Down in the mud: Step into the trenches at Bavaria’s premier World War I museum

Darkness permeated the wood-lined trench, save for the flashes from distant artillery blasts. A German soldier carefully raised his helmeted head over the top, a machine gun at the ready nearby.

Farther down the line, the bodies of fallen German soldiers were strewn across a devastated wasteland, sinking into the mud.

The Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt offers a visceral experience, blending immersive exhibits with authentic weaponry and shocking photographs depicting the horrors of what was once known as the Great War.

The museum, about 65 miles southwest of Tower Barracks in Grafenwoehr, is part of the greater Bavarian Army Museum, one of the largest military history museums in Europe. The World War I portion features 2,000 exhibits spread over 27,000 square feet.

A display at the Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, details the use of poison gas, including protective equipment like gas masks. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, blends immersive exhibits with authentic weaponry and shocking photographs depicting the horrors of war. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

My fascination with World War I began years ago when I discovered that my great-grandfather had served in an ambulance company with the storied 26th Yankee Division from New England. I was driving past Ingolstadt after a medieval festival and decided to stop to experience the war through German eyes.

Lasting from 1914 to November 1918, the war involved over 65 million troops, according to U.S. government data, from more than two dozen countries. Fighting was characterized by static trench lines and new weapons that killed on an industrial scale, a combination that contributed to approximately 20 million military and civilian deaths.

My family and I entered the 19th-century fortress-turned-museum on a quiet Sunday afternoon in late July through its beautiful outdoor gardens. 

We explored the museum’s two floors, which are packed with displays and artifacts spanning Germany’s participation in the war, beginning with the founding of the German Empire in 1871 and ending with its defeat in 1918.

A display at the Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, shows the different types of artillery shells and the resultant shrapnel that sailed through the air, causing serious wounds, and in many cases, the death of soldiers at the front. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

A heavy artillery piece is tucked into an alcove of a mock trench at the Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, on July 26, 2026. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The highlight for me was the trench warfare exhibit, which my wife and kids chose to skip due to its shocking realism. I entered a dimly lit portion of the museum that opened into a life-size diorama of a wood-lined German trench. It stretched like a snake through the transformed halls.

Hulking artillery pieces and machine guns were tucked into nooks in the shadows, while barbed wire stretched overhead. The exhibit even incorporated enlarged photographs of dead soldiers into the trench walls, and the floor opened onto a giant map.

Another highlight was an exhibit dedicated to the millions of wounded soldiers and prisoners of war. Set up to resemble a medical hut, it included pristine medic and nurse uniforms, medical tools, stretchers and photos of the war’s most grievously wounded.

Other exhibits featured old uniforms, rifles and bayonets, paintings, flags, photo and video displays, and even old propaganda posters filling the rooms from floor to ceiling.

World War I never ended for many of the severely wounded who came home, including this soldier that lost his legs. This photograph is one of the many on display at the the Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, that show the true nature of warfare. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

A near-life-size image of a deceased soldier being claimed by the muddy walls of his trench after his death helps the Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, portray the real horrors of war. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

My inability to read most of the German-language displays made it tough to comprehend, but the visual impact was enough to give me a sense that I understood the general story. I pulled out my translator app a few times to help.

What I found was a story that was similar across countries that fought in the war: young people marching off with little sense of the slaughter that awaited them, many never to return home.

We also toured exhibits that detailed the blockade imposed by the Allied Powers, mostly Britain, on Germany and Austria-Hungary, and economic issues on the homefront, the plight of women and the impacts of the Communist Revolution in Russia.

This is one of the best museums I have ever visited, and it’s a must-see for any military history aficionado interested in witnessing the war from a different point of view.

A display at the Museum of the First World War in the Reduit Tilly fortress in Ingolstadt, Germany, details the different types of hand grenades used by the German army during World War I. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Museum of the First World War

Address: Regimentstrasse 2, Ingolstadt, Germany

Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Last admission is at 4:45 p.m.; closed Mondays.

Cost: Admission for adults is 5 euros Tuesday through Saturday and 1 euro on Sunday. Children under 18 are free. Parking at the adjacent garage varies but costs 4.50 euros for two to three hours.

Information: +49 841 93770, www.armeemuseum.de/en/