A travel guide for people who want to revist the sites that were affected by the world war 2
After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to give up its colonial empire, to cede parts of its territory to neighboring countries, to recognise the independence of Austria and to pay reparations which were seen by most Germans as crippling its economy. The treaty added insult to injury by forcing Germany to accept sole responsibility for the war; the "guilt clause", as it became known, caused great resentment and anger among Germans, especially veterans. Although Germany was able to temporarily recover somewhat with the help of loans from the United States during the Roaring Twenties, the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 led to the withdrawal of American investment, resulting in a severe financial crisis and many years of hardship for the German people. Both the claimed injustices of the treaty and the economic problems were factors in Adolf Hitler's rise to power
The war started September 1st 1939 and ended in September 2nd 1945
Here are some sites to visit aftermath world war 2
“ *We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. ”
—UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 4 June 1940
Belgium
1 World War II Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial, Neupré (Highway N-63 from Liège to Marche passes the entrance to the Memorial about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of Liège). Open daily except Dec 25 and Jan 1: 9AM to 5PM..
2 World War II Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial, Rue du Mémorial Améreicain, Henri-Chapelle. Open daily except for Dec 25 and Jan 1: 9AM to 5PM. The cemetery is the final resting place for 7,992 American military dead lost during the drive into Germany, many in the Battle of the Bulge.
Czech Republic
With the emerging danger of Nazi Germany, Czechoslovakia built a system of border fortification between 1935 to 1938. As a result of 1938 Munich treaty, the army gave up the resistance efforts and abandoned the defense line. The fortification system is mostly well preserved and can be toured in several locations.
1 Hanička artillery fortress (Tvrz Hanička)(It is not possible to arrive to the museum by car, parking is at 50.187135 N, 16.509408 E. From the parking lot take the marked tourist route (red) in the direction Anenský vrch, an approximate walking distance between the parking and the fortress is 20-30 min.)
Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945, with Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia being established at approximately the area of today's Czech republic. The center for Czechoslovak resistance was the government-in-exile in London.
2 Lidice memorial, Tokajická 152, 273 54 Lidice,
3 Ležáky memorial,
France
4 D-Day beaches (Normandy). D-Day was June 6, 1944, the date of a massive Allied amphibious landing on the beaches of Normandy, also called Operation Overlord. It can be seen as the decisive point of no return for the war, though by that point the war was already lost for the Nazis on the Eastern Front, and in the West they had already lost North Africa and Italy.
5 Dieppe. A coastal town that was the target of a large — over 6,000 men, mostly Canadian — commando raid in 1942. Dieppe (Q183557) on Wikidata Dieppe on Wikipedia edit
6 Dunkirk. A coastal French town in the Pas de Calais region. As the Germans overran France in 1940 a large Allied force, mostly British but including Canadian, Belgian and French troops, were surrounded in the Dunkirk region.
7 Oradour-sur-Glane. A French village razed and burned by the Nazis, with its civilian population murdered, to avenge the resistance. Now a ghost town. massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane (Q836897) on Wikidata Oradour-sur-Glane massacre on Wikipedia edit
8 Saint-Nazaire. This coastal town has the only dry dock on the French Atlantic coast large enough for battleships. The British destroyed it in 1942 by ramming it with an old destroyer packed full of explosives.
Germany
As Hitler fought the war to the bitter end (fighting on, long after any chance at military victory was gone) and military innovations (notably bomber airplanes) made this war far more destructive than the one before it, especially for Germany, hardly any place important during the Nazi era was left untouched by the war.
Several old towns were severely bombed and in some places there are still monuments reminding of that as well as "mountains" made up of debris.
9 Berlin. The capital of Germany, captured by the Red Army in April, 1945. There is the Topographie des Terrors that explains which Nazi office sat where and played which role in the war and criminal machinery. Berlin (Q64) on Wikidata Berlin on Wikipedia edit
10 Heligoland. This island still sees the scars of one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions to date. This happened shortly after the war: the British tried to blow up the island, which was used as a military installation during the war. Several other East Frisian islands and North Frisian islands were also used militarily by the Nazis. Heligoland (Q3038) on Wikidata Heligoland on Wikipedia edit
11 Nuremberg. Known for the Nazi party rallies. After the war, the Allies held the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders here. The rallying grounds (now thankfully sans swastikas) have partially been turned into a museum but the complex is so huge that it is also used for numerous other purposes, including - perhaps ironically - American Football matches and rock concerts.
12 Peenemünde. The site where Wernher von Braun (later an important figure at NASA) and his scientists developed and constructed the first V2 (Agregat 4) rockets (one of them is on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich) to be shot at London and later Antwerp.
Italy
3 Anzio Beachhead Museum (Museo dello Sbarco di Anzio), Via di Villa Adele, 2 Anzio (in the 17th-century Villa Adele, on Via di Villa Adele, just downhill from the railway station.)
4 Monte Cassino War Graves (follow signs when approaching Cassino from the Rome - Napoli Autostrada). The Commonwealth War Graves cemetery is a beautifully maintained area with magnificent views of the Monte Cassino monastery.
Netherlands
Rotterdam was bombed by the Nazis even after the surrender of the Dutch government.
Poland
Poland saw a disproportionally high number of civilian deaths mainly because it was invaded by both the Soviets and the Nazis in the early stage of the war with both trying to "remodel" their part of the country according to their wishes, which in practice meant killing members of all groups that could potentially resist the occupation such as intellectuals, politicians and high ranking military.
13 Gdansk. The war began with a dispute over Gdansk (German name: Danzig), that was deliberately escalated by Hitler. Gdánsk was at the time a "free city", independent of both Poland and Germany, and had many German-speaking residents, but the proposed construction of an autobahn from Germany to Gdansk/Danzig would have clearly encroached upon sovereign Polish territory. Poland was an ally of the United Kingdom, seat of a mighty empire, and this alliance would bring the British Commonwealth nations to war. Gdansk is now part of Poland and was the birthplace of the Solidarność trade union movement during the Cold War. The city has a modern and impressive Museum of the Second World War.
14 The Wolf's Lair (German: Wolfsschanze) near Kętrzyn (German: Rastenburg) was the Nazi military headquarters where Hitler resided during most of World War II. It was here that the failed attempt to kill Hitler took place on July 20, 1944.
Russia
The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 and were guardedly friendly for some years; the Soviet Union even took a chunk of Poland, with Nazi permission, in September 1939. However the Nazis broke the pact by invading the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa).
The Russian name for World War II translates as the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the fighting and had more dead (both civilian and military) in this war than any other country; only China was even close.
The Nazis considered Slavs an inferior race and fought a war of extermination on the Eastern Front. When forced to retreat, as they often were at first, the Russians used a "skorched earth" policy, burning crops in the fields and destroying everything else that might be useful to the enemy.
15 Stalingrad (Volgograd). This city, now called Volgograd, was the scene of one of the longest (almost six months) and bloodiest (around two million total casualties) battles in history.
Kursk. The largest tank battle in history — 6,000 tanks, 4,000 aircraft and about two million troops — was fought near this city in July 1943 as the Red Army began to roll west after Stalingrad and the Germans tried unsuccessfully to stop them. Casualties were heavy on both sides. The town has a museum for that battle and there is a memorial on the battlefield itself. Arguably the war was over for Germany when this battle was lost; the Soviet forces kept the initiative all the way to Berlin and the Germans never again came so close to stopping them.
Prokhorovka. En route to Kursk, the Red Army won a battle near this town. There is a memorial in the city's cathedral.
16 Saint Petersburg. One of the most beautiful cities in Russia, and better known as the seat of power of the Tsars in imperial times. During the war, the city was known as Leningrad, and was site of the Siege of Leningrad (8 September 1941–27 January 1944), which was one of the longest sieges in history, resulting in countless deaths, both civilian and military. Though the Soviets eventually succeeded in driving the Germans back, many historical artefacts were looted or destroyed by the Germans as they retreated.
17 Road of Life (Доро́га жи́зни Doroga zhizni). This route, crossing Lake Ladoga on an ice road, was the only lifeline of the residents of Leningrad/St Petersburg trapped in their city during the Siege of Leningrad. Continuing east from the city past Vsevolozhsk, it arrived in the village of Kokkorevo on the western side of Lake Ladoga.
Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet general who commanded at both Stalingrad and Kursk, also has a museum near the site of his first major victory, trouncing the Japanese in the 1939 Battle of Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia.
Crimea
Yalta Conference featuring the "Big Three". (Front row, from left to right) British prime minister Winston Churchill, American president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
19 Livadia Palace (Crimea). The summer retreat of the Tsars, in Yalta, this is where the famous Yalta Conference took place from February 4 to 11, 1945 in which Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss how they wanted to rebuild and reform Europe after the war. Roosevelt stayed in the palace during the conference period.
Nordic countries
The war turned out very differently for the Nordic countries. Despite Sweden being neutral throughout the war, both there and in Norway and Denmark that were occupied by the Nazis, a number of bunkers still exist. Most of them were built after the Nazis took over Norway and many never saw a shot fired in anger, but their presence even in remote areas is somewhat eerie. Routes used by refugees from Norway, and by the Norwegian resistance, can be experienced on a hike.
Finland, on the other hand, was directly involved in the Second World War, fighting two wars against the Soviet Union (the Winter War and the Continuation War), and one to expel the German troops from Lapland towards the end of the war (the Lapland War). In places like Hanko, Kymenlaakso, North Karelia and Lapland, you can still see fortifications and bunkers. More can be seen on the Karelian Isthmus and other regions which were part of Finland before WW2.
Iceland was invaded by the UK without mounting any resistance in 1940. The British transferred control of the island to the United States in July 1941, which violated American neutrality. Allied soldiers came to outnumber adult Icelandic men, establishing a strong Anglo-Saxon influence, with American fast food and arguably the highest proficiency in English in any non-Anglophone country. While Iceland had been a Danish dominion for centuries, the country voted to become independent in 1944. Today, steel hut barracks and other wartime installations remain spread around the island. Iceland's main international airport, Keflavík International Airport, was initially built as an American military airbase during the war.
20 Occupation Museum (Besættelsesmuseet) (Aarhus, Denmark). A small museum telling the story of local life under German occupation, located in the old town hall which was used by the Gestapo during the occupation.
21 Rjukan (Telemark, Norway). A hydroelectric power plant where the Germans tried to extract heavy water for their nuclear program. A British-Norwegian commando team managed to destroy the fac
5 Beredskapsmuseet (The Military Readiness Museum in Sweden), Djuramossavägen 160 (Helsingborg, Sweden)
6 Finnish Military Museum, Maurinkatu 1 (Helsinki, Finland, Trams 7A and 7B)
Turkey
23 Yenice Railway Station (Yenice Garı) (east of Tarsus on the Mersin–Adana commuter line). While Turkey was neutral throughout most of the war, none of its neighbours were, and there was pressure from both camps to join in the fight with them.
United Kingdom
During the first years of the war, cities like London and Coventry were heavily bombed though unlike the French and Dutch, the British were successful in repelling the Germans and avoided occupation during the war.
7 The Tank Museum, Bovington,
8 Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes. Central site of the British project codenamed "Ultra" which broke many German and Italian codes throughout the war and, along with the American "Magic" penetration of Japanese codes, provided much critical intelligence to Allied commanders.
9 Churchill War Rooms, London,
10 St Martin's Church, Church Street
United States
While no fighting occurred in the contiguous United States, several American ships, including civilian ones, were sunk by German submarines off the East Coast even before the United States formally entered the war. The United States would only formally enter the war on 8 December 1941, after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor the day before.
11 The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, ☏ +1 504 528 1944. Museum commemorating the American war effort in both theatres of World War II, with interactive displays that aim to re-create the battlefield experience for visitors. The National WWII Museum on Wikipedia edit
Western Balkans
Numerous memorials to fallen Partisan fighters and victims of atrocities committed by Axis forces can be found throughout the region.
12 Šumarice Memorial Park, Kragujevac, Serbia
13 Sutjeska National Park, Tjentište, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Above you will see some countries their cities and towns you can visit if you want to revisit World War 2. Follow me for more thanks guys 😘