June 20^th, 2024

D-Day & the Band of Brothers: Normandy to the Eagle’s Nest

June 6^th marked the 80^th anniversary of “D-Day,” the momentous turning point towards Allied victory in WWII. The event has been made famous by movies such Saving Private Ryan or the miniseries Band of Brothers, which recounts the story of the US 101^st Airborne Division’s “Easy Company,” from the Battle of Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge till the taking of Hitler’s infamous Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden.

When Easy Company – the “Band of Brothers – arrived in Berchtesgaden they discovered an impressive treasure trove of artwork and wine collected by Goering and hidden in his train and in underground bunkers. Among numerous other topics, I describe the stolen art collections and where they were stashed in Germany and Austria in my latest book, EXPOSING THE REICH, which is available on Amazon.

In honor of the bravery and sacrifice of the WWII soldiers and to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of D-Day, I am leading a “Normandy to the Eagle’s Nest” tour this September.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The D-Day Landing sites: In Normandy we visit the American landing zones of Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, as well as a section of the British landing zone. We’ll also tour museums, such as the Airborne museum, as well as other sites related to what happened on D-Day and during the months to follow.
2. V-1 & V-2 Sites: The German Armed Forces selected an area in the North of France as a site to assemble, test and launch the infamous V “flying bombs”, rockets and super-cannons. Several colossal bunkers – known as Sonderbauten (special structures) were built by forced labor in the Pas-de-Calais region to develop, house and deploy these massive operations. We shall visit two of these impressively large and massive sites.
3. Dunkirk: As dramatically portrayed in the 2017 motion picture “Dunkirk” this French harbor is where tens of thousands of British and French troops regrouped as they became surrounded by the rapidly advancing German armed forces. Though some 338,000 Allied servicemen were successfully evacuated, tens of thousands were taken prisoner or killed.
4. Atlantic Wall Bunkers: A noteworthy part of the Germans’ Atlantic Wall chain of coastal defenses can be visited near the town of Ostend, Belgium. The Atlantic Wall Open Air Museum comprises massive fortifications with elements from both the First and Second World Wars.
5. Wolfsschlucht: We discover Hitler’s near-unknown HQs in the Belgian forest that he personally used during the French invasion.
6. Battle of the Bulge: We not only visit the Mardasson Monument and its adjoining Battle of the Bulge museum in Bastogne but we’ll explore the Bois Jacques woods to locate original foxholes used by the men of the 101st Airborne Division – the ‘Band of Brothers’ – during the fierce fighting in the Ardennes region in the freezing cold of winter.
7. Luxembourg: We pay our respects at the cemetery where General Patton is buried, along with thousands of American soldiers who died during the Battle of the Bulge.
8. Nuremberg: We visit the courtroom where the most infamous war criminals and Nazi leaders were put on trial, as well as its adjoining interpretive center. We also visit the Nuremberg Party Rally grounds and its surviving structures.
9. Munich and Dachau: We visit downtown Munich while discovering some of the architectural sites linked to the 3rd Reich in the Bavarian capital. We’ll also tour the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.
10. Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and Berchtesgaden: We stay in Berchtesgaden, location of Hitler’s former HQs. Here we’ll tour the underground bunkers, the interpretation center, the site of the destroyed Berghof (Hitler’s home) as well as the Eagle’s Nest, perched atop a 6,000 foot peak.

There are still four spots left on this tour. If you’re interested please email us at info@eagles-nest-tours.com

David Harper