Somme-r-Ballade
World War I Battlefields
One hundred and ten years after the First World War the event still influences our lives. Numerous are the cemeteries and monuments in the Somme, but also the landscape and the reconstructed villages help us to understand the events that happened a century ago. Each nation has its own way to commemorate de fallen soldiers and the inhabitants are part of keeping the memory alive. The story of the Great War is more than numbers of casualties and explosing shells. With Somme-r-Ballade you can create your tailormade itinerary, corresponding to your time and interest. Here you find suggestions for different areas on the Western Front, for different nationalities, museums you can add, theme walks and rides.
Battle Area
Albert Somme – 4 h
Newfoundland Park Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval Memorial, Lochnagar Crater La Boisselle, German Military Cemetery Fricourt
Albert Somme extension – 4 h
Welsh memorial Mametz, Southafrican Park Longueval, dugout Martinpuich, Windmill site Pozières
extension: Somme 1916 museum Albert
Péronne Somme – 4 h
Cemeteries Rancourt, village Guillemont, trenches Frise, ruins Fay
extension: Historial of the Great War, Péronne
Amiens Somme – 4 h
Cathedral Amiens, headquarters at Chateau Querrieu, trenches Soyécourt, cemetery Vermandovillers
Arras Artois – 4 h
Ring of Remembrance and French Cemtery Notre Dame de Lorette, British Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, Vimy Ridge, German Cemetery Neuville-Saint Vaast
Arras Artois extension – 3 h
Czechoslovacian Cemetery, Polish memorial and Truce memorial Neuville-Saint-Vaast, squares Arras
Extension: Wellington Quarries, CWGC Experience
Hindenburg line – 6 h
town hall Bapaume, Cambrai memorial, bridge at Hermies canal du Nord, tank at Flesqières, Bourlon Wood, Moeuvres communal Cemetery extension
Battle Nation
American – 4 h
The Hamel, village Belloy-en-Santerre, American Cemetery Bony, Bellicourt memorial, Riqueval tunnel
Australian Amiens – 8 h
Victoria School, National Memorial, Sir John Monash Centre Villers-Bretonneux, memorial The Hamel,
2nd division memorial Péronne and trenches Frise
or
1st division memorial, Windmill Site Pozières and trenches Beaumont-Hamel
extensions: Bullecourt, Fromelles, Ieper
Canadian – 4 h
trenches Newfoundland Park Beaumont-Hamel, windmill site, memorial Courcelette, town Albert
Extension: Vimy Ridge
French – 4 h
trenches Soyécourt, ruins Fay, Somme view point Frise, war memorial Proyart, meeting point Maricourt, French Military Cemetery Villers-Carbonnel
In the footsteps
War Poets Somme – 4 h
Listen to the voices of the war poets who fought and wrote about the area: Wilfred Owen, Ernst Jünger, Blaise Cendrars…
Tolkien – 8 h
Tolkien has spent only six months in France, but most of the time around Albert. Many of them are part of the most visited memorial sites.
Jünger – 4 h
Before publishing his « Storm of steel » Ernst Jünger has written his war diary. The first years around Mony-au-bois, he entered into the battle of the Somme in August 1916 , was wounded in Combles, got lost at the Tortille river and survived the spring offensive in Rossignol wood.
Filming the battle – 4 h
Geoffrey Mallins created the first long documentary propaganda film to show « The battle of the Somme ». Drive and walk to several places having become famous since then.
Gardeners – 4 h
Combination of the Gardens of Peace – there are 30 along the Western Front – and a close look onto the Horticulture of the different cemeteries. Possibility to organise a discussion with a gardener.
Your ancestor
With name, regiment and day of death it is possible to follow the itinerary of a particular unit.
French Flanders – 6 h
Indian Memorial and Portugese Cemetery Richebourg, Franco-Portugese War memorial La Couture, German Military Cemetery Illies, Australian Memorial Park, VC Corner and Pheasant Wood Cemetery Fromelles
extension: museum of the battle of Fromelles
Ieper salient – 4 h
Peace tower, Pool of Peace, Bayernwald trenches, Essex farm cemetery, Menin Gate
extension: In Flanders Fields Museum, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Langemark cemetery
Museums
Historial de la Grande Guerre – 2 h
cross-vision of British, French and German societies in war
History Centre Artois – 2 h
interpretation centre of the conflict in the Artois and the Ring of Remembrance project
CWGC Experience – 1 h
Workshops for the Commonwealth Cemeteries all over in the World. Only from Monday to Friday
Underground City Naours – 2 h
Graffiti written by thousands of soldiers on the walls during their visit
Somme 1916 Museum Albert – 1 h
installed in a 250 m long tunnel under the Basilica of Albert with emotional atmosphere
Victoria School Villers-Bretonneux – 1 h
created by Australian donators on the first floor of the reconstructed primary school
But also the Thiepval museum, the Sir John Monash Centre, the Wellington Quarries… I don’t abandon you during the visit. Ask for your personal itinerary!
German – 4 h
Memorial Le Sars, Grave stone Courcelette, dugout Martinpuich, German Military Memorial Achiet-le-Petit, Newfoundland Park Beaumont-Hamel
Irish – 8 h
Hawthorn Crater Beaumont, trenches Newfoundland Park, chapel Mailly-Maillet, town hall Mesnil, Ulster Tower, Thiepval Memorial, Tyneside Memorial La Boisselle, memorial and Church Guillemont
Japanese Artois – 4 h
Vimy Ridge Memorial, Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, Aix-Noulette Cemetery, trenches Notre de Dame de Lorette
Kiwi – 4 h
Cemetery and memorial Longueval, village Mailly-Maillet, memorial Bapaume
extension: Le Quesnoy, Wellington Quarries
But also Scottish, Southafrican… ask for your itinerary!
Walks and rides
trenches and craters – 3 h
A walk from the trenches of the Newfoundland Park straight through no-man’s-land and to the mine crater Hawthorn Ridge in Beaumont
Tank action – 2 h
folowing the movements of a single tank in Beaumont on the 13th of November 1916
Second line – 2 h
A walk through the second line area in Guillemont which became the first line in August 1916
Amiens during the war – 2 h
Amiens was the most important town behind the lines in the Somme. This is the story of the inhabitants, the soldiers on leave and the protection of the biggest gothic cathedral in the World.
Poppy Ride – 4 h
around the Newfoundland Park with accent on the history of the cavalry during the First World War
together with the stables in Englebelmer
Remembrance Ride – 6 h
from Englebelmer to the Thiepval memorial with accent on the History of the Cavalry during the First World War
together with the stables in Englebelmer
History Ride – 2 h
Ride to the chapel Madame in Mailly-Maillet and the headquarters of the 29th division
together with the stables in Englebelmer
