Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door 2001: The Travel Skills Handbook for Independent Travelers by Rick Steve's. ISBN1096-794X or ISBN 1-56691-228-8. Published by Avalon Travel Publishing, Emeryville, California, 2001. It can also be found at www.ricksteves.com. This book is full of helpful tips for Americans traveling to Europe.
Savoir Flair! 211 Tips for Enjoying France and the French by Polly Platt. ISBN 0-9646684-1-6. Distributed in the U.S. by Distribooks, Skokie, Illinois. Polly also has a website: www.pollyplatt.com. Spending a few hours reading this book before you travel to France will help ease some of the cultural differences you will encounter.
Michelin Yellow Series Maps: 1/200,000 scale. Map Number 241: Champagne Ardennes. (1 centimeter = 2 kilometers, or about 1.2 miles.)
IGN Serie Bleue Maps: 1/25,000 scale. Various numbers cover the individual portion of the battlefields. (1 centimeter = 250 meters, or about 800 yards.)
First, Michelin and the Institut Geographique Nationale (IGN) both have websites: www.michelin-travel.com and www.ign.fr. However, I have not tried to order from these websites, so I cannot say how easy it is. Second, in Verdun, the bookshop on the main street (Rue Mazel) sells them and numerous books on the sector and the war. It is well worth a stop on your first day. Third, the blue series maps can often be found in larger towns in the region, such as Varennes. The Maison de la Presse in this town carries them and an assortment of books on the Meuse-Argonne and Vauquois Hill.
American Armies and Battlefields in Europe: A History, Guide and Reference Book. This was prepared by the American Battle Monuments Commission and published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The original version was published in 1938. It was reprinted in 1993 to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Armistice. It can be purchased from the following website: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/.
Illustrated Michelin Guides to the Battle-Fields (1914-1918): The Americans in the Great War, Volume 3, Meuse-Argonne Battle. These guides, too, have been re-printed and published by G.H. Smith & Son, Easingwold, York, England.
Première Guerre Mondiale des Flandres á l'Alsace, le guide. ISBN 2-20361211-8. Copyright 1996 by Editions Casterman, Tournai, Belgium. Although in French, this compact green book covers battlefield sites in all sectors of the Western Front.
La Face Cachée: Empreintes de l'Armée Allemande, 1914:1918, de l'Argonne au Saillant de Saint-Mihiel / Die verborgene Seite: Spuren der Deutschen Armee 1914-1918 von den Argonnen bis nach dem Vorsprung von Saint-Mihiel. ISBN 2-9503985-4-5. Published in 2000 by Connaissance de la Meuse, Verdun. Authors Jean-Luc Kaluzko and Frédéric Radet photographically document a broad range of "traces" of the German Army in the region. The text is in French and German. One drawback is that the authors rarely disclose the location of the specific site photographed.
Selected Books on the Imperial German Army in English