French battlefields

[ossie]

Every French town appears to have a memorial and some history. The area of the lower Rhine down to Basel is steeped in bloodshed, suffering and battlefields. Eurovelo 15 will take you through much of it. There is some rich history immortalised in the most unusual places. Its all extremely sad actually.

[sabrutat]

I rode through the WWI battlefields of the Ardennes etc during my tour of Belgium, NE & Central France and Switzerland a couple of years ago, while listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcasts about those very battlefields and region. It was, quite simply, one of the most singular experiences of my life.

I'd recommend his podcast to anybody with any kind of interest in history.

[tatanab]

The area of the lower Rhine down to Basel is steeped in bloodshed, suffering and battlefields.

I used to live in France near Basle, and many rides would pass old gun emplacements etc. I cycled past The Vieil Armand memorial (on the way up Grand Ballon) at Easter 1999 but did not stop because it was snowing and late in the day. As I recall, it is a memorial to those of all sides who died there, a huge number since this area changed hands many times. You can see why the hillside was so important with its views over the Rhine valley.