100th Anniversary of WWI THE GREAT WAR-1916

21 May—1 June 2016

Plus American Battlefields of 1918 & Devil Dogs at Belleau Wood

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13198 Centerpointe Way, Ste 202 Woodbridge, VA 2219313198 Centerpointe Way, Ste 202 Woodbridge, VA 2219313198 Centerpointe Way, Ste 202 Woodbridge, VA 22193---528552855285

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It has been called THE GREAT WAR and THE WAR TO END ALL WARS. We know it as WORLD WAR I. It began in 1914 and ended with an armistice at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in1918 . The cost…37 million casualties, in-cluding 117,000 dead and 205,000 wounded Americans. The Great War was fought in hun-dreds of places around the world and involved 35 nations. It was truly the first global war. 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of two of the more infamous bloody battles…Verdun and the Somme. One year…two battles… the loss of over two million French, British Com-monwealth, and German soldiers! Military Historical Tours, Inc. is pleased to offer our legacy tour of the battlefields of this world-changing war. MHT’s tour explores the West-ern Front from end-to-end, 1914-1918. While the Somme and Verdun form the “bookends” of our “1916” tour, we will also cover, in

depth, the American Army’s involvement in 1917-18. Come with us and walk the ground to learn why THE GREAT WAR happened, where it was fought, how it was fought and what affect it had on world history.

Our MHT Tour Leaders: Gary Andrejak is a retired USAF LtCol. and a decorated combat pilot in the Vietnam War. For the past 14 years he has organized and led MHT tours which have taken him to 26 coun-tries and territories around the world. We are pleased to welcome Mark Typinski as the newest member of the MHT team. Mark served 10 years in the Marine Corps and is currently working for a government agen-cy. His assignments have included embassy duty in Europe and the Middle East. He speaks French and is a dedicated student of WWI who has explored the WWI battlefields on foot many times.

Daily Itinerary

Sat 21 May (Day 1) Departure. Individual departures from USA to France.

Sun 22 May (Day 2) Brussels. Group assembles at airport hotel. Early evening wine reception and tour overview briefing. Overnight: Paris CDG. Hotel: Paris Hilton CDG Airport.

Mon 23 May (Day 3) Flanders & Battles of Ypres. Depart Paris for Ypres. Here we will meet Gil Bossuyt, our Belgian guide for the next three days. Gil is an experienced guide with a comprehensive knowledge of the WWI battles, terrain and the personal stories of the men who fought here 100 years ago. He offers a unique insight to the epic battles in this area with aerial views, trench maps and vintage photographs. The perfect place to start is Hill 62, where in 1916 the Canadians suffered high casualties during the German as-sault to take this important high ground overlooking Ypres. We move on to the site of the first gas attack by the Germans and Essex Farm with the grave of the youngest British sol-dier and the place where John McCrae penned the famous "In Flanders Fields." Next is Tyne Cot British Cemetery – the largest British Commonwealth Cemetery in the world with 11,957 buried (nearly 70% of whom are unknown). This evening, we will gather in Grote Market Square to attend the moving performance of “Last Post,” by the Ypres Fire Bri-gade at the Menin Gate Memorial, a nightly occasion since 1929, interrupted only by the German occupation during WWII. Overnight: Ypres. Hotel: Novotel Ieper Cen-trum Flanders Fields. Meals: (B/L)

Tue 24 May (Day 4) Ypres Salient and the Somme. We depart Ypres and tour south-ern battlefields of Flanders including: Hill 60 (site completely restored for visitors in 2015) and the “Pool of Peace” crater at Wijtshate, where the “underground war” will be explained. The last stop in Belgium is at Ploegsteert where the famous “Christmas Truce” took place in 1914. On the way to Amiens we will have a stop at the impressive Canadian Memorial to the missing at Vimy. We will also visit the French military cemetery, Notre Dame de Lorette. Next to this cemetery we find the “Ring of Remembrance” (2014), a monument with bronze plaques listing 600,000 names of men and women who were killed in Northern France. Overnight: Amiens. Hotel: Mercure Amiens Cathedrale. Meals: (B/L)

Wed 25 May (Day 5) The Somme. Full day tour of the July-Nov 1916 Somme battle-fields, to include: Albert and its cathedral with underground museum; Lochnagar Crater created by a huge mine explosion under the German lines; Thiepval, the largest British War Memorial in the world and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park contain-ing preserved trenches and war-scarred landscape. The Somme is infamously remembered for the British disaster of 1 July 1916 where they suffered 60,000 casualties in less than one day. We will visit various sites representative of that attack: Serre, Devonshire Trench, Carnoy Cemetery, Mash Valley and Sunken Lane. At each, Gil will explain the events and

Tour Price: $ 3,495* BODO - Based on Double Occupancy

Single Room Supplement: $ 695*

Tour Price Includes: First-Class Hotel Accommodations Air-conditioned deluxe motorcoach Meals as indicated in itinerary Historical Trip information packet,

containing maps & other information Admission fees to all sites, museums

and special attractions listed Emergency Medical & Evacuation Insurance Services of experienced Tour Direc-

tors & English-speaking local guides

Airfare Not Included: Option-al MHT Round-trip economy airfare from your hometown airport to CDG Paris available upon request (price subject to

confirmation at time of booking.) Busi-ness class is also available.

* - Price based on € current rate of exchange

recount the moving sto-ries of men caught up in that disastrous attack. Overnight: Amiens. Hotel: Mercure Amiens Cathedrale. Meals: (B+)

Thurs 26 May (Day 6) Reims. This morning we bid farewell to Gil, we will strike out for Reims. En-route we will visit the “Armistice Clearing” in the Compiegne Forest where the negotiations that essentially ended WW I were held in 1918 and where Hitler made the French capitulate to Germany in 1940. In a small museum there is an identical railroad car to that of Marshal Foch's “Surrender Carriage,” which contains the actual furnishings from the original coach that was removed by the Germans to Berlin during WW II and later burned by Nazi SS troops to prevent its recapture by the Allies. Following lunch on your own in the very pleasant small town of Pierrefonds, and a pho-to op of the beautiful hillside castle overlooking town, we will drive through the Soissons battle field which many experts consider to be the turning point of the war. The Germans never gained another foot of ground in the war. We will follow the July 18-19, 1918, ad-vance of the American 2d Division, quite arguably the finest divi-sion in the American Expeditionary Forces. It was unique in that it had one Army brigade and one Marine brigade. We end the day at our centrally-located hotel in Reims, the Champagne wine-growing region capital. Overnight: Reims. Hotel: Holiday Inn Reims Centre. Meals: (B)

Fri 27 May (Day 7) Verdun Battlefields. This morning, we'll travel east along the old French and German front lines from 1914 to 1918 to Blanc Mont Ridge, a crit-ical objective for the French in 1918, in order to break the German siege of Reims. The American 2d Division, on loan to the French, seized the ridge in a matter of hours in October 1918, something the French had been trying to do for years. The 2nd Divi-sion was commanded by General John Lejeune, the first Marine ever to command an Army division in combat. The American monument on top of the ridge offers superb views on clear days as far as Rheims to the west and the Argonne Forest to the east. We'll then turn north, along the eastern edge of the forest and tour parts of the Meuse-Argonne bat-tlefield, America's largest battle in history until WW II. We'll pay our respects at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, our largest military cemetery in Europe. Just outside the Cemetery is a little-known, private museum containing artifacts found on the American Montfaucon (1918) battlefield arrayed in very thoughtful displays to tell the story of the battlefield, soldiers and townspeople. The own-er is an excellent host and is an expert on the battles. We’ll have lunch at his café. After lunch, we will journey to the famous, or infamous, Verdun battlefield. This 1916 attack by the Germans to “bleed the French Army white” hap-pened at the same time as the blood-shed in the Somme was occurring. The remainder of the day will be devoted to the Battle of Verdun. The excellent Verdun Museum recently reopened after a two-year renovation for the bat-tles 100th anniversary of the battle. In addition to the vast areas of shell cra-ters (some areas are still off-limits due to thousands of unexploded munitions), there is the destroyed village of Fleury; the Ossuary, where the skeletal remains of 130,000 dead, from both sides, are entombed and Ft Vaux, the smallest fort of the ring surrounding Verdun, where the understrength French garri-

son put up a heroic defense before being over-whelmed. After a long, very interesting day, we will have a comfortable drive back to our hotel in Reims with an evening on your own. Over-night: Reims. Hotel: Holiday Inn Reims Centre. Meals: (B/L) A note on Reims: Reims is an ancient city founded circa 80 BC. Consequently, time per-mitting, there are a multitude of cultural things we can do individually or as a group…Champagne cellars, the magnificent Reims cathedral and Eisenhower’s HQ where the Ger-mans surrendered in 1945.

Sat 28 May (Day 8) Belleau Wood. Today, we'll tour the famous June-July battlefield of Bel-leau Wood, a “mecca” for US Marines. The vic-tory there by the 4th Marine Brigade of the 2d Division possibly saved Paris and unquestionably proved to the Germans that the Americans could

and would fight well. The positive morale implications for the Al-lies and negative ones for the Germans cannot be overstated. We'll stop at the spot where the famous phrase, “Retreat, hell. We just got here.” was uttered and visit the major sites of action during the bat-tle, to include Les Mares Farm, Hill 142, Lucy-le-Bocage, Bouresches, and the “Wheatfield,” to name but a few. Following lunch on your own in Chateau Thierry, we'll visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, adjacent to Belleau Wood and the legendary “Bulldog Fountain” at the Chateau de Belleau where those who de-sire, may sample what is said to be among the purest water in Eu-rope. We'll then return to our hotel in Reims. There will be a group dinner this evening. Overnight: Reims. Hotel: Holiday Inn Reims Centre. Meals: (B/D)

Sun 29 May (Day 9) Memorial Day Ceremony at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. We depart this morning to return to Belleau Wood, where we'll participate in the annual Memorial Day observance at the cemetery. Traditionally, either the Commandant

or Assistant Commandant of the United States Marine Corps is the guest of honor, usually accompanied by a Marine musical unit which performs along with a similar band unit from the French Marines. The moving cere-mony reminds us of the great losses suffered in the futile “War to End All Wars,” and of the great sacrifices made by these young men and their families. We then proceed to our hotel in Paris, where we will spend the next three nights. Evening at leisure.

Overnight: Paris. Hotel: Concorde Montparnasse. Meals: (B)

Mon 30 May (Day 10) Paris in the Springtime. Today, you experience Paris, quite arguably the most beautiful city in the world. Past tour participants have suggested more unstructured, free time to explore Paris on their own. You will have today, as well as the next day, at leisure. Your tour leaders will be available to offer sugges-

tions of things to do and places to visit, as well as how to use the excellent Paris public transportation system. Your choices are end-less and a Paris guidebook of your choice, obtained before the tour would be most help-ful. You can ride one of the hop-on/hop-off tour buses for an excellent driving tour. Want more military history? Visit Napoleon's Tomb at Les Invalides, where Marshal Ferdi-nand Foch, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces is also entombed and which also houses the National Army Museum, a fabulous collection of French militaria. Had enough military history for the moment? Visit the incomparable art treasures of the Louvre, Orsay Museum, Rodin Museum, Pompidou Center, take in the architectural

wonders of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Tri-omphe, Notre Dame Ca-thedral, the Opera, the Basilica de Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, the Ma-rais, or take an optional tour to Versailles. Or, you can just sit on a bench on the Champs Elysees or at a table at the Cafe de la Paix on the Place de la Opera and watch the world go by. Overnight: Paris. Ho-tel: Concorde Mont-parnasse. Meals: (B)

An Optional Tour. If you are not max’d out with museum visits, there is an additional one that we high-

ly recommend. It is the superb Museum of the Great War in Meaux, a 30 minute train ride from Paris, accompanied by one of your tour leaders. The museum, which opened in 2011, presents an excellent recap of our tour of the West-ern Front. The museum is designed as a journey through time. You start in an-other world of the late 19th century and the 1870 Franco Prussian war, and move through to 1914. The second sec-tion, from the 1914 to the 1918 Battles of the Marne, reconstructs the battle-field with a French trench, German trench and in between the feared no-man’s-land. There are impressive dis-plays of the weaponry of the land, air

and sea forces. The final section takes you from 1918 to 1939 and the after-math that led to WWII.

Tues 31 May (Day 11) Paris, City of Light. An-other free day. Take in the flea

market at Porte de Clignancourt for militaria or other antiques, shop at one of the large department stores, boutiques or simply stroll along the River Seine and shop at the bookstalls or artist's displays. Whatever you do today is likely to provide fond memo-ries. Just be sure to leave time to pack for the trip home and have a leisurely dinner, perhaps with new friends you've met on the tour.

Overnight: Paris. Hotel: Concorde Montparnasse. Meals: (B)

Weds 1 June (Day 12) Tour ends. Check out for the flight home or con-tinue your stay in la belle France. Meals: (B)

13198 Centerpointe Way, Ste 202

Woodbridge, VA 22193-5285

Don’t Let It Be You Who Misses

the 100th Anniversary of WWI!

MHT‘s

WW

I Tour

Gold Standard

21 May-1 Jun ‘16

New Lower

Price for 2016!