End of the Western Front

Location: Reims

Local departure by coach or Door-to-Door service, then to our hotel in Reims for an overnight stay.

Location: Forest of Argonne

<p>This morning, we begin at Fort la Pompelle just outside Reims. The fort sat on the front line for four years and was constantly bombarded. Today, it houses a superb museum, and we have an included visit to see the remains of the fort and the exhibits within.</p><p> We then travel through the Champagne to the Argonne Forest, discussing the French battles here, and continue to where American forces made their advance in 1918. </p><p>After lunch, we pay our respects to the American dead at the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery, the largest American War Cemetery in Europe with over 14,000 graves. We then continue to the Vosges for a four-night stay.</p>

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Location: Vosges

<p>The Vosges was a mountainous region where the Western Front crossed some incredible terrain. Today we look at the French attacks here from as early as 1914, seeing the preserved trench system and museum at Le Linge, and also the nearby cemetery. </p><p>After lunch, we then travel to the high point of Hartmannswillerkopf and see the Historical Museum (included visit), preserved battlefield and memorials. Here both sides fought up in the mountains in one of the most stunning battlefields of the First World War.</p>

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Location: Pfetterhouse

<p>We start at Jonchery this morning, seeing the memorial to the first French soldier killed in the Great War, and then travel to Pfetterhouse on the border with Switzerland. Here the front lines ended at the junction of three countries, and we see the border area as well as bunkers and battlefield sites. </p><p>We then go into Altkirch for the last ‘Demarcation Stone’ which marks the end of the Western Front, and also visit the impressive German Cemetery here with original memorials and graves that cover the whole war in the Vosges. </p>

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Location: Alsace

Today we look at nearly a century of conflict in this region of France, discussing the Franco-Prussian War, the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, the fighting in the Great War and the events here in World War Two. We travel to territory that was German soil in 1914 to Fort de Mutzig, or Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, one of many largest fortifications built in this area before the Great War. Here we get an included guided tour of this well-preserved fortification. Please note: this site requires some walking and has uneven ground and steps. In the afternoon, we look at the tragic events of the Holocaust in France in WW2, seeing the site of the Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp and included visit to the Memorial here, and later we travel to Colmar, looking at the Battle of the Colmar Pocket in 1944/45 and seeing the memorials and the Colmar Pocket Museum.This evening, enjoy a special Alsatian folklore entertainment with your evening meal.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Location: Verdun

We depart the Vosges and travel to the high ground of Les Eparges where both sides met in 1914, and it became an area of intense mining activity. We see the mine craters, remains of trenches and the memorials. We then travel into Verdun for lunch and drive through the battlefield here before departing for an overnight stay in Northern France.

Meals: Breakfast

Location: United Kingdom

Return home.

Meals: Breakfast