Guest sanfermin Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 hey! i am a newcomer to your group, so i am still getting the feel for what it is all about, but i would really like some info for my trip to verdun. i am from atlanta georgia, but i see that most of your group is from the uk. can anyone help me with some info on how to make my trip more efficient? i know about the more fomous sites(trench bayonnetes, the forts, ossuary,etc) and have a decent command of french, so i can get around quite well. i have a week in the area, and i want to see verdun and the maginot line. are there any specific places to feel the history or even to eat and drink in the area. i certainly dont want to be the typical tourist guy. i have much more respect than that. thanks and very good site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 Good maps and a car are essential for both areas. The most famous Verdun sites are well signposted. So much so that you can not feel BUT a tourist. 'The Maginot line', can you be more specific? This is rather a long stretch La Ferte is a must since it's the only fort that was directly (frontally) assaulted. It is shot to pieces. Interesting to see the effect of 88's on the steel turrets. Hot knive through butter. Hackenberg is great because you ride on the original munitions trains. Schoenenbourg is nice because you are left on your own to wander around the fort. This means many km (miles for you) on foot. Four a Chaux (Lembach) comes a good 4th. No trains but a good personal tour. Perhaps I'm bias because we got a personal tour and were also allowed a glimpse of the destroyed parts. Fermont is a NO since photography is not allowed. Simserhof is a modern show and not to my personal taste. Ridiculous short ride in a modern car, no access to the 'business ends' of the fort. Disneyland. Hope this helps, Regards, Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 Sanfermin, You may find it helpful to contact Christina Holstein - a regular contributor to this forum - who guided the forum tour to Verdun earlier this year. I am sure she would be happy to provide advice & suggestions and will also be able to confirm things like the opening times for places like the Butte de Vauquois (not to be missed!!!). I know she is keen to encourage more visitors to Verdun and other less well visited sectors in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Birch Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 The French IGN Map 3112 ET covers the Verdun Battlefield at a scale of 1:25,000 and has most of the main and other sites marked on it. It is invaluable for detailed route planning both by road or on foot. Rose Coombe's "Before Endeavours Fade" is an excellent guide for most of the Western Front including Verdun. The 1919 Michelin Guide for Verdun was reprinted in 1994. All of the above are available from Stanfords bookshop in London, see www.stanfords.co.uk Enjoy your trip Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andigger Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 sanfermin.... Welcome to the forum? Where in Atlanta are you from? I lived in Cumming before moving to Virginia. Anyway, one of the best guides is to read Alistar Horne's 'The Price of Glory'. Ok, its not a tour guide, but it is one of the best accounts of the battle. I marked places in the book that were especially fascinating and when I was in Verdun took the time to sit and read the passage on the spot where it happened. It was quite moving. Enjoy the trip! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derwisj Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 When you are in verdun go to the tourist office; they have 9 brochures of signposted walks through the woods of verdun and les eparges. Since you are american, you can take a trip to the St Mihiel salient. If you can understand and read french, ask in the tourist office for the following book : Verdun by jacques pericard; price about 15 euro; this has more than 6OO pages eyewitness accounts of the battle; sometimes breathtaking and really shocking; also very much nice photos in the book. pascal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 Hello sanfermin, welcome to the forum. In April this year, some forum members got together and had a fantastic trip to Verdun. You can read all about it here. Aside from all the banter, you'll find some good info about where we went and what we saw. I could not recommend more strongly that you contact Christina - as mentioned above - for advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 7 August , 2004 Share Posted 7 August , 2004 You might find the Verdun pages of my website of some interest: http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/verdun_battlefields.htm There are some sections of the Maginot Line open not too far from Verdun at Villy la Ferte and Fermont. See also: http://www.maginot.info/ http://www.enveloppes-ardennes.com/VillylaFerte04.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 8 August , 2004 Share Posted 8 August , 2004 Hi Sanfermin, It looks as if you've been given all the basic information already. You should go to the bookshop on the main shopping street or to the book kiosks in the forts, Fleury Memorial or the Ossuary and get a copy of the map called Forêts de Verdun et le Mort-Homme. That gives you all the main paths and trails. By and large you can walk anywhere (unless it's a military area). Some of the old forts are very dangerous and shouldn't be entered. The best book on Verdun is still Alistair Horne's 'The Price of Glory'. If you don't want to read something so detailed, try Malcolm Brown's book on Verdun or look for an English translation of Georges Blond's book 'Verdun'. There's some really good stuff in German and French. Pericard's book has been mentioned and there is another good one by Jacques-Henri Lefebvre called "The Hell of Verdun' (in French 'L'enfer de Verdun' but I think it's been translated). There's a recent book in French about Fort Vaux and my book on Fort Douaumont. I didn't admire the recent Osprey guide to Verdun but perhaps the errors have been corrected by now (I saw it a couple of years ago). Remember that parking is difficult in Verdun these days and you have to pay to park during the day unless you park across the other side of the Meuse from the hotels. There are some out of town hotels that avoid that problem and have their own parking. The Coq Hardi is the best in-town hotel but pricey. Everything else is much cheaper but they tend only to be 2** and a bit old-fashioned. There's an extraordinary new hotel in the Argonne in Vienne-le-Chateau complete with fitness room and splendid menu - I wonder how long it will survive? It's called Le Tulipier. There are lots of sites in the St. Mihiel salient and the Argonne. The Butte de Vauquois should certainly be seen - the association of friends of the Butte has a website with information about when it's open. When do you plan to travel? Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AmericanDoughboy Posted 8 August , 2004 Share Posted 8 August , 2004 Sanfermin, I suggest strongly for you to visit La Coq Hardi on the edge of the town. As Christinia has said, La Coq Harqi is the best hotel in my opinion in the center of the town, including a large selection of Brassieries and Restaurants around the hotel. As well as right next to the Hotel is the famous La Verdun Victoire Monument. Yet to reach your room in the hotel is quite an effort, since the stairs are difficult to climb up and the elevator is very cramped. However, it is quite a comfortable hotel. Also, on the edge of town is the Verdun Citadel. The experience that you have inside is incredible, especially the cart-ride exhibition, it is indeed a must-see part of your Verdun trip. -Doughboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 8 August , 2004 Share Posted 8 August , 2004 Doughboy, By 'cart ride' exhibition, do you mean at the Citadel in the town? It's not at the Coq Hardi! The Coq Hardi has some very nice rooms but the street can be noisy. If you don't mind doing without a view, the rooms at the back are a great deal quieter. On the street side you can enjoy other people's late night partying at the cafe on the corner and then the post vans coming to the post office opposite from about 4am. Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AmericanDoughboy Posted 8 August , 2004 Share Posted 8 August , 2004 Doughboy, By 'cart ride' exhibition, do you mean at the Citadel in the town? It's not at the Coq Hardi! The Coq Hardi has some very nice rooms but the street can be noisy. If you don't mind doing without a view, the rooms at the back are a great deal quieter. On the street side you can enjoy other people's late night partying at the cafe on the corner and then the post vans coming to the post office opposite from about 4am. Christina Christina, Oops! I was typing something about the Verdun Citadel and the Coq Hardi hotel and got them mixed up within eachother. Sorry I fixed it. -Doughboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sanfermin Posted 9 August , 2004 Share Posted 9 August , 2004 firstof all, i want to thank everyone for their wonderful replies to my post. they have been most helpful! also thanks for the info on local hotels. we have a place to stay, and i hope it doesnt suck ar have a bad reputation. i found it on the web and it "looked" like a cool place from the site. it is called village gaulois and it is in what looks a very good location near tranchee des baionnettes, forts douaumont and vaux. it is north of verdun and seems to right on the meuse on the d123. i still have time to cancel if it is not what i think it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted 9 August , 2004 Share Posted 9 August , 2004 Have a great time and prepare yourself for a disapointment in regards to the Tranchee des Bayonettes: an ungly structure and no bayonettes left. Regards, Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 9 August , 2004 Share Posted 9 August , 2004 If you go to the WFA site, then Educational Resources and Sources of Information you will find a long list of places to go to/ things to see/ and documentation, put there by the Luxembourg Branch i.e. Christina and me. Note that the brochures of the walks around Verdun have been replaced by a proper map and that the timings are the walking time and do not include the exploring and pondering time! Boots are advisable whatever the weather. I don't have the numbers offhand, but there are now two special IGN maps that cover the Verdun area and the whole of the area down to and a little beyond St. Mihiel. Don't forget to get Christina's book on Fort Douaumont. If you need any more info, come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 9 August , 2004 Share Posted 9 August , 2004 The village gaulois is fine and the owner knows the area well. He is, I think, the mayor of his village, Marre, which has just bought the old Fort de Marre for restoration and opening. Marre is well situtated for the Mort-Homme and Hill 304 on the W. Bank of the Meuse and Verdun on the E. Bank. On the W. Bank you should visit Varennes for the Pennsylvania monument and the museum (if it is open, that's always a problem), the Butte de Vauquois for the tunnels (it's close by), the Haute Chevauchée for the site and various craters (the Kaiser Tunnel system may be open if you're there at the right time), the Abris du Kronprinz on the road from Varennes to the Haute Chevauchée, Montfaucon for the American monument and the American cemetery at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon. There's also the Lost Batallion's ravine close to Binarville. Down in the St. Mihiel salient there are loads of interesting sites starting with Les Eparges and the mine craters, Bois Brulé above Apremont, the German hospital and Staubwasser memorial just up the road from Bois Brulé, the Bavarian trenches on the other side of the road from the G. hospital, Montsec and the trenches in Bois le Prêtre (that's David's area). I agree totally with Marco about the Trench of Bayonets. Not only is it a horrid monument (IMO) but when the site was found, there were no bayonets there and it was known as the Trench of Rifles. I have a postcard of the original monument, which is just a simple cross. The story is widely accepted to be a myth but it can be regarded as a monument to all the men who did indeed die by being buried alive. As David says, come back if you want more information. There are a lot of decent books on sale in the forts, the ossuary and Fleury memorial. The bookshop in town has unfortunately reduced it's stock recently. Don't know why but it's a pity. Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 13 August , 2004 Share Posted 13 August , 2004 I've just been sent this link to a private musuem in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon. I don't know the owner but it looks interesting. You might want to add it to your list of places to visit. http://home-2.worldonline.nl/~otis//jpmuseum Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 13 August , 2004 Share Posted 13 August , 2004 I think that JP has an interesting collection.He must have been collecting over a lengthy period. The collection is certainly crowded out.A pity that the exhibits are not identified. Looks to be well worth calling in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted 14 August , 2004 Share Posted 14 August , 2004 Hi, I may be in Verdun 19-22 November, anychance anyone else will be there? Also, can anyone give the approx price range of hotels? Thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derwisj Posted 14 August , 2004 Share Posted 14 August , 2004 Chris, I asked for brochures about the tourist sites and hotels of verdun on the site of the office de tourisme of verdun, and got this info in about two weeks. Site : http://www.verdun-tourisme.com/en/index.htm pascal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Holstein Posted 19 August , 2004 Share Posted 19 August , 2004 Chris, I'm only a short drive from Verdun. Don't know how my time will be in November but I may well be around. Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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