Looking forward to the next bit Richard
Something for 2026 perhaps - Seelow Heights and Battle of Halbe
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
The jaunt will now have to be in June.
I tripped over this video.
Interesting (bar the overlaid musical accompaniment) as it shows the area before the battle for the Seelow Heights commenced. In the video, you can see Luftwaffe anti-aircraft gunners, pressed into service as conventional gunners.
Interesting (bar the overlaid musical accompaniment) as it shows the area before the battle for the Seelow Heights commenced. In the video, you can see Luftwaffe anti-aircraft gunners, pressed into service as conventional gunners.
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Partly by luck and partly by design, the tiny private campsite I’ve chosen is:
A. Probably typical of the small farms that dot around the area, that became fortified buildings, there being very little else.
B. To all intents and purposes, on the start line of 1st and 2nd Tank Armies, with the small hamlet (if even that) of Dolgelin, featuring prominently.
I’ll be able to stand at the very spots where things happened.
It looks like the little railway line and station might still be there.
The ruined church is still there:
A. Probably typical of the small farms that dot around the area, that became fortified buildings, there being very little else.
B. To all intents and purposes, on the start line of 1st and 2nd Tank Armies, with the small hamlet (if even that) of Dolgelin, featuring prominently.
I’ll be able to stand at the very spots where things happened.
It looks like the little railway line and station might still be there.
The ruined church is still there:
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Having mapped out quite a lot of the places and spots to visit from the Oder / Poland, through the Seelow Heights, Halbe, Zossen, the west of `Berlin and to Tangermunde on the Elbe, it’s time to work out Arnage / Le Mans to Berlin. It’s a bit of the classic, “If I was going to Berlin, I wouldn’t be starting from here”:
Google estimates it at 1,400 km or 870 miles, going reasonably direct. I’m not in a huge rush, so say three days, is 300 miles a day in rough terms.
Arnage to say, Metz, is about right. Then Metz to say, Erfurt. Then Erfurt to my very rural ‘Pitch-up’ site at Camping Stellplatz Friedenstal, between the Seelow Heights and the Oder river and the border with Poland. As I want to visit the destroyed fortress town of Kustrin in Poland, the small family run farm type ‘Pitch-up’ site looks perfect.
I’ve dropped the idea of taking a motorcycle on my trailer. My electric Brompton will be good enough for Le Mans. I can then use it to see several of the sites close to the ‘Pich-up’ site and / or drive to the rest.
Day 1 roughly:
Day two roughly:
Day three roughly:
Google estimates it at 1,400 km or 870 miles, going reasonably direct. I’m not in a huge rush, so say three days, is 300 miles a day in rough terms.
Arnage to say, Metz, is about right. Then Metz to say, Erfurt. Then Erfurt to my very rural ‘Pitch-up’ site at Camping Stellplatz Friedenstal, between the Seelow Heights and the Oder river and the border with Poland. As I want to visit the destroyed fortress town of Kustrin in Poland, the small family run farm type ‘Pitch-up’ site looks perfect.
I’ve dropped the idea of taking a motorcycle on my trailer. My electric Brompton will be good enough for Le Mans. I can then use it to see several of the sites close to the ‘Pich-up’ site and / or drive to the rest.
Day 1 roughly:
Day two roughly:
Day three roughly:
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The return is roughly:
I was toying with the idea of returning via Spa for the 24-hour GT race, which I enjoyed last year. But, I think it distracts from the main aims of the jaunt which are Le Mans and the Oder. I’ll lose three days at the circuit, by the time I’ve finished. The 24-hour race can wait for 2027, hopefully.
I was toying with the idea of returning via Spa for the 24-hour GT race, which I enjoyed last year. But, I think it distracts from the main aims of the jaunt which are Le Mans and the Oder. I’ll lose three days at the circuit, by the time I’ve finished. The 24-hour race can wait for 2027, hopefully.
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A disjointed video. However, it gives an idea of the flatness of the land between the river Oder / Kustrin and the Seelow Heights, dominating the flatland below. It also shows the destruction wrought in the breakout through Halbe.
I have got a lot of the places marked on a map, so I’ll be able to visit some of them and stand all but exactly on the spot that things happened. Like all battles, especially one that raged until the final full encirclement of Berlin and its fall, it covered a vast area, so seeing it all will be impossible. Similarly, the battle (and indeed, battles) are complicated. But to see some key points will be good enough for me.
What I am most pleased about is that I’ll be based near enough in the centre of the Russian army’s central advance on or near a farm that is typical of a local strongpoint, in an otherwise all but featureless flat area.
It’s some of the narrator’s books that I have been using (amongst others) to map places out.
I have got a lot of the places marked on a map, so I’ll be able to visit some of them and stand all but exactly on the spot that things happened. Like all battles, especially one that raged until the final full encirclement of Berlin and its fall, it covered a vast area, so seeing it all will be impossible. Similarly, the battle (and indeed, battles) are complicated. But to see some key points will be good enough for me.
What I am most pleased about is that I’ll be based near enough in the centre of the Russian army’s central advance on or near a farm that is typical of a local strongpoint, in an otherwise all but featureless flat area.
It’s some of the narrator’s books that I have been using (amongst others) to map places out.
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On my return route, I want to visit the town of Tangermunde on the river Elbe, where Germany’s 12th army (along with the shattered remnants of other army groups) and untold civilians struggled to surrender to the Americans, rather than face terrible retribution at the hands of the massed Russian armies.
This film shows the almost Medieval look the affair took on.
Outside of the young children, most of those in the films will now be dead, either through old age or (in the case of the soldiers) having been handed back to the Russians, the Americans being unable to feed the thousands collected up. In just a few years, they’ll all be gone to history.
This film shows the almost Medieval look the affair took on.
Outside of the young children, most of those in the films will now be dead, either through old age or (in the case of the soldiers) having been handed back to the Russians, the Americans being unable to feed the thousands collected up. In just a few years, they’ll all be gone to history.
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