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Day 1 The Somme
To most people the Somme signifies one day - July 1st 1916, the day the British Army suffered its greatest ever losses in a single day with nearly 60,000 casualties. But the battle for the Somme raged until November of that year. What remains is truly awesome. The sites seen today will be etched into your consciousness forever. Your tour commences in Lille, where you meet your specialist Battlefield guide at the tour departure point. We then tour the Somme battlefield covering major sites from the calamitous first day through the whole five months of the battle. You see Delville Wood, the Welsh memorial at Mametz Wood, the huge Lochnagar mine crater, the sunken road where the Accrington Pals were virtually wiped out, the Pozieres battlefield and Windmill Hill (both important site for Australians), Courcellette, site of the first major use of tanks supporting Canadian troops, and the nearby the tank memorial. We include the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing and the Ulster Tower. An undoubted highlight, however, will be the incredibly preserved Beaumont Hamel battlefield site. This evening, you will attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menen Gate in Ypres. (D)
Day 2 Ypres Salient
On our day touring the Salient we see, in the company of a first class guide, some of the most important sites that remain: the area of the first gas attack, John McRae's Essex Farm, the Messines Ridge, Hooghe crater where the flame thrower was introduced into modern warfare, and the sites that played a pivotal role in the Battle of Passendale, Polygon Wood and Tyne Cot. Walk the moonscape of the Hill 60 battlefield and see literally dozens of memorials to British, Australian and Canadian regiments. We then return to our local accommodation for a delicious evening meal. (B,D)
Day 3 Fromelles & Ypres
The final day in our series of one-day Western Front battlefield visits takes us to the line between Armentieres and Arras, dubbed the nursery trenches. On this day we visit sites connected with the 1915 battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Neuve Chapelle, where the Indian Army gave a magnificent account of itself, and the 1917 Battle of Arras. We see where Adolf Hitler served and the bunker he is reputed to have used as a billet. Australians will be touched at seeing the 'Cobber' memorial in Fromelles. A current archaeological investigation of the mass graves found by Pheasant Wood is trying to identify the soldiers killed during the first Australian battle involvement on the Western Front. We cross the Loos battlefield, site of the disastrous battle of 1915. For Canadians Vimy Ridge is undoubtedly the highlight, where we take a trench tour and spend time at the massive and imposing Vimy memorial. We also see sites in and around the pretty city of Arras connected with the huge battle of 1917. If time, we see the French National memorial at Lorrette de Notre Dame before returning to our Lille departure point. (B)
The tour returns to Lille Europe Station at around 6.30pm.
For those who joined in Lille, we recommend that you do not make onward connections before 7.30pm, in case of traffic delays.
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