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Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 1.Β
Posted by Greedybear (U3921547) on Monday, 28th September 2009
I have just returned from visiting Beaumont Hamel battlefield. I thought I may share a few of my thoughts.
This is the most intact and preserved trench site from WW1. There is something strangely ethereal about being there on your own in the early morning in the trench, looking across to the other lines with the intact barbed wire posts and shell holes. The place has a certain aura about it for sure.
And then the history: For 2 years the Newfoundland Regiment were together and were positioned ready for the Somme offensive. On the first day of the Somme, 801 canadians attack at 07:30 from their 3rd trench. Within 20 minutes the attack stalls with a 91% casualty rate without them reaching their own front line. The front line some weeks later manages to advance 30 km, but the german re-offensive means in 1918 they are back in the same trenches.
In the cemetaries lay numerous graves marked 'an unknown soldier' not actually 'unknown' or 'unrecognisable' but just plain 'gone.' 800 men, all together for 2 years, shipped across from Canada and buried in a grave without anyone being able to recognise your remains.
And the final reminder of the reality was driving away past the 'iron harvest' of unexploded shells thrown by the side of the farmer's fields after being dug up by the plough.
(and by the way if you are the parents of Connor who had to keep shouting at him to 'stop running,' 'get away from that' or 'cum ere' for the last 15 minutes of my time there then you should be ashamed. If i'd have had a rifle then there would be a further 3 to add to the death toll for the place.)Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 2
Posted by curiousdigger (U13776378) on Monday, 28th September 2009
For placing the Holocaust into some tangible context (for me at least) a visit to Auschwitz is an eye-opening experience. I went to Poland in 2006 for some research for my degree, and although plenty has been written, documentaries made etc on the place, actually standing under the gate at Birkenau looking down the railway lines towards the ponds at the other side of the camp really brings home the scale of the atrocity committed there.
I also enjoyed a brief tour of the WWI battlefields of France and Belgium when I was (much!) younger, I would love to return though as I think you don't appreciate the history as much when you're 13 on a school trip!
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Message 3
Posted by Greedybear (U3921547) on Monday, 28th September 2009
I know what you mean curiousdigger. I had a very humbling experience when aged 18. I was in a rather noisy and high-spirited (!) rugby club. The club decided we should have a tour to Poland as a bit of a PR exercise and we arranged a tour around Warsaw with a guide. Listening to him standing in the middle of the site of the ghetto, the tales of watching his family being killed and then his time in one of the camps (i cannot alas remember which one) reduced 40 young blokes to total awe. I remember having a beer after this and every player was quiet. (it didn't unfortunately last though.........)
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Message 4
Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Monday, 28th September 2009
and again
spurs played in Poland the season before last and a mate of mine went - with a day set apart for touring
he and a coach load of spurs fans went to auschwiz (just to say they went)
his description of the day was amazing - a coach load of footie fans stunned into silence - he still says that was the most remembered day of his life
one of my very special days was visiting the Castlerigg stones in the Lake District - on a lonesome plain with the wind whistling but no other noise - u could imagine 10000 years ago - superb
stLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 5
Posted by ex4thhussar (U520216) on Tuesday, 29th September 2009
To return to the original concept of this thread i.e. "Where have you visited that is mind-blowing" may I offer the CWGC at Cassino, South of Rome?
I paid a visit there in May 2005 and wrote about it on my return:
I shall never forget the sheer impact of seeing, once again, the monastery "staring" down at me from immediately overhead.
If you are ever in Rome do not miss out on visiting this cemetery in its magnificent and thought provoking setting.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 6
Posted by Andrew Host (U1683626) on Tuesday, 29th September 2009
Hi Ron,
Thank you. It's good to see you again.
All the best
AndrewLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 7
Posted by ex4thhussar (U520216) on Tuesday, 29th September 2009
Hi Andrew
And it's good to be back !
I'm so glad that I don't still have to chase you about the search facilities on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WW2 People's War Archives. This now works perfectly and I am forever recommending the site to WW2 Researchers.
You might be interested to know that I recently paid a return visit to the Messina Straits and re-created the crossing I made to Italy that I did 66 years ago. As we cannot post images on this forum, I have posted my memories to:
Regards
RonLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 8
Posted by Andrew Host (U1683626) on Tuesday, 29th September 2009
Hi Ron,
It's a relief it's finally fixed.
I'll be v interested to see your pics - I'll pop on and take a look.
Best
AndrewLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 9
Posted by Sixtus Beckmesser (U9635927) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
Yes, Greedybear, the WW1 cemetaries are never forgotten when you've been there. My military history specialism is the C19th and in answer to your original question, I'd name three battlefields/historical sites that have left me stunned.
1. The field of Balaklava. To walk to route of the Light Brigade charge is to understand it as no amount of reading will allow. You appreciate the astonishing discipline of having to remain at a brisk trot for most of the distance under withering fire, in order that the horses would not be blown.
2. The Cawnpore Well. The "holy of holies" of British India. It is really sad that this site has been allowed to decay as it should be an important historical site. The well and its story brought me to tears. The fact that the surrounding park has been renamed after the perpetrator of the massacre just made me angry!
3. The Battlefield of Isandhlwana. One of those places that really does have an air of doom hanging over it, despite the beautiful scenery.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 10
Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
I was in Tewkesbury on 1 January 2000. Decided to take a walk through the town to blow away the cobwebs from the nite before as it were - and ended up at Bloody Meadow. Strangely moving to see it under the glowering winter sky of the first afternoon of the new millennium.
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Message 11
Posted by geordiejarrovian (U14132427) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
For me it would have to be the beaches at Dunkirk and La panne, and the war graves cemeteries nearby. The lack of cover is absolutely clear. It must have been heel for the troops waiting for evacuation. As far as i recall only the Cathedral and the Twon Hall remain of the original Dunkirk, and they are scarred by by shot and shell. Very moving.
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Message 12
Posted by giraffe47 (U4048491) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
Walking up Glencoe on a 'dreich' day would scare the bejasus out of you as well. (I've been there 4 times, and every one was a 'dreich' as anyone could ask for!)
Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 13
Posted by White Camry (U2321601) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
cd,
While it isn't Auschwitz, the Holocaust Museum in Washington does a great job of evoking the mood and atmosphere, the claustrophobia and oppression of the concentration and extermination camps, beginning with the El-Al-type security check at the front door . They even have cans of Prussic Acid, safely sealed in airtight bombproof transparent cases.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 14
Posted by hotmousemat (U2388917) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
Although not a slaughterhouse on the scale of Auschwitz, I found Buchenwald especially chilling.
It is partly that it is so close to the beautiful and cultured town of Weimar. The woods that surround the camp feature in Goethe and the famous oak where he wrote romantic poetry is actually within the camp perimeter. The guards used it to hang prisoners.
It is as though Britain had set up the 'Forest of Arden Concentration Camp', a short bus ride from Stratford upon Avon.
It is distinctive in that it positively celebrates unfairness and brutality. The commandant set up a small zoo and picnic grounds in clear sight of the horrors of the camp, to show that what was going on in the camp was 'natural' and nothing for ordinary Germans to be ashamed of.
Just as Auschwitz has the famous sign 'Arbeit Macht Frei', the gates of Buchenwald have an ironwork text reading an 'Jedem das Seine'. This is usually translated as 'To each his own', (and glossed as 'everyone gets what they deserve')but the difference is that as you approach Buchenwald it is back to front because the words were meant to be read from inside the gate i.e. it was designed to be read by the doomed prisoners as they looked out into the pretty woods.
Buchenwald was not a dirty secret. It was a celebration of one groups power over another. And after the war? It carried on the same work, this time for the prisoners of the NKVD.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 15
Posted by vera1950 (U9920163) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
greedybear,
yes the trenches at Newfoundland park are well preserved and awe inspiring ,but they do not come top of my list as I feel that these trenches -along with others are artificially preserved,
This applies to the trenches at Hill 62 Sanctuary wood nr Ieper-but they give you a good insight to the trench system.
Also the recently discovered and conserved trench at Boesinger-yorkshire trench.
I find a lot of the ww1 sites very touching and awe-inspiring-particularly the one where my husbands grandad is buried -it's really small and in the middle of a field and not much visited except by us and the gardeners.
It is a beautiful and peaceful spot today and is situated right on the battle field only yards from the German trench that they were attacking.
Most of those in there were from the 18th Manchester regt and were killed on 23/04/1917.
It is an awe inspiring place where you can sit and collect your thoughts in todays peace but I never cease to wonder at the death and suffering in the place.
I agree with the poster re Monte Casino I was overwhelmed there at the destruction and the eventual rebuild which I am told followed the original plans .And I was able to see the tombs of St. Benedict and his twin sister St Scholastica.
Suda Bay in Crete is another site that touched me.and the elderly Greek gentleman who greeted us there and assists with the upkeep.
The Trafalgar cem on Gibraltar is among my favourites -such a powerful feel of history there.
There are many touching and thought provoking places in Normandy-just being stood on the landing beaches was a priveledge.
As was Pegasus bridge and the Merville battery.
I stood also in the coastal bunker looking out over the channel which was exactly like the one on Longest Day.That was shivery!
The Bayeux monument besides being an elegant structure really gave a cynical smile -the inscription for all to see-
NOS A GUILIEMO VICTI VICTORIS PATRIUM LIBERAVIMUS.
or-
WE ONCE CONQUERED BY WILLIAM.HAVE NOW SET FREE THE CONQUERERS NATIVE LAND-(one in the eye from him from Harold)Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 16
Posted by ex4thhussar (U520216) on Thursday, 14th October 2010
It is some time since I visited this site but the words "mind blowing" caught my eye.
On a recent trip to Budapest my wife and I visited the memorial set up on the embankment of the river Danube to commemorate the killings by the Arrow Cross militia of Jewish civilians who were caught outside the ghetto in WW2.
The memorial consists of about 30 shoes, cast in bronze, to remind us that these innocents were required to take off their shoes (valuable in those days), they were then shot and thrown into the Danube at that point.
Relatives leave lit candles and flowers in the shoes and to stand and watch this is simply mind blowing.
Lest we forget !
RonLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 17
Posted by LairigGhru (U14051689) on Thursday, 14th October 2010
ex4thhussar (Ron),
Just a little salute across the generations as the time of your exploits at Monte Cassino coincided with the time of my entry into this wonderful yet troubled world. Warmest thanks and regards.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 18
Posted by RedGuzzi750 (U7604797) on Saturday, 16th October 2010
I have to say Culloden was pretty moving as a place to visit - kind of flattish and wind blasted, light sleet on the day I visited. I stood there and thought "I could have been on either side really" and that brought home to me the fitility of the whole BPC enterprise.
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Message 19
Posted by White Camry (U2321601) on Monday, 18th October 2010
The Gettysburg battlefield.
Small college town; very peaceful countryside. Difficult to imagine a slaughterfest.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 20
Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Monday, 18th October 2010
Senlac Hill, Battle. So easy to imagine it all unfolding.
Pegasus Bridge, Normandy - this was helped by having a guided tour by a curator who'd met some of the key participants. He was able to point out bullet holes in the bridge and relate them to the events of that day. I remember being particularly impressed by the skill of the glider pilots, landing in their small target area close to telegraph lines and between canals.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 21
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 18th October 2010
Masada. Looking down at the Roman siege lines still visible in the desert.
(If you can avoid the tour guides telling you what to think)
Fredericksburg. Actually seeing just how high and steep the slope the Union troops were being asked to assault up was.
LWLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 22
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Saturday, 23rd October 2010
mike
senlac hill -u dont have to imagine it
every year there is a re-enactment starting with a saxon village complete with woodsmoke and ending with a saxon army taking its place on senlac against a norman army
absolutely superb - dont miss it if u have any interest in the battle
stLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 23
Posted by BashfulAnthony (U10740638) on Sunday, 24th October 2010
Sixtus_Beckmesser/
The Battlefield of Isandhlwana.Β
I really envy you that. The history of the Zulu Wars is a passion with me, and I would dearly love to visit Isandhlwana.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 24
Posted by BashfulAnthony (U10740638) on Sunday, 24th October 2010
stalti/
Another of my great interests, Hastings. I have been there and though I believe the terrain is considerably different from the 11th. century, the place is still highly evocative.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 25
Posted by RedGuzzi750 (U7604797) on Monday, 25th October 2010
Slapton Sands. Sad as anything.
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Message 26
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Monday, 25th October 2010
Bahful
not sure about that - apparently Senlac hill is the same - and the re-enactment is on the exact same positions as the battle - it is soooo good
the zulu wars are a passion of mine and isandhlwana is the place to go - the mountain has that shape that cant be changed - remember the close encounters of the third kind - i used to make it out of plasticine lol
in the washing of the spears by donald r morris - he says "boxer cartridges are still kicked up " - i want one lol
stLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 27
Posted by Sixtus Beckmesser (U9635927) on Tuesday, 26th October 2010
"in the washing of the spears by donald r morris - he says "boxer cartridges are still kicked up " - i want one lol"
'The washing of the spears' is about half a century old now, so there are years' worth of scavenging on the site, which is now protected.
TWotS is generally regarded as a bit dated now, and a lot of Morris's narrative has been dismissed as conjecture. Have you read Colonel Mike Snook's 'How can men die better'? A very fine modern account, meticulously pieced together by walking the ground and by freshly looking at all the surviving accounts. Strongly recommended?Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 28
Posted by BashfulAnthony (U10740638) on Tuesday, 26th October 2010
Sixtus_Beckmesser/
I have indeed read Colonel Snook's work, both on Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift. His account of the latter is, in my view, quite the best; the drawings being beautifully clear and instructive. The new Ian Knight book on Isandhlwana - "Zulu Rising" - is also outstanding. Do get it if you haven't already.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 29
Posted by BashfulAnthony (U10740638) on Tuesday, 26th October 2010
stalti/
I visited Battle some 30 or more years ago now, on a week-end outing, and was desperately disappointed the the Abbey (then a girl's school) was not accessible. I was nosing around and was stopped by a rather imposing lady in wellies and with a black labrador. She asked me rather sternly what I was doing. I explained my interest and disappointment at not being able to look in the Abbey. She announced herself as the headmistress and then most kindly took me in and took me on a conducted tour of the place; followed by a battlefield tour which was a delight. I found the place to be intensely moving and evocative, remembering it all this time later.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 30
Posted by NormanRHood (U14656514) on Saturday, 30th October 2010
film it and put in on youtube with the zombies" a butchers tale"
haunted sites of glory website was or is a site about haunted usa civil war battlefieldsLink to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 31
Posted by NormanRHood (U14656514) on Saturday, 30th October 2010
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)
Welcome to the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Come on a journey to remember and commemorate the survival of the Cherokee people despite their forced removal from their homelands in the Southeastern United States in the 1830s.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 32
Posted by Wally (U14414065) on Sunday, 31st October 2010
I have to say that Hiroshima was by far the most amazing and harrowing site of conflict (I am reluctant to call it a battlefield even though so many died there.) I have ever visited. To be able to see and touch some of the artifacts left behind by the explosion and to watch on video first hand accounts of some of the survivors was a privilege and at the same time a curse. That the people of the area have forgiven if not forgotten the events of that fateful day is a testimony to their stoic and pragmatic nature, I only wish that all victims and survivors could behave with such dignity and grace. How easy it would have been for these people to have become bitter and twisted, instead they have rebuilt and improved their lives. I would recommend a visit to anybody who has the opportunity.
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Message 33
Posted by Pete- Weatherman (U14670985) on Tuesday, 2nd November 2010
There are 3 places that stick in my memory the first is Belsen camp like Auschwiz it to was a Death camp, I felt so strong about the place I had to return a few years later to once again pay my respects. The second place was the Mohne Dam, I saw that in the 70s and at that time you could still see the repair mark from the breach, also along the vally there were still singhs of were the water had swept away trees and homes. The 3rd place is Lynton on the west of Exmoor, in 1952 the year befor I was born, A foold swept away half the village, and if you walk up river to a place called Waters Meet you can still see the remains of some of the houses. And like at the Mohna, meny lives were lost to the on rush of flood water that day.
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Message 34
Posted by Priscilla (U14315550) on Tuesday, 2nd November 2010
Yes, I have done parts of this trail,NormanR.- including the Blue Water vale in Arkansas. I also spoke to many Cherokee later at the Heritage Centre Village but was so busy discussing arrows and the blowpipe stuff that I forgot to ask if any Cherokkee still live in Georgia. Do they?
Where people have suffered greatly the memory still lingers in the ambience. I don't think this is always imagined either. I have felt it in places where I knew not what had happened there until I asked.
There is blood in the earth throughout Europe - and strangely I felt a bland lack of it in several remote places in the US. Strange that.
Regards, P.Link to this forum: Where have you visited that is mind-blowing?
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Message 35
Posted by White Camry (U2321601) on Tuesday, 2nd November 2010
Priscilla,
Yes, I have done parts of this trail,NormanR.- including the Blue Water vale in Arkansas. I also spoke to many Cherokee later at the Heritage Centre Village but was so busy discussing arrows and the blowpipe stuff that I forgot to ask if any Cherokkee still live in Georgia. Do they?Β
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
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