Hi, First time post so please go easy on a newbie. Each year I holiday in Northern Italy and generally drive down trying to take in somewhere with historical significance. I've visited the trenches at Vimy Ridge, Bastogne and been over to take a look at the remains of the Berghof. This year I was planning to travel south through France then via Switzerland and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I was thinking of the villages of Hatten and Rittershofen as described in Hans von Luck's memoirs and carry on from there. My main interest is in being able to visit places where you can indentify landmarks and maybe compare with some period photos. Any websites, books or personal suggestions gratefully received. Thanks.
If you are travelling through NE france head towards Metz & Thionville and take a look at the Maginot line you wont be disserpointed... ;-)
Here you'll find the ancient battlefield of the Franco - Prussian war 1870/71. There is an interesting Museum at Woerth. The Franco-Prussian war broke out on 4 August 1870. After the French defeat near Wissembourg Mac Mahon, commander of the French troops, withdrew to Froeschwiller. There, a terrible, very bloody battle took place two days later, on 6 August 1870, in the area lying between Woerth, Froeschwiller and Morsbronn. Known by the Germans as the Battle of Woerth, it is perhaps more widely known as the Battle of Reichshoffen after the famous French charge, and for the town from which the telegram announcing the French defeat was dispatched. or... the citadel of Bitche ..... B)
if you are interested in WW1: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aur/layout/frames.htm?Battlefields/Battlefields.htm Scroll down to Vosges / Alsace Regards, Marco
Something I learned recently, there was Nazi Concentration Camp in the Vosges. This thread: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/france/28227-concentration-camp-france.html?highlight=vosges Also Wingen-sur-Moder featured a pitched battle between the green battalions of the US 70th Infantry Division and two battalions of the 6.SS Gebirgsdivision(Nord). There is also the Lalique factory and Museum there. Musee Lalique Mentioned in one of the threads linked to above is where Audie Murphy earn his Medal of Honor. IIRC it is near Holtzwihr, on the Alsace plain between the Vosges and the Rhein Cheers
Thanks everyone for starting me off with some good ideas. I mentioned Hans von Luck's book as he served in this area but I also have a number of books such as Guy Sajer's The Forgotten Soldier, Soldat by Siegried Knappe, Panzer Commander by Guderian and Armageddon by Max Hastings. Does anyone have any firsthand accounts the can recommend by authors of any nationality? I like to read up on a given bit of history and find the sites which are referred to. Lastly I'm after some recommendations of photographic sites along the lines of the Third Reich in Ruins so I can find those sites today. Many thanks again for the input.
For Wingen-sur-Moder: Seven Days in January by Wolf Zoepf and Battle of Wingen-sur-Moder by Wallace Robert Cheves Each commanded battalions on the opposing sides.
For Wingen-sur-Moder: Seven Days in January by Wolf Zoepf and Battle of Wingen-sur-Moder by Wallace Robert Cheves Each commanded battalions on the opposing sides. Seven Days in January is a fine book but l do not recall that Herr Zoepf was a Bn Commander. Dave
Hatten has two WW2 museums, easy to find, one is in a WW2 Bunker with a sherman on top, another bunker museum at Markolsheim Kembs dam bombed by 617 is a bit further down Maginot line is a nightmare if you want to go into a fort, most seem to be open at 12-1 on the 32nd of february only ! You will spot lots of bunkers in fields, always worth a look, remember the torch !
Seven Days in January is a fine book but l do not recall that Herr Zoepf was a Bn Commander. Dave You're right, the book describes him as Adjutant and I found this: About the Author Wolf Zoepf has produced a meticulously researched, eminently readable memoir of combat as a member of a German mountain infantry unit in Operation NORDWIND. The author, a former infantry battalion 2iC in the SS-Mountain Infantry Regiment 12 of the 6th SS-Mountain Division NORD, was a Latvian expatriate of German ethnicity whose family left their home in Riga just before the Soviet occupation in 1939. A retired Diplom-Ingenieur, Herr Zoepf passed away just three weeks after finishing this book in 1999.
If you are there on a weekend, try Gros Ouvrage (Fortress) Schoenenbourg near Wissembourg. It is one of the best Maginot Line museums. ALSACE - LA LIGNE MAGINOT - FORT DE SCHOENENBOURG
Maybe a bit late, but this is also very interesting (southern Vosges near Colmar). The Linge a 14-18 battlefield museum in the High Vosges. Musée Mémorial Le Linge 1914 - 1918. Champ de bataille 1418. Site officiel. Vosges - Alsace - Val d'Orbey