Somme Battlefields: France

Sample Itinerary - 4 DAYS TO SOMME BATTLEFIELDS BY COACH

• Day 1 — Depart school. Connect with channel crossing. Arrive at your centre for evening dinner.
• Days 2 - 3 — Excursions of your choice.
• Day 4 — Depart in the morning. Connect with an afternoon channel crossing. Return to school.

Sample Itinerary - DAY TRIP TO THE SOMME BATTLEFIELDS BY COACH

• Depart school for an early morning crossing to Calais. Arrive mid morning for visit to La Boisselle and Thiepval Memorial. In the afternoon visit Beaumont Hamel and Vimy Ridge before departing for early evening return crossing. The number of visits is dependent on the location of your school within the UK. The cost of the tour includes a maximum of 18 hours use of the coach.

Meal Arrangements

• Full Board:
  First Meal - Evening meal on Day 1.
  Final Meal - Packed lunch on the Final day.

Study Breaks

• History Battlefields of WWI
  To complement our touring programme STS has a curriculum based study course book. This project book is aimed for students at KS3 and GCSE level, studying the Great War as a supplementary unit. Copies can be purchased at a supplement of £3.75 each to include P&P. Further information available upon request.

Excursion Selection

History & Landmarks
Vimy Ridge - The ridge was the strongest defensive position in north-western France. This Canadian memorial park contains a cemetery, a small museum, a memorial, tunnels and trenches. Guided visits of the tunnels run by Canadian students are available May - November.
Longueval - The capture of Delville Wood was essential to any advance eastwards and the area was assigned to the South Africans. Places to visit include a Memorial and a National Museum. Longueval is also a place of remembrance for New Zealanders; a memorial commemorates their efforts during the war.
Pozières - Australian troops were given the task of capturing this village. The Windmill Memorial commemorates Australia’s 2nd Division.
Thiepval - At 45m high this is the largest British Memorial in the world. It contains the names of 73,357 British and South African men who have no known grave and who fell on the Somme between July 1916 - 20 March 1917. A visitor centre is attached to the memorial.
Ulster Tower - This is an exact replica of a tower near the 36th Division’s training ground in Belfast. It is the memorial both to the Irish of the Battle of the Somme and to all the Ulstermen who died in the Great War.
Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park - This commune lay immediately behind the German line. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment came under intense German machine-gun fire at 07:30 am on 1st July 1916; half an hour later only 68 men remained unscathed. The Memorial stands at the entrance to the park; a track leads to the Caribou mound, named after the statue of a caribou, symbol of the Newfoundland Regiment. The Y Ravine cemetery holds 366 burials. The trenches can be visited with Canadian guides.
Aveluy - The picturesque British cemetery is on the left of Aveluy Wood. Many trenches are still visible.
Lochnagar Crater at La Boisselle - 100m in diameter and 30m deep, this crater is the only one open to the public and was caused by two charges of ammonal in 1916.
Historial of the Great War Museum - Located in the town of Peronne, this museum offers an insight into daily life during the war. The collection includes posters, pictures, objects from civilian and military life. The exhibits show the extent to which the horror of the suffering was shared by all nations.
Somme 1916 Museum in Albert - Set in the underground passage which was used as air shelter during the Second World War, this museum displays life in the trenches in 1916.
Underground Tunnels in Arras - Situated under the Town Hall, the tunnels were originally used as quarries and then became an underground hospital for the British during the Great War.