History and Remembrance – Battle of the Somme and the Western Front – NEW TOUR

Depart the UK

Travel to Dover and take the ferry across to Calais or Dunkirk.  Upon disembarkation continue to Arras for the next 4 nights.

Arras and WW1 Memorial Sites

Make a tour of Wellington Tunnels, a network of underground barracks that housed up to 24,000 soldiers and located only a few meters from the front line from where they rushed onto the battlefield on 09 April 1917 launching a surprise attack on the Germans.   The tunnels were created by New Zealander soldiers to connect the city’s medieval chalk quarries.

After some free time to explore Arras and have some lunch, meet up with a local specialised guide and make the short journey to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitor Centre to gain an insight into how some of the world’s most recognisable war memorials are maintained.  Watch headstones being engraved and get an overview of the metal and carpentry workshops and visit the exhibition centre.  From here, continue to the UNESCO site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, dominated by the statue of Mother Canada, which honours soldiers who lost their lives in WW1 at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.  In the visitor centre, the exhibition highlights the daily life during the Great War through personal items, written accounts and sound immersions.

On the return, make a stop at the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette ‘Ring of Rememberance’ – the national cemetery where the names of 600,000 fallen soldiers from all nationalities are engraved on the circular wall.  The History Centre gives an understanding of the scale of the conflict with historical object, films and maps and over 300 photographs (many taken by the soldiers themselves).

Return to Arras for an evening at leisure.

The Battle of the Somme

Accompanied by a specialist guide travel first to the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel and visit the well-preserved network of trenches starting at the Caribou Memorial which gives a very moving account of the battle.  From here visit the largest Commonwealth War Memorial at Thiepval which is engraved with 72,205 names of the missing of the Somme.  In the Visitor Centre learn about the history of the Great War and the Battle of the Somme before entering the museum with its permanent exhibitions, exhibits and artefacts for an immersive experience of the battle.

A stop will be made at Lochnagar mine crater where, on the 01 July 1916, several mines were blown creating huge craters such as this one and to end the tour a visit will be made of the Somme 1916 Museum located in a 250meter long tunnel to see how the soldiers in the trenches lived through lifelike dioramas.

Return to Arras for an evening at leisure.

Péronne and the Cambrai Tank 1917

Accompanied by a specialist guide we will travel to Péronne, a small town on the banks of the Somme river .  On a guided tour of  The Museum of the Grande Guerre, discover interpretations of the war from German, French and British perspectives together with a collection of over 70,000 items of civilian and military relics, documents and works of art.  There are personal narratives and displays which may give a deeper understanding of WW1.

There will be some free time to explore the town further and among the most imposing historic monuments is the Town Hall, which has an impressive renaissance style facade and a roof that includes an ornate clocktower. As with many places in the Somme, Péronne has a war cemetery which contains the graves of almost 2000 servicemen who died near here in the war and substantial parts of the town were reconstructed after extensive damage during the campaign.

From here, continue to Cambrai to see the iconic Deborah Tank, an exceptional Great War artifact, which was used during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.  The tank was buried in a pit until it was unearthed in 1998 by a local historian and is now exhibited next to the cemetery where the crewmen of the tank fell.

Return to Arras for a local cheese and beer tasting in the Boves, the limestone quarries that are over 1000 years old and located just under the main squares of the town.  Includes 3 local craft beers and 3 cheeses from Hauts-de-France region.  The rest of the evening is at leisure.

Return to the UK

Drive to Calais or Dunkirk and take the ferry across to Dover, and home.