What to do and see in Grand Est, France: The Best Military Museums

Unique restored and visible witness of the Maginot Line in the area, the casemate Mémorial Maginot du Haut-Rhin is located in the south of Haut-Rhin, between Mulhouse (France) and Basel (Switzerland). After years of major works by a small groupe of passionated people, we are able to open this casemate, renovated and equiped like in 1940, the turret shelter and the museum of the second world war.

Fort Immerhof is a fort of the Maginot Line built from 1930 to 1935. Its purpose was to protect the road and the railroad between Luxembourg and Thionville. The outside is cleaned of the brushwood; the blocks and the barbed wires can be seen. The interior can be visited : combat blocks, mortar turret, quarters, power plant,..... A park place and a reception with toilets are available. The exterior can be accessed all year long. Access : motorway A31, exit 44, follow "Hettange-Grande, Volmerange-les-Mines, Kanfen".

Private museum “Meuse-Argonne 1918” shows the German occupation 1914-1918. The main interest however is the american attack, at which almost 1 million “Doughboys” were involved (Meuse-Argonne offensive). The collection shows 150m2 of found relics, dioramas, uniforms and weapons, up until personal items and their stories. At “Meuse-Argonne 1918” history lives. A visit is definately worth your while. Maarten is an amateur historian, battlefield guide and author of several books on the Meuse-Argonne campaign. We offer tours in the morning of about 2,5 hours in Nantillois and its direct environment but also at Montfaucon d'Argonne with Maarten as your battlefield guide. He informs you about the historic value of the area and battles of Montfaucon and Nantillois by visiting the many remains that are still visible today after 100 years. Who ever keeps an open eye will see history everywhere. We also offer battlefield tours, f.e. the battlefields of Verdun and Meuse-Argonne offensive.

For more than half a century, the fortresses of the Maginot Line have been part of the Northern Vosges landscape. Built between 1930 and 1935, the Four-a-Chaux fortress in Lembach is one of the major buildings of this defensive line situated about ten kilometres (6 miles) from the German border so as to protect France during the Second World War. The fort’s location, south of the village of Lembach in a limestone hill, is what makes the fort so special. This large mountain installation that was manned by 580 troops has about 5 kilometres (3 miles) of up to 30-metre (100-foot) deep underground galleries. It stretches over a 26-hectare (75-acre) area and is equipped with an incline that is unique in Alsace. It has been open to visitors since 1983 and guided tours allow you to discover all of this huge fortress’s wartime installations and to perfectly understand how it operated.

Located in a former cantonal court, which was also a military hospital during the First World War, the Serret Museum has three themes: - The Serret Museum, with its rich collection of weapons and equipment from the First World War, allows visitors to discover, through numerous objects and photographs, this tormented period. -Come to discover the major stages of the history of the valley of Saint-Amarin on the first floor. -The granary is an opportunity to (re) discover the activities that animated the life of the inhabitants of the valley in the XIX and XXth century.