The Somme

After meeting your driver/guide we will head to Dover or Folkestone for your crossing, en-route our guide will give a full introduction to the Great War and the Battle of the Somme. Our first stop today is Sheffield Memorial Park which is dedicated to the men of the British Army’s 31st Division who served with the Pals Battalions. Just a short distance away we visit Newfoundland Memorial Park which is dedicated to the memory of the Newfoundlanders who were all but wiped out on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and the site still bears many scars from the battle. Ulster Tower, is a memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, who attacked from the British Front Lines on the 1st July 1916 suffering heavy losses, they would go on to win nine Victoria Crosses during the Somme offensive. The Thiepval Memorial, the largest British War Memorial in the world, stands proudly watching over the battlefield, it contains the names of over 72,000 British and South African men who died in the Somme and have no known grave and we will take the time to hear some of their stories. As we head to our overnight accommodation we will make a stop in the town of Albert, to visit a museum which is situated 10 metres underground and walk through a 250-metre gallery which retraces the lives of the soldiers in the trenches during the offensive of July 1916. Fifteen reconstructed scenes will help visualise and understand what life was like for the British, French and German soldiers. From here we head to our hotel for an overnight stay.

Another packed day on The Somme as we start this morning at Lochnagar Crater, which is the largest mine crater on the Western Front, here you will be told about tunnelling and the reasons for this type of warfare. Heading next to Fricourt German Cemetery where out of the approx. 17,000 buried here only 5,057 have an individual grave. The famous German pilot Baron Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, who was shot down and died on 21st April 1918, was buried here for a time before his body was moved and taken back to Germany. Nearby we find Delville Wood which saw particularly ferocious fighting as the 1st South African Brigade attacked and captured the wood, which they then held for six days until relieved. Our final stop today on the Somme is at Devonshire Cemetery where we learn more about the Devon’s on the first day of the Somme and in particular William Noel Hodgson the poet, who was killed on the first day of the battle and is buried in the Cemetery. As we begin to make our journey back to Calais, we will make an en-route stop to visit Vimy Ridge where the Canadian troops fought so gallantly, paying our final respects at the foot of their breath-taking memorial before heading home.