Military tour of the Baltic and down through Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia….

Duggiebee

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I am planning a two month tour of Europe with the general intention of riding to the Baltic states, then riding down to Albania / Croatia and back home via northern Italy and France. I have travelled extensively on my own before, manly backpacking and I find that it is a good idea to have some sort of 'theme' to the route. So I plan to take in as many battlefields and military sites / locations as I can find. I am using a website called 'battles.nodegoat.net' to go check out the locations of various battlefields I want to visit. My question is, apart from the actual battlefields themselves does anyone have any ideas of any military sites to visit? I am thinking of military museums, fortifications, significant buildings etc etc. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.


Edit: Sorry, I perhaps should have been a little more specific. I have done much of Normandy and the WW1 sites. I am more interested in locations either up towards the Baltic and down through Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia etc. Perhaps places a little bit off the beaten track.
 
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Some initial suggestions that we have visited and would recommend - not sure whether these will be close to your route....

- The foxholes at Foy, very well preserved
- Bastogne in general, Mardasson Memorial is a great vantage point
- Speyer Teknikmuseum - superb, huge collection of vehicles, aircraft, a U-boat you can go inside, an Antonov, and a Buran space shuttle
- Berlin Teknikmuseum, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate + more if you are in Berlin
- Border museum in the Harz (I think it was at Sorge?)
- Berchtesgaden / Eagles Nest
- Nuremberg zeppelin field
- Depending on how grim you want to go, Dachau near Munich was a must visit

My good mates Fluffmeister and Von Stolberg of this very parish are a wealth of military sites across Europe.
 
There was a small, but interesting, museum in Limone on Lake Garda. The WW1 conflict in that area was one I had little knowledge of before stumbling on that place.
https://www.visitlimonesulgarda.com/la-storia/

Another area often missed off in such tours is Alsace. WW1 & WW2 history as well as many conflicts from earlier centuries. Some WW1 stuff north of Munster including some German trenches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natzweiler-Struthof_concentration_camp was featured in a recently re-broadcast BBC documentary. Pretty grim story of course but fascinating none the less. The depravity of the Nazi regime is mind boggling, just so Hitler could have the right colour stone in his vanity projects.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000bqt9/the-man-who-saw-too-much for the documentary - available for 26 more days.
 
you can still visit the Zeppelin sheds, there are some Maginot forts that you can visit in the Arden, Austerlitz and Waterloo are also worth a visit
 
There are hundreds, probably thousands

A couple of ideas in no particular order….

The American cemetery at Omaha beach

Memorial du linge for well preserved trenches

Vimmy ridge

Natzweiler-Struthof

Nuremberg- courts, Nazi era arenas, zeppelin field etc.

Hackenberg ouvrage - maginot line

La,Chapel en Vercors - war museum + resistance museum
 
Hi all, my two-penneth worth.
First world war - lots of places, Passendale (there are lots of cemeteries in that area etc), Menin Gate (visit at 8pm - every night the last post is played and I mean every night), Theipval memorial and Vimy Ridge memorials among others.
Second world war - mostly up by the Normandy coast, including the Mulberry Harbour, beaches such as Omaha, Utah, Swordfish as well as others etc, and coastal museums in that area.
Inland into France, and during the occupation it wasn't really like Allo Allo, using google look up Oradour-sur-glane (I think it is spelt that way), a small village left by the French people exactly like the German troops finished with it - see the small cimema show as well - if you leave there with dry eyes, you aren't human.!!
Inland into Belgium, visit the December 44 museum, small place but it has a Panzer Tiger tank "parked" outside, and there isn't many of them left.
Along the Atlantic coast there are several submarine docks that you can see and walk around.
I have visited all the above and I dare anyone to say the visits were not worth the effort.
Like I said lots to see, especially if you can trace back your own family tree and check for any war related deaths etc, if so, check out where postings and battlefields were etc.
 
Sorry, I perhaps should have been a little more specific. I have done much of Normandy and the WW1 sites. I am more interested in locations either up towards the Baltic and down through Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia etc. Perhaps places a little bit off the beaten track.
 
If your doing the balkans then a short hop to trieste to find this place-Risiera di San Sabba. Very sobering and definitely worth a few hours
 
I have edited your opening post and title.

Richard

================

How long is a piece of string?


Google and some degree of self-help is maybe your best friend. For example, a search of ‘ww2 sites in poland’ and a bit of surfing turns up:

https://www.travelawaits.com/2484401/world-war-ii-poland-sites/

https://www.intopoland.com/what-to-see/world-war-ii.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:World_War_II_sites_in_Poland

A similar request of Google for ‘WW2 sites Germany’ (just three words) turns up, just as a sample only:

https://www.mapquest.com/travel/10-significant-world-war-ii-sites-to-visit-in-germany/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/germany/world-war-ii

Or you could just visit the Seelow Heights, the site of the last massive battle before the battle of Berlin could commence. Assuming that is you are even planning in visiting Berlin or that region of Germany.

I’ll leave you to do similar three word searches for ideas in the other countries you plan to visit.



What you could do is ‘think outside the box’. What does that mean?

Maybe it means reading some books to find something that interests YOU and then Google / surf about to find where it is. I did that to hunt (a bit like a detective) some ‘off the beaten track’ locations in France and Germany. For example, I found the very crossroads where event XYZ took place. I plan on a trip to the Ukraine in 2023 to find a spot in one obscure village where a Jewish massacre took place. This is not because I am Jewish or because it was the only site. But maybe it is unique as it is perhaps the one site out of thousands where an investigative journalist / author turned up evidence as to the names and identities of the people in a grainy picture. I then had some correspondence with the author (I found her address via Google) and picked up some additional information directly from her.

The book was The Ravine, of which I read a good review in the Sunday papers.

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/554103-The-Ravine-Wendy-Lower?highlight=Ravine

To show how spooky such a plan might be, see post #80 in this thread:

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/554205-Ukraine-maps-which-ones/page5


I hope this gives you some ideas.


PS If you are going to the Czech Republic, you might want to visit the site of the battle of Austerlitz, one of the most famous and important battles in European history.

fdf499233c112f45b5a46cfbaca0d4bd.jpg


Or, if you happen to be in right part of Germany, find the site of the battle of Blenheim. Another hugely important battle, that arguably changed the course of European and British history.

8248290183bf2a9025a52e30b7ff6205.jpg


As you can see there is an awful lot of military history out there, right across the vast swathe of Europe you have chosen. Have fun finding what interests you.
 
There is not much in Lithuania but soon after crossing from Latvia there is an old Soviet airfield with a new flying club and a good cafe. Next door is a collection of old Cold War era fighters etc that you can crawl over and marvel at their incredibly basic engineering

55°49'41"N 24°21'33"E
 
Zagan in Poland is the site of Stalag Luft III and the Great Escape. The lines of the tunnels are marked and the bases of some of the camp buildings are still there. There's a museum nearby which was shut on the day we went.
 
wolf's lair in poland.... all manner of strange stuff in poland.... we found a door into the mountian... but like proper adventurers... refused to explore it.... if your heading out that way the zepplin sheds now thieves markets in riga.... great wild camping... but don't watch hannibal rising before going.....
 
The Castle of the 13th Century Teutonic Order in Malbork Northern Poland is worth a visit if in the area. :thumb2
 

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