"Best Preserved European Battlefield?" Topic

Which battlefield has been preserved the best?

Austerlitz because of its relatively remote location.

Towton and Flodden are both pretty well marked out with trails and info signs.

Gallipoli

Borodino

Glenshiel, 1719.

The Western Front still has many of the original explosives in place.

Waterloo is a great experience, though it's interesting to see how the woods have changed over the years. I still get a thrill seeing La Haye Sainte.

Another vote for Austerlitz. Virtually untouched.

Jutland.

Quatre Bras is relatively untouched except for the woods and the demo of the farm at the crossroads. Other landmarks are there and suburbia has not encroached on the villages. The center of the battlefield is very well preserved.

The Battle of Hastings field, in the town of Battle of course, not Hastings, is fairly well preserved.

Even the later monastery ruins on top of the hill just add to the atmosphere…

I thought they'd knocked down the buildings at the crossroads at Quatre Bras? I've not been for a while, does anyone know different?

Have only seen Borodino on the web and Google maps but it would be a dream to me to visit it.

Jena, Auerstadt and Tegun-Hausen are my vote.

Wagram seemed pretty untouched though the neighbouring Aspern-Essling is disappearing under urban sprawl.

There is a pretty recent housing development near the crossroads at Quatre Bras. Going by the street names – Cour Bonaparte and others named for Massena, Davout, Murat – it seems a different country won the 100 days than I thought.

There is a M24 Chaffee just down the road which I don't remember seeming when I went there.

Waterloo might have been blighted by the mound, but it is the best battlefield I've walked – seeing it makes so much of the action make sense, especially on the Prussian wing.
One of the problems of the mound is that some of the earth was taken from next to LHS, removing the defile that made the farm even more important and hard to take.

Ligny, OTOH, was more difficult for me to get to grips with.

The only battlefields I visited when assigned to Germany were:

Blenheim -- virtually "unmarked" as the denkmal (monument) on the map is actually off the main road on top of an embankment. Drove by it several times before finding the right turn-off. The battlefield was (in late 1970s) still undeveloped.

Ardennes -- just drove through on way to Waterloo. Roads are of course more modern but still wooded and hilly.

Waterloo -- as stated, even with the Lion Mound one can still pick out the important parts and get a feeling for just how "small" (in area) the battlefield was.

Remagen Bridge -- of course bridge is gone but in later 1970s the towers were still at both ends. Gives one a perspective on the courage of the Americans when you see how wide the Rhine is.

Jim

Culloden near Inverness They are actually replanting trees and clearing in an attempt to return the land to the time of the Battle

Some still run into minefields left in many locations in North Africa. Planted in WWII, by all sides …

And along the DMZ in the ROK, there are still minefields leftover from the Korean War. But in most cases are generally marked. But we still had to medevac a Korean farmer who wander into one. And whatever signs or markings were gone. And could have been emplaced by either side.

Waterloo and Austerlitz are remarkably well preserved and worth the visit. I also visited Valmy which is relatively untouched and very atmospheric. The army erected some explanatory plaques which I found helpful.

Culloden may be boring to some (like my wife) but it is indeed very well preserved.

Stirling Bridge is easy to find if you know what you are looking for.

Blenheim has a Battlefield guide since 2004, but the tour is for cycling. Touching the main locations of the battle, but no preservation.
Schellenberg (near Donauwörth) is completely lost, only a few small earth works survieved…but at this place, there is a cCeltic "Sternschanze" (star shaped fortification).

Germany is not very rich of preserved battlefields…everything which was of military use is evil :-(

Thirty plus battlefields within a hour of me all still in farmland from Caesar to ww2

Cheers
Matt
Mayenne
France

Ramillies is good.

I have never actually visited the battlefield of Lutzen (1813), but based on the Google Earth view it appears almost unchanged in 200+ years. The four villages look like they've experienced very little growth since the battle.

Has anyone visited this battlefield?

Stephen

Another Scottish "vote" for Glen Shiel (there's a near-contemporary painting of the action, in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which can readily be compared with the topography) and Drummossie Muir (Culloden). Surprised that no-one has yet mentioned Little Big Horn/Greasy Grass; as far as I can see, the monuments there contribute to an understanding of the fight.

Of course, now that I have re-read the title, no longer surprised.

I visited Stoke Field near Newark, UK, twice last year and found it virtually untouched.

Helpful info boards dotted around a footpath which circles the site are very useful.

By contrast I found Tewkesbury disappointing due to the residential and industrial development of the site.

Barry

I know the vote is over but Naseby is almost as it was apart from later hedgerows; simply an area of farmland where two opposing slopes run down to meet each other, overlooked by a modest monument at the southern end.

It points up the dictum that many battlefields are in otherwise unremarkable places, folds in the land made remarkable by the fact two armies met there.

I enjoyed visiting Naseby. Its a bit like Waterloo, in the sense that you can take it all in visually very easily.

Koniggratz has always struck me as one of the best preserved, especially considering its size and proximity to a large town. However, I now hear rumours of planned development in the vicinity of Chlum village. Anyone know any more?

I didn't see anyone mention 'The Hurtgen Forest' ?
(USA vs Germany, late 1944)

Been there AND thru it a number of times…

(on the A.399 from Monschau)

Was pretty fearful watching a guy let his pet Doberman "run free" thru the forest AND 'off the beaten track' **
** (Not remotely advisable !)

It's natural location & topography makes sure it's never been THAT disturbed.