5-Day Break

• Day 1 – Arrive at our hotel in Arnhem-Velp for a two-night stay.
• Day 2 – Arnhem – Battle for the Bridges (included). We begin at the Ginkel Heath drop zone and follow the route towards Arnhem. En route to the battle site for the Oosterbeek perimeter we visit: Oosterbeek Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery; Hartenstein Hotel Museum; Oosterbeek Church and Baskeyfield VC Memorial. We then follow the ‘lower road’ into Arnhem itself, to the site of the battle for the bridge. B
• Day 3 – River Rhine, Rees, Wesel and Hamminkeln (included) en route to Ehlscheid for a two-night stay. We travel south to the March 1945 British crossings at Rees, Wesel, Rhine and Hamminkeln. Our first stop is Nijmegen, where we study the start of battles for the Rhine – Operations ‘Veritable’ and ‘Grenade’. We follow the route of some of ‘Veritable’ through Cleve, visiting the Reichswald Commonwealth war graves cemetery, then onto Xanten and down to the Rhine Crossing at Wesel, ‘Operation Plunder’. After lunch in Wesel we visit the airborne landings of ‘Operation Varsity’– the airborne support for the Rhine Crossings. B,D
• Day 4 – Remagen – The Rhine Crossing (included). We study this major crossing of the River Rhine from the German and Allied perspective. We travel over the Rhine to Meckenheim, where we pick up the route of the American 9th Armoured Division and its dash for the bridge at Remagen, and visit the museum. After time for lunch in the town, we travel down the Rhine to cross over and visit the tunnel and heights of Erpel, which controlled the Remagen Bridge, to study the German aspect of the battle. B,D
• Day 5 – To Calais for our return journey home. B

B=Breakfast Br=Brunch L=Lunch D=Dinner