Band of Brothers road trip

We'll be in Bastogne next Monday for my annual visit en route to luxembourg:cool: There is a car park in centre of town you can stay over night for free.
Taking my son who loves Band of Brothers to all the museums and places of interest before heading down to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg to see General Patton.
We're doing a bit of a battefield tour this year starting at the Somme and heading over into the Ardennes then ending our travels in Ypres to see the menin gate (again) on the 14th
 
Time to start planning this trip again seen as places are starting to open up again. Bought a map of Europe wall chart and plotted out my rough route and I reckon I can follow the route they take in the series even though they do go back and forth a fair bit. I guess that's war for you!

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1. Normandy, Easy Co. memorial + Brecourt + Battle of Carenten & Bloody Gulch memorial

2. I am hoping there is something to see here in Nijmegen regarding a major assault by Easy Co.

3. The liberation of Eindhoven and an Easy Co. operation in Nuenen

4. This episode features 'the bloodied bastards of Bastogne' I notice there is a war museum here so hoping to visit that. Also Foy is here with a couple of military cemeteries.

5. Haguenau. I know Easy Co. had operations here but not too sure if there's anything to actually visit.

6. Landster. Easy liberated a concentration camp here and I know there is memorials here to visit.

7. Eagles Nest. End of the trip here. Hoping to park up close by and get the coach tour to the top of the mountain.

Anyway, that's the rough plan completed. Still a lot of fine tuning to do regarding routes and places to stay/ stop over.

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GAVLAD said:
I am sooo envious! - this is my favourite historical event - favourite being that I'm interested in before anyone jumps on me!
Questions for you:
Are you planning on doing it all in the one trip or splitting?
It maybe worth your while to sail into say Cherbourg or port that side and work your way east. Otherwise you're going to double back on yourself if you go in & out of say Calais.

I've visited most of the Normandy sites, but I did not go specifically based on the Band of Brothers route.
I would suggest that you widen your search a little bit more and buy a pocket guide book called D Day by Major & Mrs Holt - approx. £8 on ebay.
It gives you itineraries with maps, focal points and history about each point.
Some places that may be of interest are below for you to consider which include Bayeux, Port en Bessin, Omaha, Utah, St Mere Eglise, Arromanches, Douvres radar, Juno, Sword, Gold, Ouistreham, Ranville, Pegasus Bridge, Merville & Longues sur Mer.
With regards to Bastogne - I stopped off there last year enroute to Italy.
There's plenty to see in town and theres a good Airborne museum in town. Just out of town is the Bastogne museum which is next to the US Memorial. I went to look around the memorial but ran out of time for that museum - it's meant to be very good.
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We did the whole "Overlord" tour following the brown signs, from Pegasus Bridge all the way to St. Mare Eglaise.
Did the Portsmouth - Caen crossing.
Plenty of Aires / small campsites, and lots of the smaller museums along the route will let you stay overnight.
A very moving and informative way to spend 2 weeks.
If you do get to do it, please stop at all of the small private museums along the way, as they are all memorials in their own way to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and need support so that we do not forget.
RIP to all of them, and thankyou.
Joe
 
We visited Bastogne, the huge USA museum/memorial is well worth a visit, so too is the barracks in Bastogne, on certain days there is a very good (free) tour with English speaking guides of where all the planning took place with Patton etc.. a good collection of military hardware too.
 
I think you need to make a decision on the order.
As to do it historical order would take you more than two weeks (or a lot a driving and not seeing much)

I guess you also need to work out if you are following the TV series, the film, or for historical accuracy, the books.

The start point should really be Wiltshire in the UK where they did they were billited before D Day.
Point 1 on your map (D Day Landings) to point 2 (Nijmegen) took them from June to September 44.
It may not feature heavily in the TV series, but in reality would have been a major event for those there.
You could easily make that a two week trip on it's own.

I'd be thinking Wiltshire to Southampton for the Chebourg ferry.
Do the D Day landings, then drive up to Holland for point 2 and 3 and maybe 4 before heading home via the Hook of Holland/Harwich ferry.

The other option would be to miss off D-Day/Northern France entirely and start on the Harwich/Hook of Holland Holland ferry and do 2 3 4 5 6 7 in order. That would still be a 2,500 km circuit, doable in a couple of weeks, but quite a lot of driving.
 
If you go to Berchtesgaden, visit the museum BEFORE you visit the Eagles nest. The museum is just below the bus station.

We were at Ypres after travelling home from our Europe trip, and met a lady ho was going to Berchtesgaden, as her parents and grandparents lived there during WW2 (and before) when Hitler was there in the 30's. She and her parents left and moved over to UK after the war, as they had been bombed out by the Americans.
They changed their name but she only spoke german. I asked her what it was like for a little girl who only spoke german to move to UK after WW2 ? she said she had to learn english pretty quickly as she had problems at school fitting in.
 
Brains said:
I think you need to make a decision on the order.
As to do it historical order would take you more than two weeks (or a lot a driving and not seeing much)

I guess you also need to work out if you are following the TV series, the film, or for historical accuracy, the books.

The start point should really be Wiltshire in the UK where they did they were billited before D Day.
Point 1 on your map (D Day Landings) to point 2 (Nijmegen) took them from June to September 44.
It may not feature heavily in the TV series, but in reality would have been a major event for those there.
You could easily make that a two week trip on it's own.

I'd be thinking Wiltshire to Southampton for the Chebourg ferry.
Do the D Day landings, then drive up to Holland for point 2 and 3 and maybe 4 before heading home via the Hook of Holland/Harwich ferry.

The other option would be to miss off D-Day/Northern France entirely and start on the Harwich/Hook of Holland Holland ferry and do 2 3 4 5 6 7 in order. That would still be a 2,500 km circuit, doable in a couple of weeks, but quite a lot of driving.
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A trip to Wiltshire may well be on the cards.

I'm pretty sure I'll easily be able to get to all points on the map. I don't mind a lot of driving.

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I do hope you'll do a blog of the trip. St Mere Eglise Airborne Museum is very good. At one point you go through the fuselage of a C47 where they have mannequins in full para kit. You can hardly hear yourself think as they play a soundtrack of the engine noise. A very good immersion into what it was like for Easy Company and all the other guys that dropped that night
 
ChrisSue said:
I do hope you'll do a blog of the trip. St Mere Eglise Airborne Museum is very good. At one point you go through the fuselage of a C47 where they have mannequins in full para kit. You can hardly hear yourself think as they play a soundtrack of the engine noise. A very good immersion into what it was like for Easy Company and all the other guys that dropped that night
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Yeah I've got a few ideas for a kind of blog for the trip. Finding a gap in our workload will be the hardest part.

Thanks for that info, sounds right up my street 👌
 
Its time i watched band of brothers again, the intro and theme music has me in pieces, hubby went on a couple of leger trips(alone) and really appreciated it.we were surprised years ago to find some officers were based at littlecote house ,

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pampam said:
Its time i watched band of brothers again, the intro and theme music has me in pieces, hubby went on a couple of leger trips(alone) and really appreciated it.we were surprised years ago to find some officers were based at littlecote house ,
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I've been meaning to watch it again for a while now but just going to wait and watch each episode as I am travelling at the relevant location. Really looking forward to it.
 
monzer said:
If there is anything I have learned in life it is that you need to stop talking about doing things....and....DO THINGS.

Ferry booked for 29th March. Blog here to follow.
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You will have a blast, although at times quite sobering it’s well worth the effort to go see and pay respects to the fallen and try and envisage what it must have been like, although this will be nigh on impossible.
We have visited a lot of the battlefields…
Amiens,
Theipval,
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Lochnagar,
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Vimy Ridge,
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Beaumont Hamel,
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also a few cemeteries that were in the middle of nowhere
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Bastogne, Mardasson, La Roche, etc

Arnhem

Normandy, Pegasus bridge etc

And also Berchtesgaden

Enjoy your trip, safe travels
 
I found the book invaluable for the detail when we went
 
monzer said:
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The scale of that is near impossible to comprehend.
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Even more impressive is that it’s in limestone and the miners had to mine under the Germans that were underground without making a noise, and yes I think they used real miners, as opposed to soldiers doing miners work👍
That dark boxy thing in the background is a big coach from England (Scunthorpe to be precise) that should give an idea of scale👍
 
The Coops said:
Sounds a great trip but be aware that a certain amount of poetic licence and TV /Film romance was used for the series but don't let that detract from the events that happened
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Many scenes in the Band of Brothers series were filmed at Hatfield airfield not far from the A1.

At that time, I was working in an office adjacent to the airfield, and I could often hear the sound of rifle fire and the thump, thump of the “20 Cal” as they filmed some of the battle sequences, particularly in the villages depicted in some of the episodes.

Interestingly, some of Saving Private Ryan scenes were also filmed at Hatfield airfield, and some of the French village sets in that movie were used in Band of Brothers, which is why they look so similar.
 
CRD said:
Many scenes in the Band of Brothers series were filmed at Hatfield airfield not far from the A1.

At that time, I was working in an office adjacent to the airfield, and I could often hear the sound of rifle fire and the thump, thump of the “20 Cal” as they filmed some of the battle sequences, particularly in the villages depicted in some of the episodes.

Interestingly, some of Saving Private Ryan scenes were also filmed at Hatfield airfield, and some of the French village sets in that movie were used in Band of Brothers, which is why they look so similar.
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I guess the common factor was the production company Dreamworks who were involved in both. Think it's a Spielberg company but could be wrong.
 
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monzer said:
In the very early stages of planning a road trip based on the travels of the men of Easy Company in the HBO show Band of Brothers.

First stop would obviously be Normandy. In episode 2 Easy Company get scattered all over the place but eventually muster enough men to take out a German battery at Brecourt. Anyone been in this area and do you know if there is any kind of memorial or information?

Episode 3 takes place around Carentan with the battle of bloody gulch, again I am hoping there is somewhere close by to park up.

Operation Market Garden next and thinking about visiting Nuenen. Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne follows that and I am pretty sure there is plenty to see there. Foy in Belgium is the setting of episode 7 and episode 8 is in Haguenau.

Looks like there is plenty to see at the Kaufering concentration camp which Easy Company liberated in episode 9.

Last episode is Hitlers Eagles nest at Berchtesgarden and I am guessing this wont be particularly motorhome friendly :LOL: Hopefully find a base close by to stop and explore.

Anyone been to any of these places and got any hints, tips or advice please. I am hoping 2 weeks will be enough
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Great idea, good luck and have fun.

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For the eagles nest leg of the tour I suggest stopping at one of the Königssee sites as the village and lake is ( for me) a must see of that area, magnificent view of eagles nest from the walk to the village.
There last year and a group of motorcyclists from Holland were doing the tour in tents.
Buses to the eagles nest car park are available. Visiting the house is timed ticket only, but well worth the visit.
The lower area is now covered by a five star hotel replacing the old American army hotel and much more of the historical scene.
 
15edward said:
I found the book invaluable for the detail when we went
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Which one? I've read Currahee and got the Major Winters one ready to start shortly before my trip.
Sorry to take so long….

Stephen E Ambrose, Band of Brothers
Series based on this
Lots of very useful detail
 
LesW said:
We visited Bastogne, the huge USA museum/memorial is well worth a visit, so too is the barracks in Bastogne, on certain days there is a very good (free) tour with English speaking guides of where all the planning took place with Patton etc.. a good collection of military hardware too.
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Where exactly is the US museum/ memorial? I've maybe got it marked already but want to make sure it is the same place as the one you are meaning.
 
Also any other sites in England that mark their presence?
 

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