Distance from base: 100 km

Maginot Line / Hackenberg Fortress:
A visit to the Hackenberg Fortress is a real flashback in French and world history – a deep dive into the early 1930’s. The Hackenberg environment is kept as authentic as possible, with the AMIFORT association dedicated to the conservation and keeping alive of the heritage. With your guide, in the little underground train, you will discover one of the most impressive technical realizations of the first decades of the 20^th century (underground stations, ammunition storage, living quarters, kitchens…). You will also visit one of the region’s largest military museums on WWII. The underground train will then bring you to block 9, an impressive artillery block, where a 163t retractable turret, which is still in working condition, is shown in operation, and where a 135 mm gun, installed in a bunker, is also on display. You will then be led to block 8, an artillery bunker severely damaged during the battle that took place there in autumn 1944 between American and German troops. After the tour, the visit will come to an end at a little souvenir shop.

Verdun is situated along the banks of the river Meuse. The city with its Citadel formed an important strategic position during WWI & WWII. Verdun is full of excellent restaurants & cafes - eating well in Verdun is easy.

Fort Douaumont was the largest and highest fort on the ring of 19 large defensive works which had protected the city of Verdun, France, since the 1890s. By 1915, the French General Staff had concluded that even the best-protected forts of Verdun could not withstand bombardments from the German 420 mm (16.5 in) Gamma guns. Fort Douaumont and other Verdun forts were judged ineffective and had been partly disarmed and left virtually undefended since 1915. On 25 February 1916, Fort Douaumont was entered and occupied without a fight by a small German raiding party comprising only 19 officers and 79 men, entering via an open window by the moat. The easy fall of Fort Douaumont, only three days after the beginning of the Battle of Verdun, shocked the French Army. It set the stage for the rest of a battle which lasted nine months, at enormous human cost. Douaumont was finally recaptured by three infantry divisions of the Second Army, during the First Offensive Battle of Verdun on 24 October 1916. This event brought closure to the battle in 1916.

Verdun Memorial Museum is one of the most important WAR museums in Europe and is situated in the heart of the battlefield. The museum offers an educational and emotional tour of the Battle of Verdun through the figures of the French or German soldiers.

Douaumont Cemetery was open on a section of the battlefield and it was inaugurated in 1929. It contains the graves of over 16,000 French soldiers and is the world's largest French war cemetery.