Behind The Front Lines

Itinerary

• Day 1

  Local departure by coach, then to our hotel in northern France for a four-night stay.

• Day 2 - Crimson Coast: Etaples and Terlincthun

  Our tour begins along the coast belt of northern France where the main military hospitals were located, often called the ‘Crimson Coast’. We visit Wimereux Communal Cemetery to hear the story of Canadian poet John McCrae who wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’, and then visit Terlincthun British Cemetery, one that remained open for burials from all over France until the 1990s. We have lunchtime in Etaples and then look at the story of the ‘Bullring’ Training Camp, also seeing the vast Etaples Military Cemetery. We look at the story of the Tank Corps training area at Merlimont, seeing the memorial to them, and then head to Saint Pol for the story of the selection of the Unknown Warrior in 1919 before returning to Arras via Mont Saint Eloi, a village close to the front used for billeting troops and the location of a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome.

  Meals - Breakfast

• Day 3 - Behind the Lines on the Somme

  Today we travel to the Somme battlefields and begin with a look at the story of men who were ‘Shot at Dawn’ for military crimes in WW1. At Bailleulmont we see the graves of the men executed, including Albert Ingham, whose father used the ‘Shot at Dawn’ phrase on his headstone. We uncover the details of the evacuation and treatment of the wounded at Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt, and then have lunchtime in Doullens with a visit to the Town Hall, which was used as a Headquarters in March 1918. In the afternoon we travel to Vignacourt, where a museum displays a unique collection of images of Great War soldiers taken by a local photographer. We then travel to Couin and look at the memorial to animals killed on the Somme, at the site of an old Water Point from 1916, and visit the Couin British Cemeteries to discover the story of the ‘King of No Man’s Land’.

  Meals - Breakfast

• Day 4 - Behind the Lines in Flanders

  We start at Bailleul, one of the main towns used by the British Army in Flanders, and visit the Military Cemetery here, which is close to the site of Casualty Clearing Stations and the Royal Flying Corps aerodrome. We then visit Lijssenthoek, one of the main medical reception areas for the wounded, seeing the vast cemetery here plus the Visitor’s Centre. After lunchtime in Poperinghe, we look at those Shot at Dawn with a visit to the ‘Death Cells’, afterwards heading to Talbot House, a Belgian townhouse opened by padres for the use of all soldiers as a place to escape the war. We then visit the memorial to the Chinese Labour Corps to examine the work they did behind the lines, and finish at the Lille Gate in Ypres to visit the Ramparts and visit the very evocative cemetery here. After free-time in Ypres for dinner, we attend the moving Last Post Ceremony.

  Meals - Breakfast

• Day 5

  Return home.

  Meals - Breakfast

Accommodation