ww2 places to visit

abceire

i love most things ww2 related or any war after that, just wondered are there any place in ireland worth a visit? i lived in finland for a bit and they some great places to see,but i dont know to many here in ireland

Morlar

I would recommend both Collins Barracks Military Museum in dublin city

http://militaria-archive.com/Collins%20Barracks%20Museum/index.html

Also Glencree cemetery in Wicklow.

FiSe

LOP's around the coast. Yes, those square concrete sheds... The silent witnesses of the war

trad

The German Cemetery in Glencree, Co Wicklow about 20km south of Dublin where German aviators who died when they crash landed after they got lost are buried.
The North Strand in Dublin where a number of houses were bombed.
There's a creamery in Wexford that was bombed, some say by accident, some say because they were supplying butter to the Brits and they left the Irish butter behind when they fled Dunkirk.
The Curragh Camp where both Allied and German POW's were "imprisoned" but were allowed out to work and some were educated in Trinity College during their stay here.

I'm sure there are a lot more.

You do know we didn't actually take part in the war?

abceire

You do know we didn't actually take part in the war? Today 19:43You do know we didn't actually take part in the war? Today 19:43yep i sure know that we didnt take part in the war i was just wondering, i ve been to collins barracks and place in wicklow , just wondered, i should move back to finland they lots of war stuff to see, went to a great tank museum,and an island in helsinki that was ment to protect the port, also i worked on a golf course near russian boarder,there were huge holes on the side of the course that were for gun placements in ww2

trad

Sorry but it wasn't clear from the post or the user name that you live here. You wouldn't believe the notions other countries have about here, like picking up a person flying in from England and asking are we in the same time zone. I'd always tell them we are 2 hours ahead of England.

FiSe

..yep, but behind the rest of Europe

To abceire, if you would prefer to live in a country which has visible WWII history, museums, sites and so on, then you really can't pick a worse country then Ireland.
There is some WWII history, but it's mostly hidden and you have to dig much deeper to see it. Like the sites of emergency and force landed aircrafts, Curragh was mentioned, LOP's, Collins barracks, the Baldonnel airfield and so on... Nothing much I'm affraid

abceire

i heard that weston airport has a plane that an ex president used as his own while in government, cant remember which president now though

FiSe

Eisenhower while serving as 'the boss' of the Allied forces in Europe.
Beech C-45 is the aircraft in question

Fully Established

abceire wrote: »

i heard that weston airport has a plane that an ex president used as his own while in government, cant remember which president now though

This is only a myth around Weston , contrary to popular belief Eisenhower was never on board this aircraft as President.The reg is G-BSZC any one interested may find info on it with the reg .

xflyer

It's for sale in case anyone is interested. If only I had the money!

As fore WW2, yes Ireland lacks much in the way artifacts and museums etc. However Northern Ireland is quite different, having being in the war. The Ulster Aviation society has some interesting exhibits I believe.

Also if you have any interest in aviation archaeology, quite a lot of aircraft crashed here during the war and are some memorials and even wreckage to be seen. The book 'High Ground Wrecks' lists them all. Some arduous climbs though.

You could visit my great Uncle Jim's house in Wexford. It was bombed in August 1940 by the Luftwaffe, at least the original one was. There used to be a big crater in the field behind the house!

Stovepipe

By comparison, the actual bombings of Free State soil were miniscule by comparison with Belfast, which suffered serious human and property damage. NI was on a war footing from day 1, right to the end of the war.
In the Curragh, for WW 1 buffs, is an entire full-scale trench system, which was used for training by troops going to France in WW 1. It's well worn by now but it's still impressive.

regards
Stovepipe

Jawgap

• Ballinesker Beach, Curracloe - absolutely no association with WWII, but it was used for filming the opening sequences of Saving Private Ryan because of its passing resemblance to Omaha beach
• Castle Archdale Park near Enniskillen - the remains of the flying boat base can be seen there.
• Colebrooke Park - ancestral home of Field Marshall Alan Brooke, CIGS during WWII
• Lisahally (near Derry) where a load of U-boats surrendered after the War - not a whole to see to be honest!

EASYNEWS

You could visit my great Uncle Jim's house in Wexford. It was bombed in August 1940 by the Luftwaffe, at least the original one was. There used to be a big crater in the field behind the house![/QUOTE]

Hi Xflier,
What part of Wexford ?

saabsaab

In Inishowen Donegal there is an old fort with old 10" naval guns and an exhibition re defence of the lough from a strong naval attack. Well worth a look.

Delancey

Stovepipe wrote: »

In the Curragh, for WW 1 buffs, is an entire full-scale trench system, which was used for training by troops going to France in WW 1. It's well worn by now but it's still impressive.

regards
Stovepipe

Most people here would be familiar with the footage showing British troops 'going over the top in WW1' and one guy gets shot just as he stands up and he slides back down into the trench , this clip is standard fare on any BBC production about the Great War ?
Anyway that footage is not real battlefield film - rather it was shot at an army training camp - I read somewhere that it was actually the Curragh .

martinedwards

this one?

about 1.03.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXT67aDxZk8

that guy just looks like he goes to sleep and slithers down.

I've never served in the forces and never been shot or been close to anyon being shot, but the inertia of a bullet hitting a human would SURELY casue more movement than that.....

the idea that it could be a training film sounds good to me!!

Rangi

If you look in that clip at around the 0:50 mark the guys are walking along the trench,which looks very 'clean',nothing lying around,also in the top right background are plenty of lads strolling around in the open.

I've seen a good few bits of footage where guys get hit,they often just crumple up and drop down. May or may not be due to military rounds being full metal jacket,and generally penetrating through,rather than expanding as hunting rounds do,often remaining in the body.

Delancey

That is indeed the footage I refer to at 1.03 .

That footage was first seen by the British public in the film '' Battle of the Somme '' , some years ago Discovery did a programme following a group of historians as they re-examined the movie and with the aid of analysis by various experts like film makers , lip readers , etc they were able to show which was genuine footage versus faked.
They actually knew from records that footage we are talking about was staged - they said it was at a training camp in Wales though I have read it was the Curragh .

Tabnabs

Cushendall, NI. Completely unverified, but the story was relayed to me that a U boat sent a small contingent ashore to top up their fresh water supplies and relieved a local farmer of one of his sheep. The said German could describe the village very accurately, so there is some credence to his story.

martinedwards

wasn't there a uboat attack on the maidens?

maybe it's just one of those stories that SHOULD be true, but in poor visibility it DOES look like a sub on the surface!!

BostonB

abceire wrote: »

i love most things ww2 related or any war after that, just wondered are there any place in ireland worth a visit? i lived in finland for a bit and they some great places to see,but i dont know to many here in ireland

Unfortunately Ireland doesn't have much military history of warfare after the civil war in 1923. But it does have a lot of history prior to that if you wish to expand your horizons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_battles

BostonB

martinedwards wrote: »

....but the inertia of a bullet hitting a human would SURELY casue more movement than that.......

Mythbusters did a piece on that and concluded that the movement you see on TV is primarily a Hollywood invention. It doesn't have enough to power to move the mass of a body like that, or as said earlier it penetrates, which doesn't cause a movement like that.