Vimyhöhe
Givenchy en Gohelle
Road: Chemin De Neuville
There’s a monument on the Vimyhöhe for the Canadian soldiers that fought in World War 1. There’s also a graveyard and you can visit some tunnels and trenches here. Hitler visited the Vimyhöhe in 1940, after the occupation of France.
The pictures in black and white are made in 1940. Hitler visites the Vimyhöhe after the invasion of France
The coloured pictures show the Vimyhöhe today
Lorettohöhe
Ablain St. Nazaire
Road: Voie De Bouvigny A Notre Dame De Lorette
On the Lorettohöhe is a cemetry of the French soldiers dying in the First World War. There’s a church, the Notre Dame De Lorette, a graveyard and memorial pillar. Hitler was here on the same day he visited the Vimyhöhe.
The Lorettohöhe in 1940 and in 2007
Wolfsschlucht 2
Margival; between Soissons and Laon
Today: not sure
Wolfslucht 2 was ment to have a function during the invasion of England. But it was the other way around: Hitler used it after D-Day, to coördinate the troops.
Wolfsschlucht 1
Brûly-de-Pesche
about 50 km. northwest of Sedan, near Couvin. In Couvin it’s in the direction of Cul-des-Sarts; follow the signs to Brûly-de-Pesche
Today: the bunker’s still there, the village is still pretty much the same but the original barracks have gone (there are new ones)
In June 1940, when German troops had invated France, Hitler was here in to coördinate the troops. The Germans took over the small village. They built barracks and a bunker for the führer in the woods. The barracks were taken down but two of the three barracks were rebuilt.
Brûly-de-Pesche in 1940 and 2007
On the left of the left picture you see a path running into the woods. This path leads to the barracks.
The right picture shows the village in 2007
Hitler and his staff coördinating the invasion of France
At the Wolsschlucht just before the sacristie in France, June, 25, 1940
The announcement of the ‘Waffenruhe’
This used to be the guesthouse of the Führerhauptquartier
Left and right: Göring leaves
Middle: The same church today
The Germans were building a bunker at aproxomately this spot. It was never finished. There is a house being built here, today (2007). Behind the foundation of the new house was the runway for Storch aircrafts
Above: The parish house next to the church, today
Left: Hitler and his staff
coming from the barracks,
walking into the village
Above: The old school of the village in 2007
Middle: The school was used by the Wehrmacht. Here Hitler walks on the other side of the house
Left: The rebuilt führerbarrack; Middle: the rebuilt teehaus; Right: the place were the Wehrmacht Command Staff Barracks were
The small führerbunker
In the middle: the inside of the bunker
Right: the entrance in close-up
Left: The three typicall trees in front of the barracks in 1940. Middle: a similar scene in 2007. Right: Two pictures of Hitler in Wolsschlucht 1
Musée Henri Malartre (Hitlers car)
Lyon
The museum is 11 km to the north of Lyon on the D 433, Saône, 20 minutes from the centre: 645 rue du Musée
69270 Rochetaillée-sur-Saône
Today: Hitlers Mercedes is still there
A 1941 armored Mercedes of Adolf Hitler is in this Museum. The front seat next to the driver is raised. Hitler always sat next to the driver.
Paris
When the Germans had invated France in 1940, Hitler did a tour through Paris. He landed at Le Bourget airport, went to look at the Opera of Charles Garnier and drove down the Champs Elysées. At the Trocadero he stopped to look at the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. Than the Arc de Triomphe, the Invalides, the Pantheon and some other highlights (like the Louvre) were on the route . At the end of the quick tour he visited the Rue de Rivoli and the Sacre Coeur.
A well-known picture of Hitler in front of the Eiffel Tower
Hitler at the grave of Napoleon, at the Dome Des Invalides
Paris in the ninetees. The pictures were taken from the same side of the Eiffel Tower as the picture of Hitler above
Right: Hitler at the opera
Glade of the Armistice
Compeigne
Side-way of the Route Départementale, D 564
On November 11, 1918 German generals surrendered here in the railroad car of the French marshal Foch. The site was turned into a memorial park with an avenue of 250 yards and a granite block on the spot were the train wagon had been. On June 21, 1940 the French surrendered to the German at the exact same spot and in the same railroad car, in the presence of Adolf Hitler. The park was destroyed during the war, but it has been rebuilt. Only the statue of marshal Foch is the original one. The railroad car is you can see here today is a reproduction. It is kept in a shed where the original one was kept. The original was taken to Berlin but was bombed.
Hitler and his generals at the
Glade of Armistice in Compeigne
The Germans at the memorial stone
The French delegation waiting in front of the railroad car
The French and the Germans inside the train
Montoire
Railway station
Before going to Hendaye to meet Franco, Hitlers Sonderzug stopped at the Montoire railway station to speak to Laval. On the way back from Hendaye to Aachen, Hitler met Petaine at the same station.
On a trip to Hendaye, Hitler
met Petain
Hendaye, railway station
Village on the border between France and Spain
On October 23, 1940 Hitler met Franco here. The meeting wasn’t very succesfull. Spain remaint more or less neutral.
Hitler and Franco in Hendaye
Below: Hitlers Sonderzug
Hitler and Franco on the railway station of Hendaye
Hitlers ‘dance’ at the Wolsschlucht on June, 17, 1940
Strassburger Münster/Cathedrale Notre Dame
Münsterplatz
Strassburg/Strasbourg
Hitler was in Strassburg at around 30 June 1940
Above: Hitler on a bridge in Strassburg
Right: In the Cathedral of Strassburg
French westcoast
Calais, Dunkerque, Boulogne etc.
From 21 December 1940 Hitlers Sonderzug travels in the westcoast-area of France. On the 23th of December the Sonderzug is in a tunnel in Boulogne. At that time Boulogne gets bombed, but nothing happens to the train.
Lille
Location: unknown
When the Germans occupied France the Führercolonne drove through Lille. The picture below shows the cars driving through a street in Lille.
Laon
Cathédrale de Notre-Dame
Location: Rue du Cloitre
Today: still there
In 1940 Hitler visited the church of Laon.
Left: Hitler inside the church
Above and right: the church today
Metz
Airfield
Location: unknown; the airfield of Metz today is called Frescaty and it’s location is near the Rue de l’Aérogare but there’s also an airfield outside Metz called Metz-Nancy-Lorraine
Hitler, Keitel and Jodl flew from Salzburg to Metz on June 16, 1944. The next morning they drove to Margival (Wolfsschlucht 2) to meet the generals Rommel and Rundstedt. Hitler was in Metz on December 26, 1940 too. He visited the Leibstandarte.
Führer Haupt Quartier (FHQ) Wolfsschlucht 2
Location: north of Margival; outside the village is the Rue de Laon; take this road and keep on driving alongside the railroadtrack; in the middle of the small forrest the FHQ was located
Today: there’s still a lot to see here; the Führerbunker is still there and so are a lot of other bunkers; you can also take a look inside
The FHQ is located in the forests of 'Les Gostins' and 'Les Poltons'. The area is an important World War I battlefield. Hitler was here in WW1 just a few kilometers from the place that became his headquarters in World War 2. Wolfsschlucht 2 was build to be the location from wich the Operation Seelowe (the invasion of England) was to be coördinated. The complex is about 5 kilometers long and 2 kilometer wide. There was a special Führerbunker there, with an extension that had a large hall with a fireplace, some offices, a kitchen, a sleeping room and a bathroom.
The only time Hitler was at this FHQ was on June 17, 1944. He had a meeting there to talk about the situation on the western front. Because there were enemy planes in the area they had to move from the large hall to the bunker. Ian Kershaw says that Hitler met Rundstedt and Rommel in a bombfree railroad tunnel in the area and that they had lunch inside the bunker. There is still a railroad track running through the woods and the railway tunnel is a little north of Wolfsschlucht 2 just before the edge of the wood (you get a good view of it on Google Earth).
I’m not sure tough if there were two meetings. So the question is: did the meeting take place inside a railroad tunnel or inside the bunker; or did two meetings take place?
Do you have the answer? Please send us an e-mail.
The pictures that are shown we took from www.bunkerfotos.nl, a Dutch website that gives a good idea of what the area looks like today.
Spicherer Höhen
Location: in the region Saarland, just behind the French border; in the area of the French vilage Spicheren
Today: there must be lots of things reminding of the war in the region; for instance the war graves in the village of Spicheren
Hitler was in this region, in between French and German lines, on the 24th of December 1939. He stayed in his train most of the time.
Calais (Boulogne)
Locations: exact locations unknown
Hitler came by train to the region of Calais on December 23 1940 to visit Fernkampfbatterien, the Kriegsmarine in Boulogne and other army groups in the region. He also met admiral Darlan, a representative of the French government. Hitler stayed in the region untill December 25.
