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Battlefield
History Tours |
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A great way to start the tour.
We headed out of Paris right on time for our first stop at the glade of the Armistice. En route, John L explained the significance of the site where the Armistices of 1918 and 1940 were signed. He detailed the ignominy suffered by the German sacrificial lambs when bullied by Marshal Foch into an agreement that stopped the killing but at the same time when coupled with the great depression sowed the seeds of World War 2. Then the insufferable actions of Hitler and his cronies in 1940 where the commemorative site was all but destroyed. Only the statue of Foch was left to look over a wasteland. Then after the victory of 1945 the story of reconstruction was told.
On to lunch at the Aire de Raissons and a further drive to the town of Peronne. John L took the group on a walking tour showing the restored buildings (Peronne was destroyed in the Franco-Prussian War, World War 1, then damaged in World War 2) that told the story of the town's evolution from a medieval stop on the road to London to the vibrant French provincial village it is today.
After we settled into our hotel Le Saint Claude, we toured l' Historial de la Grande Guerre with the special feature, the Australian Room where the story of the battle of Mt St Quentin is so graphically told.
A well earned drink was followed by a great meal at the nearby Aux Gars du Nord. A celebration, John H had driven the minibus and not hit anything (yet).
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© Battlefield History Tours ABN 74107857705, PO Box 201, Northmead NSW 2152, AUSTRALIA, Phone: 1300 450 436 or +61 412 399 693
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