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Old 02-10-17, 11:05 PM
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mad4thcef mad4thcef is offline
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Default Battlefield tours

Hello.

In the spring of 2018 I am going to the UK.

My wife has relatives in Wigan.

I am interested in doing a battlefield tour in particular VIMY RIDGE.

So I am wondering if there is a UK based company I could hookup with?

Plan B is to go to France and make my way there etc.

So I am asking if you have any suggestions please PM me.

Thanks in advance!
Rob
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Old 03-10-17, 05:27 AM
MH331 MH331 is offline
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Rob,

There are multiple companies who offer tours from average to excellent and as always it depends on the size of your pocket. Try a quick google it will give you a few options.

regards

Mark
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Old 03-10-17, 06:08 AM
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Last year I did a tour of the Western Front with Ledger Holidays which included Vimy Ridge, the tour guide was very knowledgeable and if as in my case you wanted to visit a particular cemetery in the area you were in they would try to accommodate your request.
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Old 03-10-17, 06:25 AM
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Battle-honours.eu are very good bunch of guys to go with that walk the ground rather than just take you from cemetery to cemetery, you may also find yourself standing in a field drinking a toast in the position of a trench of the last known position of one of your parties relatives trenches over looking or as near possible to where they fell or had fought, highly recommended.
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Old 03-10-17, 03:13 PM
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I can also recommend Battle Honours. They have been the partner of the Western Front Association for the centennial years. I've also travelled with Rifleman Tours who also did well, but that was a few years ago so I cannot vouch for them currently.

Stephen.
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Old 03-10-17, 04:26 PM
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Default Battlefield tours

Hi my wife and I have just done our third tour with leger and can highly recommend them.
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Old 03-10-17, 08:38 PM
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My advice is contact Vic and Di Piuk
I have known Vic for 22 years and he lives on the Somme.
He had my 14 students listening to his every word last week.
He is also temporary custodian at Thiepval Woods.
He is at les Alouettes so give him a Google and tell him Alastair Mattinson is the link.
Yours
Matti
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Old 04-10-17, 03:31 AM
cefguy cefguy is offline
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Rob:
My wife an I have done a couple of tours of northern France and Belgium. We did one with Norm Christie that was great. I also did a fair amount of driving around when I was based in Norway. It has always held a fascination for me. A few years back a friend of mine asked me for advice of how to effectively use some time with his son and construct a tour itinerary for a week in WW1 battlefields. Here is the text of what I wrote to Mike. It worked out well for him and his son. It may give you a few ideas.....
Don

18 May 2012

Mike:

Here is a second cut at some ideas for a bit of a battlefield tour for you and some of what I consider “must sees” for Canadians touring WWI sites in France and Belgium.

As you travel north from Paris of course there is the Somme battlefield that I have not explored in depth, but here goes…

When exploring the Somme battlefield you might consider staying at a bed and breakfast called Les Alouettes in the little village of Hardecourt aux Boix. The village is about 8 miles north east of Amiens. Your hosts would be Vic and Diane Piuk. They are a British couple with a passion for the history of WW1 and in particular the history of the Somme. Vic has a business of guiding people on tours of the Somme battlefields. (http://www.lesalouettes.net/). The Somme is etched deep in the hearts of the British. On the opening day of the Somme offensive the British army suffered 60,000 casualties before lunchtime. The fighting would continue for three more years. There was not a British family unaffected by the Somme.

Historic towns like Amiens and Beaumont Hamel where the Newfoundlanders came to grief alongside a British Highland Battalion that was also annihilated. There you see one of the five amazing Caribou statues in the France Belgium area. Very near Beaumont Hamel there is a little village called Auchonvillers. There is a bed and breakfast there run by a British lady by the name of Avril Williams. She is as great a historian on the battlefield of the Somme as anyone in existence. Book there and use it as your base of operations. At the very least have lunch there and talk to her. Visit her basement that was a cellar used by the British army as a dressing station and see the trenches that are being dug open in her yard. From Avril’s place you are in the center of such historical towns as Amiens, Albert. Beaumont Hamel Bapaume, Cambrai, and Arras.

Albert is the site of the Basilica of Notre Dame de Brebieres. It was the famous church steeple that was shelled and had the Golden Virgin hanging by a thread and never quite toppled down to the ground. The allied soldiers had a superstition that if the Virgin fell the war would be lost. It never fell, but British army sappers went up there several times in the night to secure it and make sure it didn’t fall. There is a great WW1 museum in the ancient tunnels below the Basilica. Well worth the visit.

The Locknagar Crater is the last remaining of the many huge craters produced from undermining and blasting the enemy’s trenches. It is close to 70 feet deep and conical in shape. It lies just outside of the town of LaBoiselle about 2 miles NE of Albert. It only exists today because the land was purchased after the war by a British family determined to preserve the site. The rest of the many hundreds of craters have been filled in to allow the local farmers to return the land to use.

Another potential stop in the Somme lies in the village of Mailly-Maillet. It is a medieval village that contains a bed and breakfast in an old house that was actually used by the Canadian Corps in the Somme as a dressing station. Mme Pecourt runs it. Her mother was a little girl living in that same house and she remembered the wounded Canadian soldiers being carried in to her home to be cared for. She is a wonderful lady and does speak a little English. This web site offers some contact information to places to stay in the Somme http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/bieffes.html .

Thiepval holds the memorial to the British Army on the Somme. It is located near the town of Authuille about 3 miles NE of Albert. The memorial is a huge arched structure and most impressive. It commemorates the tens of thousands of British soldiers who have no known grave in the Somme.

After you finish in the Somme you proceed north towards Arras and then you are within striking distance of Vimy. The French may not know the term “Vimy Ridge”, but they will direct you to the Canadian battlefield. It is a must see for all Canadians. Allward’s statue is the largest memorial to Canadian Soldiers in the world. The central carved figure of “Mother Canada” mourning her dead is a powerful and moving sight. Around the base of the statue are the names of 11,200 Canadian soldiers who have no known grave who died in the Great War. There is also the chance to tour the battlefield and cemeteries on the site, as well as some of the many miles of tunnels that were dug into the ridge. The Government of France gifted to Canada the 600 acres of land around the Vimy memorial in appreciation of the sacrifice.

Around Vimy are many lesser-known spots. Names like Thelus, Neuville-Saint-Vaast, Mount St Eloi etc. Mount St Eloi is an ancient village on a hill a short distance from Vimy. The ruins of a massive monastery are still there. The towering cathedral steeple was used as an artillery spotting point by the allies. In spite of massive shelling the spire remains today and must have given an amazing view of the drama unfolding a mere five to ten miles away. There is a great museum in the nearby village of Petit Vimy.

Visible from Vimy across the Douai plain is the site of the French Army battlefield of Notre Dame de Lorette. It was the scene of huge losses for the French Army early on in the war. It is a national cemetery with the remains of over 40,000 French soldiers. It has a huge Basilica in the center of the cemetery as well as a tomb to the Unknown Soldier. There is also a great museum on the grounds.

After your stop in Arras you then proceed further north with your destination the Ypres Salient. An incredible amount of history unfolded in this 20-kilometer stretch from the town of Ypres (Iper) extending east to the village of Passchendaele. There are many hotels in the city of Ypres that could be good choices for a night or two to see that city. Ypres is a medieval walled city that was shelled severely for about three years and was the center of the fighting in 1914 and early 1915. The east gate to the walled city is the start to the road to the town of Menin. That gate to the city was chosen as the site for the great WW1 memorial. Every night since the 1920’s there is a ceremony at the Menin Gate commemorating the sacrifice of the Commonwealth Soldiers. It is a must see for the WW1 tourist. Inside the memorial gate of Menin are the names of thousands of British soldiers with no known grave in the Ypres Salient. There are also the names of thousands of Canadian soldiers of no known grave lost in the Salient. The Canadians of no known grave are either carved on the Menin Gate or the Vimy memorial. Pretty much everything in Ypres is walking distance. A few great museums in Ypres including the one in the Cloth Hall, called the “Flanders’s Field Museum”. The Cloth Hall is the original city hall or guild hall that was rebuilt from its own stones after the war.

Just north of Ypres is one of the aid stations where Canadian John McCrae served as a surgeon. It is thought to be the place where he penned the poem “In Flanders’s Fields”. The associated cemetery is called Essex Farm Aid Station. There is still a German bunker there that served as operating rooms and hospital for the British and Canadian field hospitals. In that small cemetery you can also find the grave of a British Army doctor who won the Victoria Cross twice. It will be evident when you see the marker. The grave of John McCrae can be seen at Wimereux just north of Boulogne. He died at the aid station there while waiting evacuation to England. I think that that is another very important site to see for Canadians and anyone else who has ever heard his poem. South of Ypres there are many important places to be seen. Through the Menin Gate you pass to go to Hooge (a great museum in an old church), Ploegsteert Wood and Sanctuary Wood to name a few.

West of Ypres is the Belgian Village of Poperinge. Among other interesting things to see there is “Talbot House”. I have not visited this one, but understand it is preserved from WW1 time and was purchased by two Army Chaplains as a refuge and overnight spot for battle weary soldiers. It was a chance to sit in quiet write a letter home and be out of the army for a few hours. The sign on the door advised them to leave their rank outside when they entered.

Once you have gotten the lay of the land in Ypres then you should devote your attention east towards Passchendaele. It is only about twenty kilometers to the east, but a huge amount of the war occurred there, including a significant amount of Canadian fighting. You should consider moving your base of operations to Varlet Farm bed and breakfast (http://www.varletfarm.com/en/index.htm). It is an operating farm that sits on the site of some of the very first fighting of WW1 and also the site of the first gas attack. It is run by Charlotte Cardoen-Descamps. She is a Belgian lady fluent in many languages and very knowledgeable in local WW1 history. It is a great place to stay with an honour beer fridge down the hall and it caters to people with an interest in WW1 history. The B&B is near the town of Poelkapelle. She would be more than willing to guide you in your choice of things to see in the area.

Within the Ypres area you must see the Canadian Memorial at St Julien. The brooding soldier was to be one of several such edifices, but was considered too somber and thus only the one was constructed. It is also know from the wartime trench map reference of “Vancouver Corner”.

While there you must go down the road to visit “Shrapnel Charlie” (ww.stripes.com/news/belgian-man-turns-world-war-i-shrapnel-into-mementos-1.52511). He lives with his mother in their house in St Jan. He was injured in an industrial accident and now makes his living melting down some of the millions of lead shrapnel balls left in the Belgian fields. He casts little lead souvenirs of the many war memorial sites around the Salient. He is a great guy and loves visits from Canadians. You must hear his story of how the war affected his grand parents. Their house was on the same site he lives on today.

While in the Salient you must visit the German War Cemetery at Langemark-Poelkapelle. It helps put a perspective on the incredible human cost of the “War to end all Wars”. In most of the German Cemeteries you see thousands of concrete crosses and you think….”wow”. Then you realize that each side of the cross has two names on it so as to be the burial spot of four soldiers at each cross.

There is a Michelin guide to Commonwealth War Graves in Europe. In addition to it being a fine little road atlas it contains the location and names of over 2000 Commonwealth war cemeteries in Europe. You can order a copy of this must have little book from CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) enterprises. You can go to Norm Christie’s web site (http://www.cefbooks.ca/) and search for the Michelin Guide to Commonwealth War Graves. It is about $20. While you are there consider getting a copy of “Ghosts Have Warm Hands” a re-published memoir written by Will Bird of the CEF 42nd Battalion. It is probably the most readable actual account of the life of the private soldier fighting with the Canadians in WW1. Norm Christie re-publishes these old classics and also gives WW1 battlefield tours (but not in the first two weeks of June).

So continuing in the Ypres Salient, and still within ten miles of Varlet farm you will of course go to Passchendaele. In addition to it being the east end of this Salient or bulge in the line it is the scene of incredible Canadian fighting to hold the Salient. The village was shelled mercilessly for three years and was pretty much rubbed off the map. You have to see the Passchendaele museum, it about two kilometers down the road in the village of Zonnebeke. It is a must see and contains a lot of the history of the gas warfare of the Salient as well as the tunneling war in the Salient. At that point you are within a kilometer of the Tyne Cot Cemetery with about 11,000 War Graves in it many of these are Canadian. It is the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world.

Once you leave the museum you go down the road to the Polygon Wood memorial and Cemetery. When you carry on past there to the “T” in the road you are beside the little country pub owned by John Vanderwalle. You must stop there because the beer is cold and also because of the sign on the window that says “Home of the Tunellers’ War”. John Vanderwalle was one of a team of three who started to open up the tunnels around the Passchendaele area that had been buried after the war. There is both a great book and a BBC special on their efforts. There was sufficient tunnels in this end of the Salient to house 60,000 soldiers. He is a fascinating fellow to talk to and has many great pictures both on the wall of his pub and behind the bar to show you.

When you look at a British army grave stone you see that they are all this white stone milled in Italy. The upper one-quarter has the cap badge of the unit carved in it. The next quarter down has the name, rank service number, date of birth, date of death and unit carved in it. The next lower quarter is for only a “stick” cross, and along the bottom 12 inches or so there is a space reserved for an inscription by the family if they chose to have that. The Canadian grave markers are identical except for one thing. The upper quarter does not have the cap badge of the unit, but rather all have a maple leaf set in a circle. The spot in the bottom half of the stone is reserved for one thing only. It will have the Victoria Cross engraved on it if that is applicable. If you go to the Essex Farm Cemetery near Ypres you will see an example of one British gravestone with two Victoria crosses on it.

In the course of researching this letter I found a great resource on WW1 battlefields. You go to http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/index.html. There you can select Somme, Flanders (Ypres), Verdun and find lots of information and easy to read maps etc.

I think you can tell by now that I am interested in this history very much. You can make this trip and enjoy it a lot and still have time to stop for a few beers along the way. I hope that this helps a little bit to get you started in your research.

Don
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