This will be a regular column in Sabretache with the objective of providing personal perspectives of the battlefields of the many conflicts covered by the newsletter. I encourage writers to discuss their visits to battlefields with emphasis on what the modern visitor can expect to find and do when touring the battlefield. It would also be nice to complement your articles with maps and drawings.

For those interested in the preservation of historical sites, I recommend the following:

Battlefield Trust website - http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/

Those of you who have read my articles in Saga know that I have had many opportunities to visit many battlefields and other interesting places in my world travels. I hope that you do not mind if I now digress to enlighten new readers.

During my military career, I have been fortunate to live in Germany, Croatia and Cyprus. I have also visited many other countries on business and pleasure trips. In most cases, I have tried to tour as many sites of military interest as possible. In Saga, I have related my experiences with an obvious emphasis on ancient and medieval locations. I now have the opportunity to regale you all with tales about more modern locations.

To start, I thought that it would be appropriate to select something that most readers will appreciate regardless of their military interests.

Recently, a friend and his wife went to Paris for a short vacation (okay it was actually a business trip with a few extra days of leisure included). Since I had already been to Paris, I offered some personal advice particularly as they wanted to see some historical sites in and around the city. It was easy for me to act as a tour guide since I keep a lot of the brochures and other material in my travel collection. To them, I gave a collection of guidebooks and maps of Les Invalides, which is a French Army museum and home of Napoleon’s tomb.

Napoleon’s tomb lies within the Royal Dome, which was originally built in the late 17^th Century and was used as burial site for former governors of Les Invalides. His sarcophagus is beautifully set in the main part of the building beneath the dome. It can be viewed from above and within the crypt. There are a number of other famous French military officers buried near-by including Marshal Vauban, the famous builder and designer of fortifications, Marshal Turenne, one of the greatest of France’s field commanders, Marshal Foch, who commanded the Allied forces during World War One, and King Jerome Bonaparte of Westphalia and brother of Napoleon.

The museum fills the two wings that spread out from the Royal Dome. The west wing includes early galleries from prehistoric times to the reign of Louis XIV, and an Oriental gallery housing an extensive collection of exhibits of the Near and Far East (Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.) on the ground floor. The second floor contains exhibits of the two world wars. The third floor has an artillery gallery, and one for the Third Republic (1871-1914). The fourth floor is a gallery of maps and relief plans.

The east wing has a cash desk, souvenir shop, cloakroom and cinema; Flag or Turenne Gallery housing national and foreign flags, colours, standards and banners; and the Vauban Gallery has exhibits of cavalry (1800-1940) and weapons (firearms and swords from 1717 to present day) on the ground floor. The first floor houses galleries covering military history from the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) to the Second Republic (1848-1852). The third floor has galleries of the Second Empire (1852-1870) including the Franco-Prussian War. The fourth floor has another collection of maps and relief plans, which has 100 scale models of French and foreign towns constructed between 1668 and 1870 illustrating fortifications, military architecture and town planning.

I had a thoroughly good time touring through the museum, although most of my time was spent in the oriental gallery, and looking at the Napoleonic I and III galleries. It complemented my visits to Belfort, Metz, the Maginot Line, Verdun and Alesia.

My friend also enjoyed his experience. Now both of us want to go back!