Damir
Guest
My Dad and I ride together as far as I can remember. Usually, we go on one big European ride each year. This year we planned to visit Normandy, and soon plan started focusing on visiting famous WWII sites, so we decided to expand it a little with Bastogne, and some WWI sites as Verdun and Compiegne. I am very interested in 20th century history, and visiting some historical sites on bike was something I really wanted to do.
I won’t do “normal” day by day ride report, but I will try to focus on some places that we visited.
Ljubelj tunnel
During World War II, a 1570 meter long tunnel was built in 1068 m above sea level, by civil workers and 1652 prisoners of two minor sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp on both sides. To keep the work force effective, injured or sick prisoners were send back to the main camp, or executed by Dr. Sigbert Ramsauer by euthanasia if not able to be transported. As the surviving 950 prisoners could free themselves on 7 May 1945, these were the only sub-camps of Mauthausen-Gusen not to be either evacuated or liberated until the end of the war.
The first army vehicles passed the very tight tunnel on 4 December 1944. Military traffic and returning soldiers and refugees used the tunnel until it was closed in 1947. It was reopened in 1950 and expanded to two lanes in 1966, while the old road over the mountain pass itself has been closed for traffic since 1967.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loibl_Pass)
Border line between Slovenia and Austria is in the tunnel. There are also speed cameras in tunnel, we went too fast and Austrian police fined us, 25 Euro each.
Bastogne
In December 1944, after Bastogne had already been liberated, and as a last-ditch effort to avoid complete defeat, Hitler’s troops attacked again in the Ardennes, just as they did in 1914 and 1940. The goal was to advance to Antwerp, to cut off supply and separate British from American troops.
On December 16, taking advantage of the cold and the fog, the German artillery started the so-called Battle of the Bulge by attacking the sparsely deployed American troops around Bastogne. A few days later, General McAuliffe and the 101st Airborne Division arrived to counter-attack but, after heavy fighting, got encircled in the city. On December 22, German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which the General’s answer was quite brief: “Nuts!” The next day, the weather cleared up, allowing air retaliation and the parachuting of much needed food, medicine, and weaponry. On December 26, the troops of General Patton broke the deadlock. No member of the 101st Airborne Division has ever said that they needed Patton's assistance.
The official end of the Battle of Bastogne only occurred three weeks later, when all fighting finally stopped. By that time, the city was completely destroyed and more than 25,000 people had been killed, not counting the more than 50,000 who were never found.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastogne#World_War_II)
Few pictures from museum
The Mardasson Memorial
City
Verdun
Verdun was the site of the Battle of Verdun in 1916 during World War I. One of the costliest battles of the war, Verdun exemplified the policy of a 'war of attrition' pursued by both sides, which led to an enormous loss of life.
After the failure of the Schlieffen Plan in 1914 and the solidifying of the western front, Germany remained on the strategic defensive in the west throughout most of 1915. In the winter of 1915-1916, German General Erich von Falkenhayn, the chief of the German General Staff (1914-1916) made plans for a large offensive on the western front that ultimately aimed to break Great Britain, who he believed was Germany's main enemy. Falkenhayn argued that Britain, hidden behind the shield of the French Army, could be met head on and defeated only after this shield was broken. As Falkenhayn recalled it, his so-called Christmas memorandum to Kaiser Wilhelm II envisioned a massive but limited attack on a French position 'for the retention of which the French Command would be compelled to throw in every man they have'. Once the French army had bled to death, Britain could be brought down by Germany's submarine blockade and superior military strength. The logic of initiating a battle not to gain territory or a strategic position but simply to create a self-sustaining killing ground -- to bleed the French Army white -- pointed to the grimness of military realities in 1916.
First place we visited was "Bayonet Trench", which marks the location where some dozen bayonets (fixed to rifles) lined up in a row was discovered projecting out of the ground after the war. And below each rifle was the body of a French soldier. It is believed that these belonged to a group of soldiers who had rested their rifles against the parapet of the trench they were occupying when they were killed during a bombardment. The men were buried where they lay in the trench and the rifles left untouched.
Next place is French National Cemetery and Douaumont Ossuary, near Fort Douaumont. Thirteen-thousand crosses adorn the field in front of the ossuary which holds roughly 130,000 unidentified remains brought in off the battlefield. Every year yields more remains which are often placed inside the Ossuary's vaults.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdun)
Fort Douaumont (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont)
Verdun was the strongest point in pre-war France, ringed by a string of powerful forts, including Douaumont and Vaux.
To be continued…
I won’t do “normal” day by day ride report, but I will try to focus on some places that we visited.
Ljubelj tunnel
During World War II, a 1570 meter long tunnel was built in 1068 m above sea level, by civil workers and 1652 prisoners of two minor sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp on both sides. To keep the work force effective, injured or sick prisoners were send back to the main camp, or executed by Dr. Sigbert Ramsauer by euthanasia if not able to be transported. As the surviving 950 prisoners could free themselves on 7 May 1945, these were the only sub-camps of Mauthausen-Gusen not to be either evacuated or liberated until the end of the war.
The first army vehicles passed the very tight tunnel on 4 December 1944. Military traffic and returning soldiers and refugees used the tunnel until it was closed in 1947. It was reopened in 1950 and expanded to two lanes in 1966, while the old road over the mountain pass itself has been closed for traffic since 1967.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loibl_Pass)
Border line between Slovenia and Austria is in the tunnel. There are also speed cameras in tunnel, we went too fast and Austrian police fined us, 25 Euro each.
Bastogne
In December 1944, after Bastogne had already been liberated, and as a last-ditch effort to avoid complete defeat, Hitler’s troops attacked again in the Ardennes, just as they did in 1914 and 1940. The goal was to advance to Antwerp, to cut off supply and separate British from American troops.
On December 16, taking advantage of the cold and the fog, the German artillery started the so-called Battle of the Bulge by attacking the sparsely deployed American troops around Bastogne. A few days later, General McAuliffe and the 101st Airborne Division arrived to counter-attack but, after heavy fighting, got encircled in the city. On December 22, German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which the General’s answer was quite brief: “Nuts!” The next day, the weather cleared up, allowing air retaliation and the parachuting of much needed food, medicine, and weaponry. On December 26, the troops of General Patton broke the deadlock. No member of the 101st Airborne Division has ever said that they needed Patton's assistance.
The official end of the Battle of Bastogne only occurred three weeks later, when all fighting finally stopped. By that time, the city was completely destroyed and more than 25,000 people had been killed, not counting the more than 50,000 who were never found.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastogne#World_War_II)
Few pictures from museum
The Mardasson Memorial
City
Verdun
Verdun was the site of the Battle of Verdun in 1916 during World War I. One of the costliest battles of the war, Verdun exemplified the policy of a 'war of attrition' pursued by both sides, which led to an enormous loss of life.
After the failure of the Schlieffen Plan in 1914 and the solidifying of the western front, Germany remained on the strategic defensive in the west throughout most of 1915. In the winter of 1915-1916, German General Erich von Falkenhayn, the chief of the German General Staff (1914-1916) made plans for a large offensive on the western front that ultimately aimed to break Great Britain, who he believed was Germany's main enemy. Falkenhayn argued that Britain, hidden behind the shield of the French Army, could be met head on and defeated only after this shield was broken. As Falkenhayn recalled it, his so-called Christmas memorandum to Kaiser Wilhelm II envisioned a massive but limited attack on a French position 'for the retention of which the French Command would be compelled to throw in every man they have'. Once the French army had bled to death, Britain could be brought down by Germany's submarine blockade and superior military strength. The logic of initiating a battle not to gain territory or a strategic position but simply to create a self-sustaining killing ground -- to bleed the French Army white -- pointed to the grimness of military realities in 1916.
First place we visited was "Bayonet Trench", which marks the location where some dozen bayonets (fixed to rifles) lined up in a row was discovered projecting out of the ground after the war. And below each rifle was the body of a French soldier. It is believed that these belonged to a group of soldiers who had rested their rifles against the parapet of the trench they were occupying when they were killed during a bombardment. The men were buried where they lay in the trench and the rifles left untouched.
Next place is French National Cemetery and Douaumont Ossuary, near Fort Douaumont. Thirteen-thousand crosses adorn the field in front of the ossuary which holds roughly 130,000 unidentified remains brought in off the battlefield. Every year yields more remains which are often placed inside the Ossuary's vaults.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdun)
Fort Douaumont (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont)
Verdun was the strongest point in pre-war France, ringed by a string of powerful forts, including Douaumont and Vaux.
To be continued…
