Having taken the decision to embark on this tour, I had to decide on exactly how it should be undertaken.
Naturally the easiest solution would be to take an organised tour with one of the many Battlefield Touring companies operating in both areas. Although I am not a fan of organised tours I searched these companies on the internet to see what they offered. Some were pretty impressive, others less so - in general I felt that for my purpose they were inadequate - you know "been there, done that"
Being an avid follower of the European theatre of World War II I already had a good general knowledge of the events and their chronology so why not create my own tour. This of course would require a lot more time and effort on my side - time I have and why not put the effort into something that I find fascinating.
In passing I discussed this with my good friend Geoff Dusheiko who lives in London. Shortly thereafter a book arrived in the post from him called D-Day The Battle for Normandy authored by Antony Beevor, a well known historian. Beevor is a master of the art of writing history like a novel, absolutely enthralling and superbly informative. This really got me going on my researches on Normandy and the Ardennes.
Having established a good knowledge on both battle areas I reckoned that at least a week was needed both in Normandy and Belgium to see and comprehend the history. a good time to take the tour is in June as the weather should be good and it is before the European schools take their summer vacations.
Considering the relatively small geographical areas in which the conflicts took place I decided to locate our base centrally. I selected Bayeux in Normandy and Malmedy in Begium, both being small towns and having easy access to feeder roads. I booked our accomodation on the internet through Bookings.com which seems to work very well.
Our trip itinery will be as follows:
13th June we depart from Tel Aviv to Brussels, collect a rental car and travel 90 minutes to the ancient city of Brugge where we will stay at a castle (got great rates) on the outskirts of the town.
16th June we drive from Brugge via Dunkirk to Bayeux in Normandy
24th June travel from Bayeux to Mamedy
2nd July we will leave for Brussels and spend the weekend with Geoff and Pam Dusheiko and will return to Israel on the 4th July
In my next posting I will explain how I went about planning the itineries for Normandy utilising and combining resources from the internet, biographies, DVD documentaries and Google Map.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
THE IDEA BEHIND THE TRIP
Our generation of "baby boomers" were not far removed from those who were directly affected and involved in the World War II. As children we heard stories from our fathers, relatives and their friends who were either Holocaust victims or who fought against the Nazis so that we could live in a free world.
In our small town of Pietersburg in South Africa there were many ex servicemen who had returned from the war and had us youngsters enthralled with their yarns of the time. They were heroes to us. And then of course there were a lot of books written by guys who had experienced the sting of battle, be it in the air, on the sea or on the battlefields. One of those that immediately comes to mind is Reach for the Sky, the story about the legendary legless pilot, Douglas Bader, whose awe inspiring exploits and bravery were an example to all.
Then of course there were the movies which very often dramatised the events. Blockbusters such as The Longest Day, Patton, The Battle of Britain and The Battle of the Bulge encouraged our interest. Countless documentaries have been produced for TV on World War II, the most well known being the The World at War narrated by Laurence Olivier.
Saving Private Ryan produced by Steven Spielberg was groundbreaking in that Spielberg brought together cutting edge video and sound technology which recreated the horrors of the D-Day landing beaches and the fighting in Normandy - all that was missing was the smell of battle. After that he and Tom Hanks produced the series Band of Brothers which followed the exploits of Major Dick Winters and Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Screaming Eagles) from their training in the USA, their transfer to England, paratrooping into Normandy and their battles in Normandy, Holland, Belgium, Germany and finally to Berchtesgarten in Austria.
For almost 50 years I have had a burning desire to visit some of these battlefields, to see with my own eyes where these brave men fought for freedom from the yoke of Hitler's evil oppression and sacrificed their lives so that future generations could live in a free and democratic world. It would be an honour to pay homage to such men.
Normandy was therefore a natural choice to start this mission and because of its relatively close proximity to Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge could be included in the tour.
I have planned this trip using books, the internet, documentaries and Google Map. We will be hiring a car and doing our own thing - no organised tours. In following postings I will be telling you more about our planned itinery and how I went about planning them.
In our small town of Pietersburg in South Africa there were many ex servicemen who had returned from the war and had us youngsters enthralled with their yarns of the time. They were heroes to us. And then of course there were a lot of books written by guys who had experienced the sting of battle, be it in the air, on the sea or on the battlefields. One of those that immediately comes to mind is Reach for the Sky, the story about the legendary legless pilot, Douglas Bader, whose awe inspiring exploits and bravery were an example to all.
Then of course there were the movies which very often dramatised the events. Blockbusters such as The Longest Day, Patton, The Battle of Britain and The Battle of the Bulge encouraged our interest. Countless documentaries have been produced for TV on World War II, the most well known being the The World at War narrated by Laurence Olivier.
Saving Private Ryan produced by Steven Spielberg was groundbreaking in that Spielberg brought together cutting edge video and sound technology which recreated the horrors of the D-Day landing beaches and the fighting in Normandy - all that was missing was the smell of battle. After that he and Tom Hanks produced the series Band of Brothers which followed the exploits of Major Dick Winters and Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Screaming Eagles) from their training in the USA, their transfer to England, paratrooping into Normandy and their battles in Normandy, Holland, Belgium, Germany and finally to Berchtesgarten in Austria.
For almost 50 years I have had a burning desire to visit some of these battlefields, to see with my own eyes where these brave men fought for freedom from the yoke of Hitler's evil oppression and sacrificed their lives so that future generations could live in a free and democratic world. It would be an honour to pay homage to such men.
Normandy was therefore a natural choice to start this mission and because of its relatively close proximity to Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge could be included in the tour.
I have planned this trip using books, the internet, documentaries and Google Map. We will be hiring a car and doing our own thing - no organised tours. In following postings I will be telling you more about our planned itinery and how I went about planning them.
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