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Pals on the Somme

At the start of World War 1, many towns and cities across Great Britain raised Pals Battalions, particularly in the North of England. Join us on this unique tour as we look at the Pals who fought and fell on the Somme. Travel to Gommecourt, Serre, Thiepval and examine the Somme following the Pals of many of the UK's towns and cities on this informative battlefields tour.

Tour Includes

4 nights hotel with continental breakfast
Specialist Battlefield Guide
Convenient local joining points

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Local departure by coach, then to our hotel in Amiens where we stay for four nights.

We start our tour in the northern part of the battlefield at Gommecourt, examining the Territorial soldiers from London and the Midlands.

The territorials were, in many ways, the original Pals and helped create the Pals phenomena in 1914. We visit the battlefield around Gommecourt, and also see the memorial to the Bradford Pals who served in this area in 1916.

After lunch, we will spend an entire afternoon looking at the battlefield at Serre, where the Pals were “two years in the making, 10 minutes in the destruction” in the Battle of the Somme. Here we see where the Accrington, Barnsley, Bradford, Hull, Leeds and Sheffield Pals fought on 1st July 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

We see the various memorials to the Pals battalions, visit the remains of trenches in the Sheffield Memorial Park and the battlefield cemeteries where their dead are buried.

Includes Breakfast

Serre Sheffield Memorial Park, Serre Gommecourt

We start our day at the Thiepval Memorial, which commemorates many Pals who fell on the Somme. We take time to see the museum and visitors centre, then look at the attack on Thiepval involving the men of the Newcastle Commercials and Salford Pals.

We then look at the locally raised units of Northern Ireland that were part of the 36th (Ulster) Division, seeing the Ulster Tower and Thiepval Wood.

After lunch we then follow the story of the Tyneside Irish and Scottish Pals at La Boisselle, seeing their memorial and visiting the Lochnagar Crater, as well as seeing the memorial to the McCrae’s Battalion at Contalmaison.

We end the day at the Devonshire Cemetery, where we see the graves of Pals from Devon who were all buried together after the 1st July, and look at the battlefield from where the German machine guns were firing.

Includes Breakfast

Ulster Tower Thiepval Memorial Lochnagar Crater Memorial Devonshire Cemetery

Today, we return to the Somme and examine the story of the Liverpool and Manchester Pals at Montauban, Trones Wood and Guillemont. We then look at the Pals Battalions who fought in Delville Wood.

After lunch in Albert, we have time to see the war museum before visiting Mametz Wood, where we examine the battalions from Wales. We will see their Red Dragon memorial, and the battlefield around High Wood. We then move on to look at the end of the Battle of the Somme, which also brought an end to the Pals Battalions, who fought there in 1916.

Includes Breakfast

Delville Wood Welsh Memorial, Mametz Wood High Wood Montauban Trones Wood Guillemont

Return Home

Includes Breakfast

Thiepval

Thiepval Memorial is undergoing major restoration work from March 2020 through to 2021. We will still be visiting Thiepval Memorial during your tour but various parts of the structure will be inaccessible. Visitors wishing to see relatives’ names, will be able view the relevant panels via a new digital exhibition. The exhibition will also feature some of the casualties commemorated and the wider work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Got a question about
this holiday?

Don’t hesitate to get in touch – our friendly team are ready and waiting to help with any further information you need!

Call us on 01709 914 560

Accommodation

You will stay for four nights at the 3-star Ibis Amiens Centre Cathedrale. The hotel is situated only five minutes' walk from the heart of the city with its bars and restaurants.