New Michelin guides to the battlefields

[Martin Bennitt]

Two new Michelin guides to the Western Front were published today to mark Armistice Day.

In French and covering French sectors, they could still be useful to many Pals. Six guides

in all are planned, so guess some British sectors will eventually be included. The first

two are for Marne and Champagne and

Verdun, Argonne and St Mihiel, which

should also interest Americans.

cheers Martin B

[trenchtrotter]

Are they reprints of the originals? Are they new books / maps?

Thanks

TT

[Martin Bennitt]

It seems they are new guides with the usual itineraries, maps and descriptions etc, but

from the blurb on the website they also include reproductions of parts of the original

guides for 'then and now' comparisons as well as other contemporary documents, and

relevant historical notes. I shall be seeking them out in due course

cheers Martin B

[trenchtrotter]

Thanks Martin, let me know. I have originals so if nothing new I wont invest however if there is new materiel...well.

TT

[Martin Bennitt]

Finally got a look at one of these guides today, covering the battles of Champagne and the Marne, and they look very good value. Clear explanations of what happened, with suggested tours, places to stay and eat, and old photos as well as new, but in French only.

Four more will be published this year, including The Somme, the Chemin des Dames and Alsace-Vosges

cheers Martin B

[Martin Bennitt]

Finally got a look at one of these guides today, covering the battles of Champagne and the Marne, and they look very good value. Clear explanations of what happened, with suggested tours, places to stay and eat, and old photos as well as new, but in French only.

Four more will be published this year, including The Somme, the Chemin des Dames and Alsace-Vosges

cheers Martin B

The Alsace-Vosges guide is now published, but no sign yet of the one to the Somme. I have bought the Marne and Verdun ones.

http://www.michelin-boutique.com/guides-cartes/guides-touristiques-plein/france/champs-bataille-alsace-moselle-p-1790.html

cheers Martin B

[Dragon]

Thanks, Martin. I've been looking for that in bookshops in France and I've been watching Michelin's website. I'll order I have ordered one.

Incidentally, for anyone interested, these guides are often on sale in hypermarkets.

Gwyn

Edited 17 December , 2012 by Dragon

[532SQN]

Would be nice if they make some English copies.

Cheers

Rick

[Dragon]

The Alsace-Vosges guide is now published, but no sign yet of the one to the Somme. I have bought the Marne and Verdun ones.

http://www.michelin-...lle-p-1790.html

cheers Martin B

Mine has just arrived from Amazon fr. From a quick flick through, it looks good. Well illustrated, covering areas from Lorraine to the Vosges to the Sundgau, lots of drives and walks, sites of interest, plenty away from popular areas... Text in French, obviously.

I'm sure I shall enjoy using it.

Gwyn

[Martin Bennitt]

Bought mine yesterday after coming across it in a local bookstore to add to the other two. In the back it says the Somme guide is now due out in 2013 along with Flanders and Artois, and the Chemin des Dames.

Next thing is to go and actually try them in the field, once the weather improves.

cheers Martin B.

[Hedley Malloch]

The references to the old guides are very much in the way of a homage. A saluting biberon can be found in the bottom-left hand corner of at least of one the pages in the Marne guide carrying an extract from the old guide. Some content such as restaurant guides which one would struggle to find in Rose Coombs - but this is France.

The one reference I have read on the UK's involvement in the Marne was a little off-target, but then we aren't buying it for that.

A good addition to any library and it retails in the battlefields for about €11

[Martin Bennitt]

The references to the old guides are very much in the way of a homage. A saluting biberon can be found in the bottom-left hand corner of at least of one the pages in the Marne guide carrying an extract from the old guide.

Bibendum, surely? A biberon is a baby's bottle

cheers Martin B

[Dragon]

The Alsace one contains some reproductions of the old pages with the little saluting Bibendum. To my mind, the restaurant and hotel recommendations are rather pointless because they go out of date, and if Michelin is to be believed you need a brand new edition of their France guide every year so obviously you'd already have one ready in your car. Or more to the point you'd be visiting their website by phone even from the top of Reichackerkopf for a local recommendation and to reserve your table. One has to plan ahead.

Gwyn

[Hedley Malloch]

Bibendum, surely? A biberon is a baby's bottle

cheers Martin B

A bibendum it is. I stand corrected. Thank you Martin

Hedley Malaprop

Dragon; I was thinking about writing a gourmet's guide to the Western Front. Working titles; 'With Knife and Fork Through Flanders' Fields' or 'Mud, Blood and Foie Gras'.

[Martin Bennitt]

Just noticed that Flandres-Artois, including Ypres and the back areas as far as Montreuil is now out

http://www.michelin-...ois-p-2117.html

So that makes four, with the promised Somme and Chemin des Dames still to come

cheers Martin B

Edited 19 April , 2013 by MartinBennitt

[Sly]

Flandres-Artois is now available in French, the English version will come a bit later. Laurent Loiseau and I are currently working on the Somme guide, it should be ready for October 2013 (Englsih version later)

Sly

[Martin Bennitt]

Flandres-Artois is now available in French, the English version will come a bit later. Laurent Loiseau and I are currently working on the Somme guide, it should be ready for October 2013 (Englsih version later)

Sly

Nice to know there are English versions planned -- or just the ones of particular interest to the British side?

cheers Martin B

[Sly]

Martin,

Michelin has decided to translate in English only the Flandres-Artois and the Somme.

Regards,

Sly

[Seadog]

I must be missing something here but many of the guides are already reprinted in English

Link

http://www.ghsmithbookshop.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65_67_79

Norman

[SteveMarsdin]

I must be missing something here but many of the guides are already reprinted in English

Link

http://www.ghsmithbo...&cPath=65_67_79

Norman

I think they're the original versions, Norman; Martin and Sly are referring to new and updated versions produced by Michelin for the centenary.

[Seadog]

Thanks Steve, I think they will have stiff competition with the Holts guides and the Battleground Europe softbacks certainly for English-speaking potential customers.

Regards

Norman

[CROONAERT]

I think they will have stiff competition with the Holts guides and the Battleground Europe softbacks certainly for English-speaking potential customers.

Somehow, I don't think that a company like Michelin will be too concerned about that, nor do I think that they even intend to go into competition with them. I've got the first three releases (only two of which get any coverage at all (and not all that spectacularly) by Holts and only one (?) by the Battlefield Europe series) and I find them to be a totally different concept to the British ones.

I'll certainly be getting the future releases by Michelin anyway (though 'the' one that I really wanted has already been released)

Dave

[Dragon]

I haven't seen any of the Holts Guides. The new Michelin guide to the Alsace Moselle battlefield area is packed with details, maps, archive material, plans and photos. I would have thought that even someone with only a smattering of French could find something to look at. You don't actually need any French to follow a map. I haven't yet had chance to use it in Alsace, though all being well I will quite soon, but from my knowledge of the area it's useful because it draws attention to the sorts of places which tourists don't usually know about. Le Vieil Armand (HWK) is very interesting but there were lots of other sites of human suffering and bravery and they merit attention. Le Vieil Armand and le Linge get horribly crowded, there's parking for a vast number of coaches, and I can't imagine what one can actually see properly in peak season; certainly the atmosphere is spoiled.

The book is hardly a huge financial investment anyway. Even at full price it's only 10€90.

I don't really see why a company should go to the trouble and financial risk of translating a whole volume into English when there is so little interest in anything beyond the British Front. Even if the Alsace Moselle volume was in English, would you go there?

For someone who likes to own a little piece of history, the original battlefield guides are quite often available on Abe Books or eBay. I have all the Alsace area ones including Strasbourg and Colmar.

Gwyn

[nf3996]

Martin,

Michelin has decided to translate in English only the Flandres-Artois and the Somme.

Regards,

Sly

Is there a publication date yet for the English version of the Flandres-Artois guide?

Alan

[Dragon]

I have now used the volume 'Alsace Moselle Les Combats des Vosges'. It's very useful indeed. Recommended.

I suggest that if someone is thinking they would repeatedly use these books that it would be a good idea to buy a second copy, dismantle it, hole-punch it and reassemble it as a ring-bound volume, then just take out the relevant pages on a walk. It wouldn't be a great effort to laminate the pages one is most likely to use. I intend to do this as I don't like adding the weight of a book to an already heavy camera bag.

Gwyn