Les
Jardins du Mess
Verdun,
France
80s
F, sunny
Another
sunny day in France! We have been so fortunate with the weather. This is the 6th
day of intense touring of sites related to the Great War. Our hotel is the best
yet except for Wi-Fi. Baskets of croissants have been available at each hotel so
instead of breakfast I take two for the road. Tim has enjoyed the cereal (sort
of like Muesli), other breads, and choices of sliced cheese (even Vache Qui
Rit), sliced meats, and yogurt. Fresh fruit is always available. Tim says the
bacon is not cooked as much as he would like—at each hotel.
Everyone
is always on time for the bus departure, which is totally necessary with a
group this size. From the beginning, Mike said that the bus horn would be
tooted once for all aboard. Twice means the doors are shutting and three toots
means, see you later. Understood!
Today
we are mostly in the Champagne area of France, around the Marne River.
Tour
mate Tim, of Oklahoma, spoke of his
grandfather who venerated President Wilson.
The Yankee 26th Division (New England
National Guard) was in this area in January 1918. The division was assigned to
reinforce the French on the Chemin des Dames front, near Soissons and the Aisne
River. The 12 battalions of the Yankee Division were spread across the front. We
stopped at Caverne du Dragon, a limestone quarry made into quarters used by the
Germans fifty feet below ground. It was closed on Sunday morning, but fortunately
we saw this site in 2015.
Monument at Caverne de Dragon, honoring the Colonial Senegalese soldiers who fought for France
We were near an area we had seen in 2015, the Plateau
de Californie, a good offensive position for the Germans and was a
resort area before the war. Old Craonne could be seen in the distance. No
matter where we are in this whole area of France, Mike tells us we are in this
sector or that sector of fighting. For example, now we are in what is called
the Champagne sector. Since we are not exactly going in chronological order, I
can get confused as to time and order of battles as we travel.
Plateau de Californie--a superior German position
The Champagne Operation was in July 1918 and the aim was to capture the Romagne and Cunel Heights. The 80th (Lynn Price) and the 28th (Roy Hall, Robert Arnold, the Silverthorn
Brothers, and Arthur Manness) were in this area and encountered ferocious
and dogged resistance and in three days gained only a mile, according to our
literature. Mike said that the Champagne area had been a horrible killing
ground of the French Army.
World War I technology--the tank
After another lunch at Flunch (love that name—and
if this were not such a serious blog I would elaborate on the “Toilettes.” The setup
of the one in this Flunch was especially interesting), we visited the Reims
Treaty Museum, with the room that the treaty ending World War II was signed. The
exhibits in this museum were well done and I was especially interested in the display
of World War II uniforms, including the Army Nurse Corps uniform—my mother was
a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during WW II.
Museum of the Surrender-Reims, France
Treaty of Reims -- World War II
The entire room enclosed in plexiglass where the Treaty/World War II was signed
The Evening News London, England
07 May 1945
U.S. Army Nurse Corps uniform
Cathedral of Reims, Reims, France
Other sites we saw or stories we heard---
Navarin Farm—brutal fighting, multiple
burials of thousands of French men who gave their lives for France.
Blanc Mont--where American
soldiers fought for 24 hours without food or water; more American casualties
than Belleau Wood.
The
Choctaw Code Talkers-- It was discovered that the Choctaw Indian
soldiers from Oklahoma spoke a language that would confuse the Germans.
The Harlem Hellfighters-- One of our tour
mates, Ken of NYC, spoke about the Harlem Hell Fighters (369th Infantry
Regiment) and their valiant efforts in the Great War. We stopped at a memorial
for the 93rd Division, the Harlem Hell Fighters, and Mike told us
that the French people from the area visited this memorial after 9-11 to honor the
Americans who lost their lives on that day.
Son and father, Steve and Ken, at the monument dedicated to the93rd Division, 369th Infantry Regiment
The Harlem Hellfighters
The French people in the region gathered here after 9-11 in honor of those who perished
We
arrived at our hotel in Verdun about 6 p.m. We had pizza at Tour Guide Mike’s favorite
restaurant in Verdun, La Toscane, with Mike and Virginia.
_________________
Friends, it is almost midnight and I just finished my prep for the ceremony at St. Mihiel American Cemetery tomorrow on behalf of VFW Post 374 and all of us on the tour, plus preparing for my sharing of Archie's story, so this is short--our last hotel was great and this one in Verdun is super too. Restaurants open at 7 p.m. and the French eat at a much slower pace (and serve food that way too), so we did not return to the hotel until about 9:30-10 p.m. I wanted my prep printed and discovered that I had to set the paper size at A4 to accommodate French printers. Oh my. I need sleep!Tim checked out the turnips.
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