Northern Sold 1:08 Sun Jul 22
Normandy Tours....
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....leger travel.... 5 of us out here.... Just done the British and Canadian sectors....mind blowing stuff.... even though you know its on a massive scale every book film tv doc does not do it justice...humbling brilliant experience....and hats off to leger for their first class service and expertise.... american sector tomorrow....
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Replies - In Chronological Order ( Show Newest Messages First)
Crassus
1:12 Sun Jul 22
Re: Normandy Tours....
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Sold
Please keep the updates coming on this
Right up my strasse, one for a lad and dad trip
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Northern Sold
1:24 Sun Jul 22
Re: Normandy Tours....
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Crassus.... An old Para and another guy that was in the navy...veterans but not ww2 vets have brought their sons along.... They are wearing their berets and t shirts etc and its great to see the local French gratitude's even now...i have seen frenchie in different light now....very humbling
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jfk
5:44 Sun Jul 22
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Went to the the battlefields in and around the Somme with the school around 1983 ..for a bunch of 15 gobby year olds from Romford it bought each and every one of us to tears on more than one occasion an experience I'll never ever forget.
God bless them all. I've driven through that way before since not sure if I could handle stopping off again.humbling don't come close.
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collyrob
11:15 Sun Jul 22
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You’re on a trip away with a few blokes and you’re posting on here talking about Disneyland on a Saturday night.
You absolute sad, dog bothering cunt.
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Westside
11:44 Sun Jul 22
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Did this myself a few years ago, truly brilliant.
Hotel wasn't great though. How is it Northern?
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Coffee
11:46 Sun Jul 22
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Crassus 1:12 Sun Jul 22
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Crassus
12:12 Sun Jul 22
Re: Normandy Tours....
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Sold
I absolutely adore France, its people, food and culture. Give Paris/Parisians a swerve like most of the French and the rest is a delight
Once you have 'wired in' to them it all makes sense. Very proud people who dont forget
Having travelled all over the country, it strikes me that each little village has a perfectly maintained memorial and war graves are meticuously maintained with specific attention upon signage to the nationality of the deceased. Not uncommon to have plaques celebrating their sacrifice with details of the specific exchange that took them
Now I am referring to localised, provincial events. The major sites are signed, as you will have seen, from arterial routes.
Of the people, each of these places seem accutely aware of the details. The duchess and I went to Le Touquet, as an example, having located the best seafood restraunt in town, we were stunned upon entry, the place was full of red white and blue bunting, with pictures of Winston and British military in town after the invasion. I spoke with the owner to compliment him, he was genuinely sincere in his gratitude to the Brits for their liberation
The Bosch on the other hand - well maybe not so well recieved
Funny fuckers the French, so aware, proud and informed, yet as I have told them repeatedly over the years, have a collective knack of electing some right nitwits
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Far Cough
12:27 Sun Jul 22
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Yep, big nose De Gaulle
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Sven Roeder
12:49 Sun Jul 22
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To be fair to the French .... saw a little feature about a village called Villers-Bretonneux in Northern France which the Australian army recaptured after a tank battle between the Brits and Germans.
Has tributes to Australia everywhere with the school and various streets named after Australian place names. And a big sign at the school reading Do Not Forget Australia.
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Crassus
12:51 Sun Jul 22
Re: Normandy Tours....
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Sven
Nice one mate, absolutely in line with my experience
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Last Gasp
1:33 Sun Jul 22
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Stayed in a small village called Poperinge just over the border into Belgium. Beautiful place, the British army stayed here as it was close to the front in the 1914-1918 war. Loads of places remembering the British and it's also not far from Ypres. This is where the fireman close off the town every night and their band play the Last Post, very very moving. A group of new recruits were there to lay a wreath from their battalion. Definitely worth a visit, just to see how the Belgium people never forget the loss of British lives.
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DaveT
2:23 Sun Jul 22
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LG, humbling place to visit. Hope you got to do the tour, one we did was excellent, can't bloody remember the name but it was an English lady who did it. Really informative and even did the German war grave there which the Germans have to pay for the upkeep even today.
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tricky trev
2:36 Sun Jul 22
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I take a group from work every year to either WWI or II sites. This year was our 8th trip and was WWI. I put together the tour each year and gradually introduce new sites. First stop this year was Mons and the St Symhorien Cemetery which is a mixed Commonwealth and German Cemetery. For a small cemetery there is such much contained in one place. Here is buried the joint first awarded VC (Maurice Dease) and first Iron Cross (Oskar Niemeyer)! Also buried here is the first British soldier killed in action and the last and buried opposite each other. There is also the last allied soldier killed in action before the Armistice.
One of our party had a relative remembered at Ploegsteert and also the Menin Gate so we went to both these. After a stop over in Brugges we went the German Cemetery at Langemark and I stopped at the Guynemer memorial, Hitler visited here during WWII. Next we covered Sanctuary Wood / Hill 62.
This week we will will discussing next year's trip either The Somme or Normandy (staying in Bayeuex). Future trips penciled in are Arnhem and Bastogne.
Enjoy NS!
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Crassus
3:18 Sun Jul 22
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Nice work Trev
You boys have inspired me to take my lad - mentioned it to him last night, he loved the idea
Normandy will be the first one
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tricky trev
3:51 Sun Jul 22
Re: Normandy Tours....
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Hi Crassus book I recommend getting hold of in advance is Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide - Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches. Make sure you get the map with it. Loads more I could recommend but this is a good starting point.
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COOL HAND LUKE
6:31 Sun Jul 22
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If you want to see an example of why the French people have never really forgiven the Germans, go and see Oradour sur Glane, near Limoge... 642 people wiped out by the Nazis in 1944. Worst of it was, the French resistance had captured a high ranking German officer, and the Germans intelligence told them he was taken / held by the villagers of Oradour sur Glane, when in fact they had no involvement whatsoever, and the captured officer was actually some 20 miles away at Oradour sur Vayres... That geographical error cost the villagers of Oradour sur Glanes their lives...
The old village has been kept exactly as it was following the massacre, the car wreck you see in some pics was the local doctor... he came to plead with the Germans about the mistake they were making, and was dragged from his car and shot dead on his knees in front of men, women and children. The car has not been moved from that day to this. The men were taken to three seperate locations, machine gunned and burned. The women and children were crammed into the church, boarded up, and set on fire...
If you are EVER remotely close, give up half a day and go see this place... then tell me you want to stay in the EU under the thumb of these German cnuts...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/articles/Oradour-sur-Glane-France-moments-of-Nazi-massacre-frozen-in-time/
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tricky trev
8:08 Sun Jul 22
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On my list of places to go Cool Hand
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jfk
9:50 Sun Jul 22
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Collyrob,it's no secret my connections with Ireland on here.
you are just a fucking embassment to you're fellow countrymen.
There some wankers on here.but you take the biscuit you utter fucking cunt.
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Dave Boozle
9:59 Sun Jul 22
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The war museum in Caen is excellent. Really well done.
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Crassus
10:52 Sun Jul 22
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Trev - thanks mate, noted that and spoken again with my lad about going, its on the list for next year now
Luke - I drove past that village and had been made aware of the events prior, had a crossing to meet but regret not having made time available. Fair to say the French are still somewhat pissed off about it
If you Google the village, there are thorough details available against a timeline - awful and in an area of calm too
As I said earlier, the French are a total contradiction in reality, proud, respectful and retaining memory of their history, yet repeatedly delivering abject fuckwits to lead them
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