Tom Brokaw called the World War Two generation
"The Greatest Generation." Certainly, this generation saved our western
civilization from Nazi terror. As President Roosevelt expressed it,
the generation had a "Rendezvous with Destiny."
Among the very greatest were the soldiers
who landed at Normandy on D-Day in the largest military invasion in the
history of the world. These men fought in Normandy during the summer
of 1944 and advanced across France that autumn. The Battle of the Bulge
during the bitter cold winter of 1944-45 was the largest battle ever fought
by the American Army.
Our first week's journey will follow the
path of our soldiers from the landings at Normandy to the Rhine.
We'll visit Omaha Beach and Point du Hoc, and Bastogne at the Battle of
the Bulge.
Of course the war did not end at the Rhine.
Much fighting still remained. Our troops crossed the Rhine in early
March and advanced across Germany to V-E day on May 8. Our second
week's journey will include the concentration camp at Buchenwald, and Dresden,
one of the most heavily bombed cities in Europe. En route to Berlin,
we will stop at Torgau on the Elbe, where our soldiers linked up with Russian
troops advancing from the East. Our approach will consider both the
"worm's eye view" of Ernie Pyle, and the high command environment of General
Eisenhower and his staff.
But our trip is more than a retracing of
battles. Education sessions are included to enhance our understanding
of World War Two in Europe. For example, an education session will
explore the origins and aftermath of the First World War, leading to the
outbreak of World War Two.
Sightseeing and other activities are also
included. We'll visit Mont-St-Michel in Normandy and a champagne
cellar at Reims, capital of France's Champagne Country. Cruises on
the Rhine and the Elbe are included.
If the Greatest Generation had a Rendezvous
with Destiny, we who have come later owe it to our parents and grandparents
to learn about their lives, their times, and their extraordinary contribution
to our civilization. We must keep our appointment with history, understanding
that we are not mere onlookers. We, too, must be personally involved,
taking part in the tasks to preserve our freedom.
Our trip promises to be among our most
memorable, and we hope that you will join us.
Return to the top
PROGRAM
FEATURES
9 Days: July 26-August 3, 2004 • Paris-Frankfurt
Included Features:
Round trip transatlantic flights
- USA to Paris
- Frankfurt (or Berlin) to USA
Hotel accommodations for seven nights
- One night near Paris (Airport)
- Three nights in Normandy
- One night in Reims
- One night in Luxembourg
- One night near Frankfurt
Buffet breakfast and dinner each day
Special Features:
- Four Education Sessions*
- Experienced historian as education
host
- Visit to a Champagne Cellar near
Reims
*Education Sessions:
-4th Day D-Day and the Battle of
Normandy - Preparations in England - The Role of the Navy
-5th Day D-Day and the Battle of
Normandy - On the Ground in France
-7th day World War I and the Origins
of the Second World War
-8th Day Battle of the Bulge
Sightseeing:
-Normandy: Omaha Beach, Utah Beach,
Pointe du Hoc, Bayeux, Ste. Mere Eglise, Three Museums, Mont-St-Michel
Reims, Bastogne, Luxembourg, Rhineland
Plus:
-Travel between cities via deluxe,
air-conditioned motorcoach with English-speaking tour manager
-Round trip airport transfers
-Hotel porterage
Hotels:
-Paris (Airport) Marriott, Hilton,
Millennium
-Normandy Mercure, Holiday Inn,
Novotel
-Reims Mercure, de la Paix, Holiday
Inn
-Luxembourg Sofitel, Sheraton,
International Clervaux
-Frankfurt Area Maritim, Marriott,
Dorint
Return
to the top
Extend your trip to 15 Days: July 26
to August 9, 2004 • Paris-Frankfurt-Berlin
You're already over there, so it's easy
- and inexpensive - to follow the advance of our troops across Germany
to the end of the war in Berlin.
Included Features:
Hotel accommodations for six nights
- One night in Weimar
- Two nights in Dresden
- Three nights in Berlin
Buffet breakfast and dinner each day
Special Features:
- Four Education Sessions**
- Experienced historian as education
host
- Rhine River Boat Ride
- Elbe River Boat Ride
**Education Sessions:
-10th Day The Nazis and the Holocaust
-11th Day The Air War - Strategic
Bombing - The Example of Dresden
-12th Day The Russian Front
-14th Day The Potsdam Conference
- Berlin and the Cold War - Berlin today
Sightseeing:
-Weimar, Buchenwald, Dresden, Torgau,
Berlin, Potsdam
Plus:
-Travel between cities via deluxe,
air-conditioned motorcoach with English-speaking tour manager
-Round trip airport transfers
-Hotel porterage
Hotels:
-Weimar Hilton, Dorint, Elephant
-Dresden Bellevue, Hilton, Dorint
-Berlin Steigenberger, Hilton,
Westin
Return
to the top
PROGRAM FACULTY
(subject
to change)
- July: The lead faculty member will be
Kenneth
Hamburger, Ph.D. During two tours of combat in Vietnam, Ken Hamburger
was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying
Cross, and thirty Air Medals. He holds a Master's Degree and Ph.D.
from Duke University, and has taught courses at West Point on the Korean
and Vietnam Wars, Grand Strategy, and Leadership. His recent book
is a study of combat leadership in the Korean War.
- September: TBA
- University of Virginia Program Director:
Tom
Dowd, Senior Director of Program Development, University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional
Studies. Return to the
top
PROGRAM
SCHEDULE
(subject to change)
What you'll experience...
1st Day: USA - Paris: Monday, July 26
or September 20
Fly this afternoon from your departure
city to Paris. Beverages, dinner and continental breakfast will be
served in flight. There is also a movie for your in-flight enjoyment.
2nd Day: ParisTuesday, July 27 or September
21
Arrive Paris in the morning, local time.
Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to your hotel. The
balance of the morning is at leisure.
This afternoon we have included a panorama
tour of the major sights of Paris.
Those who already know Paris may wish to
spend the afternoon at the Louvre or another of the city's world class
museums. Or, you may prefer just to stroll along the Champs Elysees,
or while away the afternoon at a sidewalk cafe.
Return
to the top
3rd Day: Normandy - Caen: Wednesday,
July 28 or September 22
"Good Luck! And let us all beseech the
blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."
General Dwight Eisenhower, Order of the
Day, June 4, 1944.
This morning we'll follow the Seine west
to Normandy, a land of rich pastures and orchards; of castles, cathedrals
and medieval towns.
Two of history's greatest epics occurred
in Normandy. William the Conqueror invaded England from Normandy
in 1066. In 1944, green and peaceful Normandy with its picturesque
landscape and villages was the setting for the greatest military invasion
in world history. On June 6, 1944 - called the Longest Day - General
Eisenhower's allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy.
This afternoon we will visit the Memorial
Museum of Caen to introduce us to the events of D-Day and the summer of
1944.
4th Day: Normandy - Beaches and Battles:
Thursday, July 29 or September 23
"In this column I want to tell you what
the opening of the second front entailed, so that you can know and appreciate
and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it
for you."
Ernie Pyle, June 12, 1944
The June 6, D-Day landings at Normandy
were the largest military invasion in the history of the world. We'll
spend the entire day, from the beaches to the break-out, following the
paths of the American infantry, rangers, and paratroopers.
We'll visit Omaha Beach, site of the largest
amphibious landing, and where more than 6,000 Americans are buried at the
American cemetery. Every American should visit this hallowed ground.
We'll visit Pointe du Hoc, where American Rangers assaulted a fortified
German gunsite on a cliff. This extraordinary feat was memorialized
by President Reagan in his 1984 speech at Normandy, "The Boys of Pointe
du Hoc." Our paratroopers landed at Ste. Mere Eglise. Today,
this village still hangs a parachute on its church steeple as a reminder
of its liberation.
The D-Day book of Cornelius Ryan was called
The
Longest Day, as was the film starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and
Curt Jurgens. The phrase came from the analysis of Field Marshall
Erwin Rommel, Commander of the German forces in France.
"Believe me...the first 24 hours of
the invasion will be decisive...the fate of Germany will depend on it...for
the Allies, as well as for us, this will be the longest day."
Rommel was correct. D-Day was decisive.
Fortunately for us, the beaches were secured. Although terrible fighting
lay ahead, Germany's fate was sealed on this fateful day. General
Eisenhower's prayer was answered.
During the ensuing weeks, fierce battles
were fought throughout the hedgerows of Normandy. The largest inland
battle was at the town of St. Lo. The break-out from Normandy took
75 days. Return
to the top
5th Day: Normandy: Bayeux, Mont-St-Michel:
Friday, July 30 or September 24
The invasion of 1944 was not the first
invasion across the English Channel. Nearly 900 years earlier in
1066, William the Conqueror invaded England from Normandy.
Pictures of William's 1066 expedition can
be seen in Bayeaux. Honest! The famous Tapestry of Bayeux,
230 feet long and 900 years old, shows in astonishing detail - via millions
of stitches - the life and customs of the Middle Ages and William's epic
invasion of England, one of the most important events in world history.
This afternoon we'll take a break from
World War II and visit Mont-St-Michel. Along with the Eiffel Tower
in Paris, Mont-St-Michel is the most photographed symbol of France.
A Benedictine Abbey, Mont-St-MIchel is the finest example of French medieval
architecture and of a fortified abbey. The buildings of the monastery
are piled around a conical mass of rock which rises abruptly out of the
Atlantic to the height of 300 feet, on the summit of which stands the great
church. Return
to the top
6th Day: Reims: Saturday, July 31 or
September 25
We'll leave Normandy this morning and drive
across northern France to Reims. It was at Reims that the German
Army surrendered to General Eisenhower on May 8, 1945. The Reims
cathedral is among the most magnificent in Europe. We'll visit the
Cathedral and the site of the German surrender.
Reims is also the capital of the French
Champagne Country. We'll visit a champagne cellar and of course be
treated to samples. Champagne has been produced here since the 17th
century when the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon conceived the idea of blending
the grapes of the region to produce the subtle harmonies of delicious champagne.
Return
to the top
7th Day: Verdun - Luxembourg: Sunday,
August 1 or September 26
What were the causes of World War II?
Our educational session this morning will focus on this topic. The
war can be considered as an extension of the First World War, which destroyed
the European civilization that existed in 1914.
Woodrow Wilson called World War I "The
war to end all wars." Although hindsight is always 20-20, this prediction
was wildly wrong. In one of the ironies of history, our troops in
eastern France in 1944-45 retraced some of the same battlefields where
American "doughboys" fought in 1918.
We'll visit Belleau Wood, where U.S. Army
and Marine Corps troops helped to stop the German advance from reaching
Paris. In the Meuse-Argonne Region, we'll see the Pennsylvania State
Monument and the American memorial at Montfaucon. It was in the Argonne
Forest that Sergeant Alvin York showed his extraordinary courage and marksmanship,
and where the "Lost Battalion," led by a Wall Street lawyer called up from
the reserves, was surrounded by the Germans for five days, refusing to
give up. A precursor of Bastogne! Although American troops
were not involved, we will also visit Verdun. The Battle of Verdun,
lasting from February to December, 1916, was the longest and largest single
battle in world history.
Return
to the top
Next, we enter Luxembourg and return to
World War II. We'll visit the American Military Cemetery, where General
Patton is buried.
8th Day: Bastogne - The Rhineland: Monday,
August 2 or September 27
"They got us surrounded - the poor bastards"
American Army Medic
"Nuts"
General Anthony McAuliffe
The Battle of the Bulge, as the Ardennes
Campaign is widely known, was the largest land battle of World War II.
It was also the largest battle ever fought by the American Army.
The last offensive of the German Army,
the battle cost 19,000 Americans killed in action. But our troops
held the line and the offensive was a disaster for the Germans, who had
put their soldiers in a noose to be cut off by reinforcing Americans under
General Patton. The above comments during the siege, from an unnamed
army medic and General McAuliffe, became the most widely quoted comments
of the war in Europe. We'll visit Bastogne, where our soldiers were
surrounded for a week, and see the town's monuments to this epic battle.
After the German defeat at the Battle of
the Bulge, it took our troops several weeks to reach the Rhine. Today,
we'll proceed east from Bastogne and arrive at the Rhine in a few hours.
Dinner this evening, with German entertainment,
will be at a popular Rhineland restaurant.
Return
to the top
9th Day: Return Home: Tuesday, August
3 or September 28
If you are ending your trip at this point
you will fly home from Frankfurt
Or extend your trip from Frankfurt on
to Berlin
You're already over there, so it's easy
- and inexpensive - to follow the advance of our troops across Germany
to the end of the war in Berlin.
What you'll experience...
9th Day: Rhine Cruise - Weimar: Tuesday,
August 3 or September 28
This morning enjoy a delightful cruise
on the Rhine. See the vineyards of the famous Rhine wines, the many
barges on this busy waterway and perhaps best of all, the fairy tale castles
around almost every bend in the River. Of particular note are the
famous Lorelei rocks immortalized in the classic poem of Heinrich Heine.
Set to music, the poem tells the story of boatmen lured to their death
by a beautiful maiden sitting on the rocks, combing her long blond hair
while singing her fateful song.
After our cruise, proceed to Weimar.
Return
to the top
10th Day: Weimar - Buchenwald - Dresden:
Wednesday, August 4 or September 29
The cultural history of Weimar is awesome.
Goethe, Germany's greatest writer, lived here; Schiller, who wrote the
words to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony "Ode to Joy," lived in Weimar.
Johann Sebastian Bach stayed ten years in Weimar, composing his immortal
music.
The former concentration camp of Buchenwald
is near Weimer.
"I pray you to believe what I have said
about Buchenwald. I reported what I saw and heard, but only part
of it. For most of it, I have no words"
Edward R. Murrow, April 16, 1945
Today we'll focus on our enemy of World
War II - Germany and its Nazi Regime. We will consider that most
difficult question: How did a people that produced such immortal writers
and composers also give birth to the most evil group and the most evil
deed - the holocaust - in world history?
Our visits to Weimar and Buchenwald will
bring no answer to this question, which scholars have considered for decades.
Nevertheless, we will understand more than ever why it was necessary for
America's "Greatest Generation" to enter and win World War II.
Arrive in Dresden this afternoon.
Return
to the top
11th Day: Dresden: Thursday, August
5 or September 30
Situated along the River Elbe, Dresden
was once called the Florence of the North. It was heavily bombed
during World War II and became a symbol of the terrible destruction of
war. Located in the former East Germany for 45 years, the city did
not rebuild as quickly as its more fortunate neighbors in the West.
Nevertheless, Dresden's magnificent Baroque buildings, the world class
art in its museums, and the city's lovely setting on the Elbe combine to
make Dresden one of the most beautiful places in Europe.
The bombing of Dresden in February, 1945
has prompted criticism that such massive destruction was not necessary.
Strangely, the German bombing of Coventry and London has not attracted
as much complaint. Our education session today will focus on the
American bombing campaign and its effectiveness.
A local guide will show us the Old City
of Dresden, including the Semper Opera, the Hofkirche, and the Zwinger
Gallery. We'll see the Frauenkirche, the most important Protestant
Church in pre-war Germany, being rebuilt, stone by stone.
After our tour, walk along the Elbe or
visit the Zwinger Gallery. Pause at an outdoor cafe and reflect
on the triumphs and tragedies of this beautiful city of the Old Europe.
Return
to the top
This afternoon we will be treated to a
boat ride on the Elbe. This evening we'll enjoy dinner at a popular
restaurant in Dresden.
12th Day: Torgau - Berlin: Friday, August
6 or October 1
In 1945 General Eisenhower decided not
to direct our troops against Berlin. Instead, he elected to leave
the capture of Berlin to the Russian Army, advancing from the East.
The American and Russian forces therefore linked up at Torgau, a city on
the Elbe, east of Leipzig, on April 25
Enroute to Berlin, we'll stop at Torgau
and visit the meeting site and small museum commemorating the Russian -
American link-up of armies.
Return
to the top
13th Day: Berlin: Saturday, August 7
or October 2
Berlin is Germany's largest and most fascinating
city. The wall is down, checkpoint Charlie is now a museum; Berlin
is again free and undivided, and again the capital of Germany.
Sightseeing this morning includes Potsdam
Square, the Brandenburg Gate, and a remnant of the infamous wall.
See the Russian War Memorial, Alexander
Square, and drive along Unter den Linden, the main avenue of pre-war Berlin.
See the Schoneberger Rathaus (city hall) where John F. Kennedy delivered
his famous, "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner) speech in August,
1961. After a short look at Charlottenburg Castle, our tour ends
at the top of the Kurfurstendamm (ku'damm), dominated by the bombed out
shell of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and its new, starkly modern
replacement. These buildings have become symbols of the Old and New
Germany. They are among the most impressive sights in Europe.
The afternoon is at leisure.
Berlin has 85 museums. Perhaps the
most impressive is the Pergamon on Museum Island housing some of the world's
most precious artifacts of classical antiquity. The famous Pergamon
Altar, dating from 160 B.C., is a masterpiece of Greek art. Nearby
is the magnificent Berlin Cathedral, the largest Lutheran church in Germany.
Return
to the top
14th Day: Berlin - Potsdam: Sunday,
August 8 or October 3
Potsdam was the site of the momentous "Big
Three" conference of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin in 1945, where the partition
of Germany was determined. The Conference also showed early signs
of the Cold War to come, as the Soviet Union changed from ally to adversary.
We'll also see Sans Souci, the beautiful
palace of Frederick the Great of Prussia, the political and military leader
who started Prussia on the road to dominance among the German states.
This afternoon is at leisure in Berlin.
Stroll along Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg
Gate. Visit the Reichstag, again the site of the German Parliament.
Enjoy a drink at the Gendarmen Platz.
For a closer look at the Nazi period, the
following museums are worthwhile.
-Topography of Terror exhibit, offering
a riveting pictorial of Berlin from 1933 to 1945.
-House of the Wannsee Conference,
where the decision was made to exterminate the Jews (the "Final Solution.")
The House is now a museum of the Holocaust.
-For the Cold War period, the Museum
of the Allies includes the extraordinary Berlin Airlift of 1947-48.
-The recently opened Jewish Museum
traces the history of German Jewry from the Middle Ages to the present.
From evil to redemption to renaissance,
Berlin has seen it all.
Return
to the top
15th Day: Berlin - USA: Monday, August
9 or October 4
This morning we will be transferred to
Berlin Airport to board our return flight to the U.S. Cocktails and meals
will be served in flight, and a movie will also be available.
Arrive back in the U.S. this afternoon.
Return
to the top
