee-des-blindes.asso.fr/

If you go to Normandy be sure to visit Caen and the museum just outside of there - there is also a fantastic, small and friendly restaurant in the cathedral close where you will taste some of the best food you are ever going to have. They speak English but do appreciate it if you make the effport to speak French, no matter how badly. If you're taking the GF, a romantic candlelit dinner there in the shadow of a great gothic cathedral = win and you will get enough to karma points to carry you through several future arguments.

If your French is a bit better you could also visit the farm of M. Samson in the village of Cintheaux on the Falaise road. His grandad collected loads of odds and sods left over after Operation Totalise and put them in his barn. He has loads of great stuff, including several bits of a Tiger which was destroyed very close by. Not 100% sure but there is a good chance it was Wittmann's. It's at No 1 Rue du Prieure, Cintheaux. You will need good French though and it's always nice to take him a bottle of something for taking time out of his day to show you round. I can give you his contact details if you want to arrange a visit. Cintheaux has this weird kind of travelodge place outisdeit which is very cheap - it's also near enough to Caen to drive in for the grub (about 15 minutes).

Other places I know of worth a visit are Pilsen in Czech republic - it's not as commercial and geared towards Brit lager louts as Prague (also not quite as historical) but it WAS liberated by Patton and does have the best beer in the world - almost beyond dispute.

These are the only places I know well but there are plenty of others people will be able to share with you. Most importantly you're going to get a great taste of Europe and, for that purpose, any theme (WW2, food, etc.) is as good as the next.
 
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#4
Marquis24 said:
You got your girlfriend to go to all those places? :eek: Does she have a sister?
Click to expand...

Actually it was her idea. She doesn't have any sisters but she has a brother.... dunno if that'll do but meh

Nestor Makhno said:
My first date with my then future wife was at the Panorama museum of the battle of Stalingrad.

In France there is a very good armour museum in Saumur http://www.musee-des-blindes.asso.fr/

If you go to Normandy be sure to visit Caen and the museum just outside of there - there is also a fantastic, small and friendly restaurant in the cathedral close where you will taste some of the best food you are ever going to have. They speak English but do appreciate it if you make the effport to speak French, no matter how badly. If you're taking the GF, a romantic candlelit dinner there in the shadow of a great gothic cathedral = win and you will get enough to karma points to carry you through several future arguments.

If your French is a bit better you could also visit the farm of M. Samson in the village of Cintheaux on the Falaise road. His grandad collected loads of odds and sods left over after Operation Totalise and put them in his barn. He has loads of great stuff, including several bits of a Tiger which was destroyed very close by. Not 100% sure but there is a good chance it was Wittmann's. It's at No 1 Rue du Prieure, Cintheaux. You will need good French though and it's always nice to take him a bottle of something for taking time out of his day to show you round. I can give you his contact details if you want to arrange a visit. Cintheaux has this weird kind of travelodge place outisdeit which is very cheap - it's also near enough to Caen to drive in for the grub (about 15 minutes).

Other places I know of worth a visit are Pilsen in Czech republic - it's not as commercial and geared towards Brit lager louts as Prague (also not quite as historical) but it WAS liberated by Patton and does have the best beer in the world - almost beyond dispute.

These are the only places I know well but there are plenty of others people will be able to share with you. Most importantly you're going to get a great taste of Europe and, for that purpose, any theme (WW2, food, etc.) is as good as the next.
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Cheers Nestor,

So far we have:

Dunkirk, ypres, Arnhem (and will be driving over the other bridges on hells highway :)), Berlin, auschwitz, prague (though probably now re-routing through Pilsen), Austria, Visiting [DBDUK]Shortey in Munich for some good bavarian weissbiers, then through paris (for the lady), and then the normany area (which may or may not include caen, cherbourg, falaise etc.)

Where was the Panorama Museum btw? I'm guessing in Russia but hoping not :)
 
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#8
You could try Kiel in Germany, there's a holocaust and submarine museum. And while you're there, you could peak at Dybbol in Denmark, visiting the 1864 museum and walking on the trenches where Denmark fought and lost to Prussia and Austria in the 2nd Schleswig War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_war_of_Schleswig

I thought about not posting this, as it doesn't meet your criteria, but since I spent so much time on it, I felt bad deleting it.:D
 
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#9
I suggest Ilomantsi, in North-Carelia, Finland. Battle sites of Winter War and Continuation War. Though it might be out of your route a bit, it seems.:D

But I can guarantee accommodation and free guidance.:)


And you could visit the Raate Road museum in Suomussalmi (the place of big motti-battle in Winter War) at the same time. It would certainly be a very different kind of experience, if you compare it to for example France.
 
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#10
WWI: Verdun (France) is an interesting place to visit. They kept the 'nade scars in the environment and only mow the grass there so they are more visible. You stand there and every inch is bombed as far as your eyes can see.:eek:

WWII: Nuremberg (Germany): You can visit the room where the nuremberger trials took place in a guided tour (afaik you can't go in there alone) and there is the "Doku-Zentrum" where Hitler wanted his new Reichsparteitagsgel
 
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#11
As off-topic.
When I wanted to take a photo of a place on the beach, where soviet naval troops landed in 1942 in Eupatoria, I had to tell my gf to stand in front of the camera, so she couldn't figure out what I was truly photographing.. I didn't want to show myself as a history geek. :)
Where was the Panorama Museum btw? I'm guessing in Russia but hoping not
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It is in Volgograd, which some years before was called Stalingrad. :)
try Mauthausen, its a concentration camp near Linz, the only class 3 (death throught work) camp i know of
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A brother of my grand dad was there, but survived.
 
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#15
Also, head for the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme. See how many of your relatives (and mine) you can find listed there. Look across the Somme battlefields and try and imagine walking across those ridiculous flat areas in "good order", while the Hun machine-guns you!

There are often little local museums in the French villages in Normandy, such as Villers-Bocage.

East of Berlin, there are the bunker positions on the Seelowe Heights. Aachen and the Westwall. Hell - just pick a couple of units and follow thier route :)
 
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#16
when going from france to germany you should pass through the ardennes highway in belgium. most of the important places of the ardennes battle lay next to that highway. i suggest you take the bastogne exit, to visit the museum and "mardasson" memorial. Then take the Lierneux-stoumont-houffalise exit and head toward "la Gleize" where you will find a kingtiger outside of the december 44 museum. what is great about the ardennes is that it has not much changed since the battle, you will find bullet marks on buildings and disabled tanks in nearly every village.
 
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#18
In Berlin is not much left visible

We have the flak towers but there is not much to see ( except for big concrete towers :rolleyes:)

The Pariser Platz is a construction sight at the moment (they are building an underground station) so it doesn't look like the RO map :p

There is the Holocaust Memorial with a museum (damn I have to admit I never have visited that).

The classic Berlin toursit attractions are more Cold War related (Checkpoint Charlie) but you will see everywhere buildings built or used by the Nazis and so houses in the eastern part still are battle damaged (but their number is decreasing everyday).

No idea if we have a war related museum in Berlin :eek: We are too peaceful
 
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#20
Pagan said:
Touring World War 2 battlefields and concentration camps with your girlfriend, Knifey you old soppy romantic you.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you got me pagan....

Cheers for the ideas guys. I forgot about going through the Ardennes forests on the way to the netherlands, good idea.

I'm beginning to think though that I should probably extend my trip to more than 9 days as there seems to be so much to fit in!
 
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