The final battlefield of our trip was Hastenbeck. Mrs H had a desire to visit Hameln, home of the Pied Piper, and fortunately the battlefield lies a couple of miles from the city. Hameln is a nice town, but slightly overated in my view, and one night spent, was enough to take in the sites.
The afternoon was spent on the battlefield and next morning, after an excellent breakfast, we headed for Fulda, our last stop before Frankfurt airport.
The memorial at Hastenbeck. This took quite a bit of finding. The Germans do not advertise their battlefields and signage is none existant.
The memorial is on the left of the picture, Hastenbeck village can be seen below. Broglie attacked with 18 btns here, and the small allied force was soon driven back from the village as French gunfire set it alight.
The woods beyond Hastenbeck where the allied line was positioned.
A view of Hasenbeck from the allied position. The French attacked from the horizon.
Allied position and Obensberg hill
Far right of the hill and the French outflankig movemen
Two views of the Obensberg hill from the opposite side close to Voremberg and the French attack.
Hastenbeck was another great site to visit, and matched Warburg for me. Very easy to reach, largely undeveloped, and great to view it was another highlight of the trip.
Cumberland was in an extremely strong position, the thick woods and Hasten river behind him, would have made it extremely difficult to outflank him and I left the battle thinking why did he abandon such a strong position.
My final day was spent in the city of Fulda, largely inspired by the famous "Fulda" campaign featured in the AMG book. Fulda, is an extremely attractive city, with a beautiful cathedral, lovely architecture, but nothing of a military nature that I could find.
My last shot shows an interesting memorial to Germans killed in the Franco Prussian war. There must have been 30 names listed, the village which is on the way to Fulda, just outside Hameln, was tiny, and the impact of the war on the locals must have been horrendous.
All in all a wonderful trip, and one which we will make an annual event. My thanks to Charles G for providing many of the maps and much of the background information which helped make the holiday so enjoyable.
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