The Somme Offensive

Itinerary

5-Day Itinerary

• Day 1

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

• Day 2 - Battle of the Woods

  We begin on the southern edge of the Somme battlefields looking at the role of the ‘Poilus’ – the French Army on the Somme. We see where the British and French units met up and look at the memorial which commemorates this.

  Next, we cover the Pals battalions from Liverpool and Manchester who captured the village of Montauban, seeing their memorial.

  We then learn about the ‘Horseshoe of Woods’ on the Somme, looking at the fighting for Bernafay and Trônes Wood, and the battle for the ground around Guillemont, seeing the memorial to the Irish troops who fought here.

  Next, we travel to a unique part of the Somme battlefields at Rancourt where a British, a French and German cemetery from 1916 are all found in the same area – evidence of the losses of all these nations on the Somme.

  Lunchtime is spent in Peronne, and in the afternoon we look at the role of South African troops at Delville Wood, visit the New Zealand Memorial near Flers, and travel via Bazentin to Mametz Wood, to learn more about the role of Welsh troops there in the battle of July 1916, seeing their Red Dragon memorial.

  Meals - Breakfast, Dinner

• Day 3 - Louvencourt - Trenches at Thiepval Wood

  We go behind the lines on the Somme this morning to Louvencourt, to look at one of the classic stories of the First World War – the love story between Vera Brittain and Roland Leighton, immortalised in her book ‘Testament of Youth’, and ending with his tragic death.

  We visit his grave at Louvencourt Cemetery, and then travel back to the front-line area, spending the rest of the morning exploring the battlefield around the famous Sunken Lane and Hawthorn Mine Crater at Beaumont-Hamel. Here, we see the battlefield, walk up to the crater, and visit the battlefield cemeteries.

  We include lunch at the Ulster Tower and look at the Ulstermen’s attack here on 1st July 1916, before our included special guided visit into Thiepval Wood to see the preserved trenches and positions, as well as the battlefield cemeteries. We end at the Thiepval Memorial to look at the story of the Missing of the Somme.

  This evening, we have an included evening meal at Le Tommy Bar at Pozières, where we also have time to examine the unique collection of military artefacts here as well as a recreated WW1 Trench System.

  Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

• Day 4 - The Commonwealth on the Somme

  We cross the River Somme this morning and travel to some of the 1918 battlefields to visit the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and Australian Memorial. Here we see the burial grounds from some of the final battles on the Somme, and on the walls of the memorial, Australia’s missing from the 1916 battles. We also have an included visit to the Sir John Monash Centre which examines Australia’s role on the Western Front, before having our lunch period at Corbie.

  In the afternoon, we return to the main 1916 battlefield and follow the story of the Australians at Pozières and Canadians at Courcelette, including a visit to Regina Trench Cemetery.

  We end at the Butte de Warlencourt, now a memorial site, where the Battle of the Somme came to a conclusion in a snowstorm in November 1916.

  Meals - Breakfast, Dinner

• Day 5

  Return home.

  Meals - Breakfast

Accommodation