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Joined: 2/7/2001 From: Alexandria, VA Status: offline
I was at the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor at sunrise once. This sounds weird, but the air isn't right there. Even if you didn't know where you were, you'd know just from the atmosphere that something horrible had happened there. Gettysburg is the same way.
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[QUOTE]For me it was the Little Round Top at Gettysburg (very well preserved btw..including period stone breastworks).[/QUOTE]
I worked at chickamauga as an intern over the summer and It was a well kept battlefield...but it has been changes some.
Gettysburg is perhaps the most well kept battle field in the world. Right after the battle they realized the importance and immediatly set about to preserve it.
But to answer the question....any Civil War battle field...and perhaps Normandy
Though not really battlefields, both Dachau and Auschwitz will move a person in unimagineable ways. Its been nearly twnety five years since I have visited either one and they both still give me the willies thinking about them.
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Joined: 9/3/2000 From: Georgetown, Texas, U.S. Status: offline
I visited the battlefield at Verdun in the early 90's and was stunned by the violence endured by the men there. There were still obvious signs of the shelling that tore that area to shreds after 80 years. While in France, I visited Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno Beaches as well as Waterlo in Belgium. Out of all of those only Omaha Beach came close to what I witnessed at Verdun. Standing on the heights (shear cliff) above Omaha beach I wondered how any of my fellow countrymen survived that day.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by VictorH [B]I visited the battlefield at Verdun in the early 90's and was stunned by the violence endured by the men there. There were still obvious signs of the shelling that tore that area to shreds after 80 years. While in France, I visited Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno Beaches as well as Waterlo in Belgium. Out of all of those only Omaha Beach came close to what I witnessed at Verdun. Standing on the heights (shear cliff) above Omaha beach I wondered how any of my fellow countrymen survived that day. [/B][/QUOTE]
Normandy is decent...
But seaside development has changed the area a great deal.
There in no longer a shingle there and the seawall has changed quite a bit.
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Joined: 3/27/2001 From: Rheingau, Hesse, DE Status: offline
Normandy was by far the most moving of the few sites I have visited, although I think Hadrians wall was the most fascinating (although not technically a battlefield.)
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I've been to Gettysburg, Manassas and Shiloh, and they all have an impact on you, but I visited Shiloh a month after the WTC attack. When I looked over the headstones at Shiloh's cemetery, it immediately reminded me of the devastation and loss of life America had so recently endured. I had to keep myself from breaking down on the spot, so I'll never forget that particular visit.
As I recall, there was a church on the tour route, but the original structure is no longer in existence (in 2001). There were plans to reconstruct it, but I don't know what they've done since my family's visit. However, most of the battlefield is kept as it was in 1862, (the Hornet's Nest and the site of Albert Sidney Johnston's death). The tree near where Gen. Johnston was shot is gone, but the small pathway to the adjacent ravine where he died is a nondescript and sad way for a general, or anyone else, to end their days on earth.
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by KG Erwin [B]............. The tree near where Gen. Johnston was shot is gone, but the small pathway to the adjacent ravine where he died is a nondescript and sad way for a general, or anyone else, to end their days on earth. [/B][/QUOTE]
Dang....KG you can turn a phrase! I need to put Shiloh on my list of things to see.
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The most Memorial Battlefield I can recall visiting (since I lived close by) was Antihem (spelling) on the Anniversary of the battle where in the evening a candle is lit for every American (Yank and Confed) that perished that day. Forgive me but I cannont remember the carnage numbers of that day, but it was the bloodiest day of the Civil War. Have had the privelage of camping on that hallowed ground and when you walk around at night it's creepy. If memory serves me correctly 30,000 perished that day. There's another battle site that is claimed to be haunted nearby...South Mountain....many claim to have seen the troops attacking Union strong points. Velly Interesting.
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by chief [B]The most Memorial Battlefield I can recall visiting (since I lived close by) was Antihem (spelling) on the Anniversary of the battle where in the evening a candle is lit for every American (Yank and Confed) that perished that day. Forgive me but I cannont remember the carnage numbers of that day, but it was the bloodiest day of the Civil War. Have had the privelage of camping on that hallowed ground and when you walk around at night it's creepy. If memory serves me correctly 30,000 perished that day. There's another battle site that is claimed to be haunted nearby...South Mountain....many claim to have seen the troops attacking Union strong points. Velly Interesting. [/B][/QUOTE]
25,000 died in one day....Antitem creek turned to gel from all the blood
That south mountain thing is weird...the rebel held it and it was the Union attacking.
I was at the Arizona Memorial and it definitely moves you when you realize you're standing over a tomb.
Having been to Midway Island, you can a feeling of utter isolation out there. Standing by one of the old bunkers you can imagine how terrifying it must have been. Knowing that at any moment the Combined Fleet might come over the horizon and you had no where to run to and no where to hide.
The Vicksburg trenches give you an idea of the close quarters at which the Civil War was often fought. They planted alot of trees there in the '30s to prevent erosion (part of FDR civil works progrmas), but have now begun to remove them as better methods have become available. By the way, many of the old homes in the town still show signs of damage in the form of cannon shells stuck in the walls.
Chalmette Park (Battle of New Orleans Battlesite) gives you great perspective on the battle. The British commander should have been courtmartialed. It was bloody suicide to attack Jackson there in a frontal assault. You actually feel sorry for the poor British soldiers who had to assualt the Americans that day.
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In 1969 I had the honor to visit the ruins of the fortress of Liege. The Belgian troops in this, and the other Belgian forts in 1914, delayed the German onslaught long enough to throw the invader's plans into a cocked hat. Ill equipped and outnumbered, the cream of the Belgian youth paid with their blood for the time the British and French needed to prepare to face the Kaiser's army and stop it from reaching Paris.
Eric Maietta[URL=http://ww1.m78.com/english%20version/fortress%20liege.html]http://ww1.m78.com/english%20version/fortress%20liege.html[/URL]
The site of the Fetterman massacre near Fort Phil Kearny has an incredible aura about it.
The Custer battlefield has a very intense feeling, especially when the tourists aren't around and you can just wander. What was really amazing is the scattering of lone markers away from Custer marking where soldiers fell.
I got to tour Monte Cassino in Italy. When you're at the bottom looking up its hard to believe that men fought their way up that hill.
On a more personal note, when I was in my father's home town in Italy, he pointed out former German positions in the surrounding mountains.
Some of the buildings still have damage from an errant American air bombing and statues still missing heads from German soldiers who vandalized the area.
I would have to say Antietam -- particularly the Cornfield and Bloody Lane. To stand at the edge of the cornfield and visualize the waves of attacking troops being shot down was very moving. Then to walk the sunken lane and imagine it full of dead and wounded added immeasuably to the experience.
Shiloh gave me a similar feeling, but the battlefield there is much smaller and much more confined. I got a definite feel for the close- combat nature of the battle, and for the difficulties facing generals Johnston and Beauregard.
I can't wait to see Normandy, as I have gamed it for years, and because my father's brother's grave overlooks Omaha Beach.
The battlefields of Verdun, the Somme, the Marne, Ypres and Flanders. I stood there and could not imagine having to charge across those fields into machine guns, wire and fortified trenches without cover or concealment.
The very air is still alive with memories.
I also visited the Ossuary, the French Memorial to the unknown dead at Verdun. That is a ghostly place. It was misty that morning, as well, and this thing loomed out of the mist like a great granite bayonet...
[QUOTE]Originally posted by rockymtndoc [B]The battlefields of Verdun, the Somme, the Marne, Ypres and Flanders. I stood there and could not imagine having to charge across those fields into machine guns, wire and fortified trenches without cover or concealment.
The very air is still alive with memories. [/B][/QUOTE]
yes. looking over the nice landscape and imagine how much men did fell there in senseless fighting for some hundred meters of no mans land. and there were the gas attacks and the day long arty bombardments, really cruel :(
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