Now that business trips appear to be back on, and the world is considerably weirder than it used to be, Le Duc, has officially returned to 'the road'.
Lauenforde and Beverungen are villages joined by a bridge over the River Weser and 'roughly' in the north German plain (Westphalia) and east of the old BAOR hunting grounds at Paderborn & Bielefeld etc.
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| The Dining Room guard... |
I didn't find much on Wikipedia in relation to the towns (although there were links to the Flossenburg concentration camp), and didn't get a lot of time to walk round ...but here are some pics, highlights, rumours and considerations...
One interesting find was the cemetery (I'm sorry to say...) which had some war graves, and certainly brings home the horrors of it all - most of those buried were 21 or under, and some were buried in plots with multiple names. The dates were mostly April 1945 - near war end, so I'm guessing that the regiment(s) associated with the area were on the ever tightening Eastern Front. The youngest man died a few months after turning 18, near the end of the war. I'd suggest these guys weren't necessarily given the option of 'volunteering' by this stage.
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| A pub - yep, a pub |
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| I believe this building (now a restaurant), is/was called 'the Burg'. It was also a meeting placefor the SA in the 1930s, and Himmler is later associated with the building. Apparently, some interesting graffiti still adorns the walls of the basement. |
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| Bridge over the Weser |
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| The oak surrounded by war dead. As stated, most were 21 or less. |
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| Horst had turned 18 - and died in April 1945, just before the end. |
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| One of the large mass style plots. |
A fascinating trip, a lovely town; and looks like I'll be returning to once more engage the local populace with my notoriously bad German.
