Tour 5 – Two-day tour of the Somme 1916, Fromelles and Flanders (Australian)

Itinerary Day One

• The Thiepval Memorial to the missing and Interpretive Centre

Our tour begins in the Interpretive Centre to put into context the Battle of the Somme during the Great War. Following this we will visit the impressive Thiepval Memorial to the missing which contains over 72,000 names of the fallen who have no known grave, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

• Pozieres military cemetery, the Windmill and the Tank Memorial

Pozieres sits on the highest point on the old Somme 1916 battlefield and was heavily fought over. 23,000 Australians became casualties in taking Pozieres heights in just under six weeks of fighting. Sgt Castleton VC is buried in Pozieres who was one of seven who the Victoria Cross during the fighting here.

The debut of the tank in world history took place near here.

• Moo Cow Farm

The late summer of 1916 saw fierce fighting around Pozieres and Moo Cow farm known to the British as Mucky Farm from the French spelling Mouquet. German strongpoints were created around the Farm and resulted in over 6300 Australian casualties.

• The Ulster Tower Memorial

This Tower is a replica of a tower near Belfast in Northern Ireland which overlooked the former training ground of the 36^th Ulster Division. The Memorial represents the heroism of this Division on July 1^st 1916.

• The Newfoundland Memorial and preserved WW1 trenches

An impressive set of British and German trenches remain from the battles of the Somme. Here you will hear the tragic story of what happened to the Newfoundland Regiment on the 1^st July 1916 as we walk the battlefield and also the success here in Autumn/Winter of 1916 with the 51^st Highland Division.

• The Lochnagar mine crater

This was the largest crater to be blown in the Great War and serves as a reminder of the Great War.

• Fricourt German cemetery

Finally we will head to the German cemetery at Fricourt which contains over 17,000 graves. This is where the famous German air ace, the Red Baron, was laid to rest after the war until 1925, when his brother

Bolko had him re-interred in Germany.

Itinerary Day Two

• Pheasant Wood military cemetery and Fromelles visitors centre

On this tour we will visit the first new Commonwealth war graves cemetery created since the Second World War due to the recent discovery of a mass grave with over 250 Australian soldiers. Over half of the burials have now been positively identified through DNA testing. The newly arrived 5^th Australian Division suffered 5533 casualties in just 27 hours of incessant fighting.

• Cobber Memorial and bunkers

On the German front line an impressive bronze ‘Cobber memorial’ stands surrounded by remains of German bunkers.

• VC Corner Australian cemetery and Memorial to the missing

Located here is a mass grave of 410 unidentified Australian soldiers which were collected and buried together following the Great War. The Memorial to the missing contains just under 1300 names of Australian soldiers who were still missing at the end of the war.

• Le Trou Aid Post cemetery

Possibly the prettiest CWGC cemetery along the Western Front surrounded by a moat and willow trees. This is also near to where Australian Brigadier-General ‘Pompey’ Elliott had his Brigade headquarters.

We will travel onto and discover the city of Ypres or ‘Wipers’, the defense of which cost the lives of 250,000 men of the British Empire between 1914-1918.

• Ploegsteert Memorial and Messines Ridge

We travel to Flanders today to discover the historic Ypres Salient in Belgium or more commonly known as ‘Wipers’. At the southern tip of the battlefield there is one of the many Memorials to the missing which contains the names of over 11,000 soldiers who were never found and identified.

• Christmas Truce 1914 Memorial

The site of the famous meeting in No-Mans Land of both the British and German soldiers who had laid down their arms on Christmas Day 1914. Well documented on both sides of how the  soldiers sang Christmas carols, exchanged gifts such as rum, cigarettes and famously a football match was played.

• Hill 60

Fierce fighting took place at Hill 60 and changed hands several times during the Great War. It was a place you feared being sent to. Today the grounds remain relatively undisturbed since the end of war and are a stark reminder of the extensive mining that took place during that time.

• The Menin Gate Memorial

The Menin Gate Memorial is a vast portland stone archway which leads into the city of Ypres. It contains the names of over 54,000 soldiers who have never been found or identified, just over 5,000 are Australians. Field Marshal Plumer described during the inauguration of the Memorial in 1927 that ‘He is not missing; he is here’. Every evening at 8pm the Last Post is sounded during a short act of remembrance.

• Polygon Wood, Buttes cemetery and the 5^th Australian Division Memorial

The Australian 5^th Division Memorial stands proud overlooking the cemetery where many Australian soldiers are buried from around Polygon Wood during the Battle of Passchendaele.

• Tyne Cot cemetery and Memorial to the missing

Tyne Cot is truly a ‘silent’ city with 12,000 graves and with just under 35,000 names recorded on the Memorial to the missing. It sits on the path in the advance on Passchendaele in the autumn of 1917. German pill-boxes can also be seen here with one being reused as an Advance dressing station following it’s capture.