CHARLES FAIR

Charles Fair's Battlefield Guide

Charles Fair is an Englishman who, while living and working in Paris, used his spare time to visit Great War sites. Using Paris as his base, he visited sites which do not usually feature in most Western Front Guidebooks published in the UK.

The series of articles which Charles produced is therefore very significant, because it draws our attention to important sites, well worth visiting, which we might otherwise never have heard of.

I am grateful to Charles for deciding that Hellfire Corner is a worthy "home" for his work.

This page is the starting-point for Charles's series of articles. I'm sure that visitors will want to bookmark the page and visit often.

Charles Fair's Introduction to the Series of Articles

It is not my intention to describe already well known sites in great detail. However I will draw attention to my main references (Before Endeavours Fade, The Michelin Guides, and the new Premiere Guerre Mondiale des Flandres a L'Alsace) where such sites are described, as well as other references I have used. I prefer to say more about the less well known (to the British) parts of the front, particularly the French sectors, and the Somme for example will not feature often.

I will also say which of the IGN maps I have found useful. In general the 1:100,000 (green series) are the best for route finding and general exploration. IMHO they mark up historical sites and relief features much better than the 1:200,000 Michelin series. The IGN 1:25,000 series is the best for detailed exploration in conjunction with trench maps, unit histories etc.


	Battles of the Retreat
	The Oise
	The Marne 1914 and 1918
	Champagne
	Argonne and Verdun
	Alsace and the Vosges Mountains
	Paris and Versailles
	Behind the Lines
	Old Haunts Revisited by Major C. H. Fair - 1920