BATTLEFIELDS OF THE WESTERN FRONT
3 Days / 2 Nights every Saturday to Monday, March-November
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 Our Battlefields tours are run in small groups, average 10 persons, and are accompanied by either ex-army personnel or Battlefield Guides with postgraduate qualifications.
We will always try to include specially requested sites. These tours are run in small groups, maximum 12 persons, and are accompanied by either ex-army personnel or Battlefield Guides with postgraduate qualifications. We will always try to include specially requested sites.
This tour may be taken in shorter sectors Saturday to Sunday, Sunday to Monday or as individual day tours Saturday, Sunday or Monday from either London or Lille.
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PRICE PER PERSON IN POUNDS STERLING GBP
3 Days / 2 Nights Somme, Ypres Salient, Triumph & Disaster
(Departs Saturday / Returns Monday)
£309 per person Twin Share / £339 Single from London
£269 per person Twin Share / £299 Single from Lille
ALL TOURS DEPART FROM LONDON OR JOIN FROM LILLE
JOINING THE TOUR FROM LONDON
When using Eurostar, you are given a self-ticketing reference number that you use to get your ticket at the station of departure. We advise all tour participants to call us a day or two prior to departure to ensure they have the correct ticket reference as we do not have a representative at the station on the morning of departure. Please note: on occasion, when there is no availability on Eurostar, we transfer to Calais using a mini-coach. Tour participants are collected at 06.00 from central London locations.
JOINING THE TOUR FROM PARIS OR LILLE
If you are staying in Paris and want to join any of the days, you can do so by catching the TGV from Paris to Lille. Rail tickets are not included in tour price. Trains leave from Gard du Nord at 07.58 for Saturday's tour (please check first for any changes). Return times should not be booked before 20.00.
Please note: There are 2 stations in Lille - Lille Europe and Lille Flanders.Tours start from Lille Europe Station which is a 10-minute walk from Lille Flanders.
We can book pre / post tour accommodation & services available in Lille, Paris and London.
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DAY ONE - SATURDAY - THE SOMME
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Meet London St Pancras station 06.15 for departure to Lille at 07.00
You board Eurostar's service at London's St Pancras Station. You have to be at the self-ticketing machines by 06.15. On arrival at Lille you're met by your specialist battlefields guide. Alternatively, you'll join a mini-coach in central London and go over by road.
To most people the Somme signifies one day - July 1st 1916. It was the day that the British Army suffered its greatest ever losses in a single day with nearly 60,000 casualties. But the actual battle for the Somme raged until November of that year, and saw massive fighting again in 1918.
What remains is truly awesome. There are sites seen today that will be etched into your consciousness forever. We tour the Somme battlefield covering major sites from the calamitous first day through the whole five months of the battle. You'll 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, Sausage Valley, 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 Albert, the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing and the Ulster Tower. An undoubted highlight, however, will be our guided walk around the incredible preserved Beaumont Hamel battlefield site. Other sites will be added according to the interest of the tour participants.
In the evening, you'll have the option of remaining in Ypres to attend the moving Menen Gate ceremony. Overnight in a traditional 3-star hotel with private facilities near Ypres.
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DAY TWO - SUNDAY - YPRES SALIENT
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'The Salient' struck fear into the Great War Tommy for being the hottest spot on the 70 mile front held by Imperial and Empire troops. Over a quarter of a million men gave their lives to hold this last bit of Belgium from the Germans. Although history records three great battles fought at Ypres, it was in fact a constant battle against shell, bullet, bomb, gas, water and rats.
On our day touring the Salient you'll see, in the company of a first class guide, some of the most important sites that remain; the German trenches at Kemmel, 'Shot at Dawn' execution sites, sites of the first gas attack and where flame thrower were introduced into modern warfare, John McRae's Essex Farm site, the grave of double VC winner, Noel Chavasse, Hoogt crater and museum, the Passendaele dug-out and Tyne Cot cemetery. You'll walk the moonscape of the Hill 60 battlefield and see literally dozens of memorials to British, Australian and Canadian regiments. We'll also spend time in Ypres itself with the opportunity to visit St George's Chapel, the Menen (Menin) Gate Memorial, and for those who want to take an optional tour of the 'In Flanders Field' Museum to do so.
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DAY THREE - MONDAY - FROMELLES, LOORS, ARRAS, VIMY RIDGE
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On this day we'll 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. You'll see where Adolf Hitler served and the bunker he is reputed to have used as a billet. Australian's will be touched at seeing the Fromelles 'Digger' memorial, where a current archaeological investigation is uncovering the mass grave of over 400 Diggers killed at this first Australian battle on the Western Front. We'll tour the Loos battlefield, site of the disastrous battle of 1915. For Canadians Vimy Ridge is the undoubted highlight, where, subject to availability, we take a tunnel and trench tour and spend time at the massive and imposing Vimy memorial. We'll also see sites in and around the pretty city of Arras connected with the huge battle of 1917. If time, we'll see the recently discovered underground tunnels and the French National memorial at Lorrette de Notre Dame.
We return to Lille in time for the late evening Eurostar return at 21.06, arriving in London at approximately 22.00.
>> Go to other Battlefields Tours
>> Go to other tours departing from London
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