Sites of World War I

Hi,

Going from Paris to the Somme area will take at least one hour, depending on the traffic. Do you plan on going from the Somme to Lille, better spend the night in Arras. To see these sights, depending upon the depth of your interest in tracking war history here, you need much more than 2 days.

I would suggest going into Amiens on the Somme, see where the Somme flows through the city. The original draft of the Schlieffen Plan of 1905 had 1st Army's objective of reaching the Somme at Amiens by M + 30. The Allied counter-offensive began at Amiens after 8 Aug 1918. If you're looking for markers on "1st Day on the Somme" and all the way to November, they are there as you go through country road...very grim, the landscape is dotted with British military cemeteries, ie green placards with lettering in white, usually with a tall white cross in front of the row upon row of white tombstones.

In the Somme area whether you are focusing on 1916 or the 1918 Kaiserschlacht, you should see Albert (Br Army HQ and the WW1 museum), Perronne, (the big WW1 museum),

Hi Fred!
We are neighbours! We are in Pleasant Hill...
Thank you so much for your input. I believe that's exactly what he is planning to do!
Elina

@ lina...You're welcome. It has been years since I was in Pleasant Hill. From Paris by train, max one hour, you can see WW1 sites, such as Meaux, ca 35 mins from Paris Est station. You can drive there too, the WW1 museum has a spacious parking area. The museum is huge, I went to it in July, spent most of the afternoon going through diligently the exhibits. The train to Meaux has its terminus in Chateau-Thierry, which you'll recognise is where the US Marines and Army were injected to blunt the last German drive in July 1918 to the Marne and compel them to withdraw. The US 3rd Inf Div Memorial is in Chateau-Thierry as well as the Anglo-French military cemetery.

If you are heading north towards the Somme, you ought to go to Arras. It was the site of the British General HQ, the city hall (Hotel de Ville) has on its ground floor the Tourist Office, where you can find numerous brochures on WW1 sites as they pertain to the Canadians, Australians, and others plus the British. Near Vimy is the large German WW1 cemetery. There is also big British WW1 cemetery at the outskirts of Arras, next to the French Army caserne, La Citadelle (no longer in use, and now open to the public)...all this info and more you can get at the Tourist Office. You won't see any Americans in Arras, all the times I've been there and in that northern France area, I've only seen a few Canadians because of the Vimy Memorial.

With a car you can see the two WW1 museums at Peronne (no train goes there) and Meaux, one to the north, the other to the east, not in one one day. Don't forget Compiegne.

Wow. So much amazing information! Thank you, very much!

@Brad LOL. My 11th grader refused to come to Europe with us, so its just me, my mom, and my hubby. Husband will be taking 2 days for himself, driving around his WWI sites, as mom and I will be doing museums and shopping 😉 I am more of a WWII person (born and raised in Ukraine). So if you want to join in, welcome!

@ lina ...With only two full days, even with the rental car, your hubby has to prioritize on what he wants to see, in order to maximize his time, either museums or actual sites, such as Chateau-Thierry, Bois de Belleau (known to Americans as Belleau Wood), and Compiegne where the armistice was signed on 11 Nov 1918. I've been there once. When you walk through the train coach and see the military and civilian representatives of the Germans and the Allies, the US is not represented, ie no military seat for the US and no civilian representative either. This is a replica coach, I've heard different explanations as to what happened to the original after 1940.

Re: (no) whining and complaining and how lucky they are...bravo! How very true!! I've shared two trips with my grandson to France, the last one when he was still ten.

Mine, actually, is pretty appreciative. But in order not to whine, he just doesn't want to go. It's funny how they change. When he was little, wr traveled everywhere. Now that he is 16, he only wants to hang out and go places with his water polo team. We are too boring for him 🙁 Of course, he still goes with us, because I said so, but #1 he hates to fly, and #2 Europe is at least 10 hours of flying and that's a huge no for him...for now, at least. So, I am definitely, jealous, that you, guys, have been able to persuade yours to go with you. On the other hand, we've got some freedom 😄