Somme to the Armistice 2018

Local departure by coach, then to Assevillers, near Peronne for a four-night stay.

We start the tour on the battlefields around Villers-Bretonneux, where the German advance was stopped in April 1918 and where the break-out began in August. We visit the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and new Monash Centre (which opens in spring 2018), as well as the Australian Corps Memorial Park at Le Hamel with its memorial and trenches. In the afternoon, we follow the August 1918 advance, seeing the moving War Horse Memorial at Chipilly and the grave of a Canadian First Nation sniper, Ducky Norwest.

Included Highlights

Villers-Bretonneux Chipilly

Today, we begin near Arras and follow the Canadian advance in August-September 1918 as they attacked the Drocourt-Queant Switch Line. We visit the ground at Monchy le Preux, see the Crow’s Nest Memorial and the DQ Line Canadian Memorial. At Bourlon Wood, we see where the Canadians captured the wood in September 1918, and after lunch in Cambrai, we look at the fighting along the St. Quentin Canal, seeing the Somme American Cemetery at Bony and the bridge at Riqueval where the men of the North Midland Division broke the German defences and took the last bridge over the canal.

Included Highlights

Monchy Le Preux Somme American Cemetery

At Ors we look at the final large-scale battle of WW1 on the Western Front along the Sambre Canal, where on 4th November 1918, more than 150,000 troops went into battle. At Ors we see where war poet Wilfred Owen was killed, and visit his memorial and grave in Ors Communal Cemetery. We then travel to Mons for lunch, and in the afternoon, see the Mons War Museum and St. Symphorien Cemetery, where the first and last soldiers are buried. We also see where George Lawrence Price was killed – the last British Empire soldier to die in WW1 – and visit his memorial.

Included Highlights

George Lawrence Price Memorial Mons Ors

Travel home.