My brother in law from Aus wants to do a tour of WW1+2 sites in Northern France. Any ideas? Routes? Websites?

Question

We have up to about a week in October and obviously don't mind putting the miles in driving. Just looking for a plan that would take in as many sites as possible and maybe a slice of French culture. Thanks again. Mick

Answer 1

The coast area between Calais and Boulogne has a lot of WWll sites and museums. http://www.a-taste-of-france.com/battery...

If you go inland toward St Omer you can find the rocket sites http://www.a-taste-of-france.com/blockha... For WWl try the towns of Arras and Albert http://www.a-taste-of-france.com/albert....

Answer 2

The Memorial de Caen is the best WWI and II museum that I have ever seen.  

The d-day landing beaches are close by  (1 hour drive from Caen) along side of American and Canadian cemeteries.

Look for white fire hydrant sized markers along departmental roads.  They will tell you which regiment marched  through there.

In Avranches, you will find a small city with tons of twisting roads and a few very large, very straight ones.  These roads that cut through the city instead of following it around were made by the German tanks.

In the center of town there is general Patton Place, a circle of US soil which still has an assortment of Tanks and Army vehicles proudly displayed there.

No WWI tour would be complete without heading East to Verdun.  Verdun was the deadliest battlefield in WWI and 80 years later the land is still pockmarked and scarred from the conflict.  You can enter the bunkers and you will swear that someone is following you...but when you turn to look, no one will be there.  You can walk next to trenches that still have remnants of barbed wire and such....  Verdun is where I finally understood how terrible war is.

Continue heading East, towards Luxembourg.  About 15 km from the Luxembourg border you can visit the 'Battle of the Bulge'.  

Once you cross over into Luxembourg you can go and see the US Military cemetery on Hamm, the final resting place of General Patton.

Answer 3

Try Belgium, Ypres is a good starting point.

There are many companies in the UK, tour operators or coach firms that do trips to WW1 sites, get an itinery from them and use it yourself.

Answer 4

normandy..go to normandy..

Answer 5

I am assuming by AUS you mean Australian and not Austrian.

During the two wars, Australian troops earned battle honours at all the fllowing places in Northern France:

Fromelles

( "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history"[)

Amiens

(the final breakthru of WWI with Australian troops in the center of the advance)

Normandy

Mont St Quentin

(sometimes regarded as the finest achievement of the AIF in WWI)

Bullecourt

(The "Blood Tub" http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_bul...

Passchendaele

(Third Battle of Ypres)

Polygon Wood

(another phase of the battle of Ypres)

Pozieres

(Ablodbath where the Aussies lost half their men in a few weeks.http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/p...

Villers-Bretonneux

(The Australian War Memorial in France is located in Villers-Bretonneux)

Ypres

"With personal courage, compassion and bound by an unshakeable belief in each other they won for our nation the respect of the world and from their nation a debt of gratitude which those who have followed them can never repay"

Prime Minister John Howard on the occasion of the dedication of the Australian War Memorial in London