Can you visit WW1 battlefields?
Throughout the areas where the major battles were fought there are numerous 1914-1918 battle memorials, museums, military cemeteries and battlefield remains. Many of these are public sites and, therefore, usually accessible to visitors at all times.
What happened to ww1 battlefields?
Some zones remain toxic a century later, and others are still littered with unexploded ordnance, closed off to the public. But across France and Belgium, significant battlefields and ruins were preserved as monuments, and farm fields that became battlegrounds ended up as vast cemeteries.
Are there still bodies in Flanders Fields?
The farmers of Belgium and France ploughing the fields where millions fought and died regularly turn up a “harvest of bones” from these battles. The relics of about 20 bodies are found every year, but in September a single site near Ypres in Belgium being developed as an industrial estate yielded 24 sets of remains.
How many American soldiers are buried in Flanders Field?
368
Originally a temporary battlefield burial ground, Flanders Field American Cemetery later became the only permanent American World War I cemetery in Belgium. The Flanders Field American Cemetery commemorates 411 service members of the United States Armed Forces of which 368 are interred.
Are there any tours of World War 1?
All of our First World War tours are accompanied by experts who are all either authors, historians or ex-military personnel. All of our forthcoming Scheduled World War 1 Tours are listed below. This tour has it all!
Where to see the tunnels in Arras WWI?
Our first day in Arras will be at the Wellington Quarries Museum where the group will travel 70 feet underground to see the 12 miles of tunnels that 20,000 men called home. We exit Arras by the old Roman road at the heart of the battlefield.
Why was the Battle of Arras important in World War 1?
Begun by the British in April 1917, the Battle of Arras was intended to be a diversionary assault on a larger French offensive launched along the Chemin Des Dames further south. Events, however, meant that the battle grew in size and scope into one of the bloodiest encounters of the war.
Who is on the Stephen Ambrose World War 1 tour?
Chris Anderson leads our World War I Tour. He is a senior historian at Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours and has spent considerable time researching and studying the First World War. After college, he moved to the UK for a year to interview British veterans of the Great War.