Battlefields in France
France saw the brunt of the battles and action in both WWI and WWII. WWI was primarily trench warfare, with both sides digging in for the fight and only making advances once in a great while, creating long, drawn-out battles. When fighting wasn’t in the trenches, it was in the cities and towns, as it was in WWII also. The major battles in WWI were Flanders in Northern France, The Somme in the Picardy region of Northern France and Verdun.
One famous battle site is Beaumont Hamel, which was a German position that British troops attacked on July 1, 1916 in the Battle of The Somme. Another is Courcelette, which was the scene of ongoing battles from July 1916 to August 1918. The control of this town went back and forth during the Battle of The Somme between the Germans who held it originally and the British and Canadians who kept capturing the town again. One of the bloodiest and most intense battles of the war was the Battle of Verdun. This battlefield was so devastated and destroyed, with much ammunition and explosives left behind that it was declared a hazard zone after the war.
In WWII, there were many important battlefields in France. For example, The Battle of the Bulge took place in the Ardennes and was the largest battlefield in the whole war, occupying parts of both Belgium and France. The site of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 are all in France, including the American landing places at Utah and Omaha Beaches, the British landing place at Gold Beach, the Canadian landing place at Juno Beach, and the joint British and French landings at Sword Beach. There are several towns close to these battle sites which are also tourist hot spots, including Arras, Bayeux, Clecy, and Arromanches. The Hillman Strongpoint and bunkers were German inland defense sights and headquarters along Sword Beach. During the summer there is a show of artifacts and photographs and once a year there is a “living history” event.