frenchaucoeur

Hi,

We are looking for a tour, either private or small-group, of the main sights at Verdun, with someone who can give us some insight into what we're seeing. We've both read books about the battle so know something, but we also know there's a lot of insight we can get only from a visit with someone who knows more than we do.

Ideally I'd like a private tour, rather than a group, but we'd like to keep the price to two or three hundred dollars. I've looked online and of course there are a million possibilities. We'll be coming from Epernay, not from Paris, and will have a car.

We did a private tour of the Normandy sites some years back with someone who was very highly recommended on another travel site, but we hated both the tour and the guide, an arrogant, sexist Brit whose main goal seemed to be to convince us that the American contribution wasn't as central as it's been made out to be, that all Americans want to do is to visit Omaha Beach, and that the British contribution is undervalued. Hope this time will be better--Americans weren't in the fighting at Verdun!

Thanks for your help.

Macross

All the tours I see start in Paris. You have a car and it is really well marked. We thought the area was beautiful but the roads started freezing so we didn't get to see the fort. We stayed in a converted temple in Verdun that had been hit during the shelling. I think you need more than half a day though. The Ossuary, museum and fort will take most of a day. This is a good article I found.

https://deborahjacobs.com/2018/09/13...-visit-verdun/

Jean

Almost all of the sights are not IN the town of Verdun. I agree with Macross that you need more than a half day. Even a full day would be very rushed.

This guide gets good reviews on Tripadvisor:

Home - Ingrid Ferrand

Jean

"Americans weren't in the fighting at Verdun!"

Actually, that's not correct. My great uncle was briefly billeted in Verdun before being moved farther south. He was a pilot and was shot down on the first day of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, September 26, 1918. He's buried at the U.S. cemetery at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon along with more than 14,000 U.S. troops, most of whom were killed in this Allied attack.

Macross

We visited that cemetery our first day before checking into Verdun from Reims. I also had two great uncles that fought. I wish I knew more. Both from Maryland. One actually worked in the car/truck industry so put together the vehicles they shipped over and the other was infantry and was gassed. He shook the rest of his life and wasn't ever well. I was impressed by the number of people visiting in the dead of winter. The road to the fort was closed due to ice.

frenchaucoeur

Thanks for the replies. I"ll look into the suggestions.

I apologize for my ignorance. I believed no Americans were involved because we hadn't entered the war in 1916. Obviously it's more complicated than that. It must be an extraordinary experience to visit the site when you bring such personal associations to what happened there. Thanks for making me a little less blithe in my assumptions.

ahbonvraiment

Jean

No worries... Before you go, I would suggest reading a bit about the battles that took place in this part of France. (There's a lot online.) It IS very complicated, and this area was contested every single day of the war. And before. Fort Douaumont was built in the late 19th C. during the Franco-Prussian War.

The town of Fleury near Verdun changed hands 16 times, and it was reduced to dust by all the shelling. You can visit the "town," and paved paths will lead you through the "streets" and past markers indicating where shops and homes once stood. The bomb craters are still there, although softened by time and vegetation.

FYI, both of Teddy Roosevelt's sons fought in this area in WWI. Quentin was a pilot. He was shot down south of Reims during the Second Battle of the Marne near the end of the war. As was my great uncle, he was first buried by the Germans with full military honors (pilots on both sides were greatly admired and respected) and later re-interred. QR is buried at the U.S. Cemetery above Omaha Beach in Normandy. Kermit was a commissioned officer in the British Army but was later commissioned by the U.S. Army and participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Jean

"Us pilots joined the french and created the Lafayette squadron. Was he part of it ?"

No. It was a unit formed in the U.S.

frenchaucoeur

Ah Bon, I know the Lusitania changed the thinking in the US about entering the war, but we didn't officially enter until after the Zimmerman telegram business in 1917, right?

Jean, we've read Alistair Horne's book The Price of Glory, and Barbara Tuchman's book on the Zimmerman telegram. Anything else you can recommend that would add to our understanding?

Fleury sounds a lot like Oradour-sur-Glane, one of the most searing places I've ever visited. We will be sure to visit.

kerouac

No, the buildings are still standing in Oradour. The nine martyred villages around Verdun were reduced to gravel, with nothing left standing.

frenchaucoeur

I'm not sure which is worse.

Jean

You might want to peruse this book list:

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/06/15/wwi-books

kerouac

In any case, you should absolutely not miss the Verdun Memorial museum on the road to the battlefields. It was inaugurated by François Hollande and Angela Merkel after complete renovation, and it is just about as good as the WW2 Mémorial in Caen albeit not as huge.

kerouac

I even made a couple of reports about Verdun which might or might not be useful for preparing a visit.

Battlefields and forts of Verdun | Any Port in a Storm

Mémorial de Verdun / WW1 museum of the battle of Verdun | Any Port in a Storm

frenchaucoeur

Thank you so much for the links, Kerouac. The essays are stunning.

Do you remember if the museum has elevators for those of us who have, as they say, mobility challenges? I would like very much to visit.

The reality is that we'll be able to devote only one day to Verdun, although I can easily see why it would repay a longer visit. We're thinking a half-day private tour in the morning to visit the obvious highlights (odd word for such a place) and then the afternoon in the museum. May be the best we can manage.

kerouac

Yes, it has elevators.

Jean

A private tour would be good for your situation. But I suggest you do some research to prioritize what you'd like to see/do, keeping in mind your mobility limitations whatever they may be, and then work with the guide to develop a good plan for the time you have. For example, Fort Douaumont is fascinating but could use up a lot of your time, and the footing inside is uneven and wet. I think the Ossuary shouldn't be missed, but IMO other oft-mentioned things (like the Trench of the Bayonets) can be skipped.

kerouac

Of course, a nearby must along the A4 autoroute would be to go to Sainte Ménéhould for their famous specialty of breaded baked pigs feet ("pieds de porc à la Sainte Ménéhould"). Then again, it might be too much of an adventure for some visitors.

Yes, the Ossuary at Douaumont is an absolute must.