Berlin: From War to Peace

Local departure by coach or Door-to-Door service, then to Belgium or Holland for an overnight stay.

To Hannover, where we visit the Luftwaffe Museum. Continue to Berlin for four nights.

We visit ground east of the city where the Soviet offensive began in early 1945 and look at the fighting along the Seelow Heights, then see where the Soviets first crossed, visiting the T34 Tank Memorial. After lunch, we look at the defence of the fortress town of Kurstrin, then look at the crossing of the Oder River by Polish forces seeing the Polish Engineers Memorial and Polish War Cemetery.

We look at the final battle for the city in April 1945 and follow the course of the battle on foot, with an easy walk from the Lustgarten via Museum Island to Friedrichstrasse. After lunch, we walk from Moltke Bridge to the Reichstag, looking at the final assault by Soviet troops, finishing in the Brandenburg Gate area.

After the war, Berlin found itself at the heart of the Cold War. Today, we look at the story of the Berlin Wall in the Invalidenstrasse area, where we see an old Prussian Cemetery, the Berlin Wall Memorial Park at Bernauerstrasse and Check Point Charlie, as well as seeing the Topography of Terror. We then travel out via the Berlin Olympic Stadium to the Allied Museum.

We visit the impressive Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park and see where the final surrender of WWII took place in May 1945 at Karlshorst. We continue to Belgium or Holland for an overnight stay.

Return home.