World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme This route is oered to you by:

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Overview map

D7 Croisilles

N 25

Bienvillers-Au-Bois

Ayette

25 Vaulx-Vraucourt

Coigneux

D9 6

Bapaume 5

7

4

40

Acheux-En-Amiénois

D 917

8

20 3

12 11

D 919 2

13

14 15

10

16

9

1

80

929

17

20

18

19 100

120

21

Belloy-En-Santerre

D 42

Framerville-Rainecourt

Marchélepot

34

A2

Rosières-En-Santerre BERSEAUCOURT Mézières-En-Santerre Curchy Rouvroy-En-Santerre

3000 m D 930

map data: © OpenStreetMap Contributors

2

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Practical Information

The Notre Dames de Brebières or Basilica of the Golden Virgin is very well known by the British and for its legend of the Golden Virgin. In 1915, the church was hit by shell-fire. The statue of the Virgin and child at the top was left leaning almost horizontally but it did not fall. The soldiers said that if the statue would fall, it would mark the end of the war, be it defeat or victory. It didn''t crash for several years until 1918, a few months before the end of the war.

This route is offered to you by:

Length: 127.39 km

Author: More information

Ascent: 1282 m

Albert

difficulty level: 4/10

Route description 1

Route along principal sites of the Battle of the Somme.

- Distance along route: 6.65 km

Place of interest Notre Dames de Brebières - Basilica of the Golden Virgin 1

- Distance along route: 6.6 km

Figure 2: Albert Mural depicting 1916 scene of destruction in Albert. Restored church is visible behind.

Author: More information

Figure 1: Notre Dames de Brebières - Basilica of the Golden Virgin 3

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Albert 1

Place of interest

Hotel De La Paix 1

- Distance along route: 6.77 km

- Distance along route: 6.95 km

Figure 4: Hotel De La Paix (Source: Booking.com) The Hotel De La Paix is located in the city centre of Albert, 500 metres from the 1916 Museum and 22 km from Villers-Bretonneux. It offers en suite guest rooms with a TV and free Wi-Fi. Review score: 7.3/10 (206 reviews) Author: More information

Figure 3: Albert (Source: Raymond) Albert was founded as a Roman outpost, in about 54 BC. After being known by various forms of the name of the local river, the Ancre, it was renamed to Albert after it passed to Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes. It was a key location in the Battle of the Somme in World War I, and World War I tourism is important for the town.

During World War I, the statue of Mary and the infant Jesus – designed by sculptor Albert Roze and dubbed the Golden Virgin – on top of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières was hit by a shell on 15 January 1915 and slumped to a nearhorizontal position, where however it remained until further shelling in 1918 destroyed the tower.

The British said that whoever made the statue fall would lose the war, whilst the Germans thought the opposite. A number of legends surrounding the Leaning Virgin developed among German, French, and British soldiers. The Leaning Virgin became an especially familiar image to the thousands of British soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme , many of whom passed through Albert, which was situated three miles from the front lines. As The Golden Virgin it provided Henry Williamson with the title of an autobiographical book.

Battle of Albert 2

- Distance along route: 10.54 km

Figure 5: Battle of Albert (Source: Milgesch)

Author: More information

The Battle of Albert began on 25 September 1914 as part of the Race to the Sea during World War I. It directly followed the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of the Aisne as progress toward advancing the trench lines to the sea continued.

4

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Place of interest

Author: More information

Thiepval Memorial 3

- Distance along route: 17.28 km

Figure 7: Thiepval impressive military stronghold just a network of trenches. On 27 September 1916 Thiepval came into the hands of the British. But losses were enofm. The attack began on the 1st of July 1916.

On that day alone were 60,000 British soldiers, of which 40 000 wounded and captured. The Germans lost one tenth of that number. That first day of the Battle of the Somme is known as the "the blood iest day of the British army." In March 1918 it was again occupied by the German army.

And in August 1918 again by Briste army.

Figure 6: Thiepval Memorial (Source: Ben%C3% AEot) The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,246 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France.

A visitors' centre opened in 2004. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as "the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century."

The Memorial was built approximately 200 metres to the south-east of the former Thiepval Château, which was located on lower ground, by the side of Thiepval Wood. The grounds of the original château were not chosen as this would have required the moving of graves, dug during the war around the numerous medical aid stations.

Author: More information

Battle of Thiepval Ridge 3

- Distance along route: 17.69 km

Author: More information

Thiepval 3

Figure 8: Battle of Thiepval Ridge (Source: Ducksoup)

- Distance along route: 17.69 km

The Battle of Thiepval Ridge was the first large offensive mounted by the Reserve Army , during the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack was intended to benefit from the Fourth Army attack

Thiepval was very strategically located. In World War I got near Thiepval therefore endure very heavy. The frontline exchanged here a few times from side. Soon WOIwerd it occupied by the German army. These formed the setting for an

5

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme in the Battle of Morval, by starting 24 hours afterwards. The battle was fought on a front from Courcelette in the east, near the Albert–Bapaume road to Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt in the west, which overlooked the German defences further north in the Ancre valley, the rising ground towards Beaumont-Hamel and Serre beyond. Thiepval Ridge was well fortified and the German defenders fought with great determination, while the British co-ordination of infantry and artillery declined after the first day, due to the confused nature of the fighting in the mazes of trenches, dugouts and shell-craters.

The final British objectives were not reached until a reorganisation of the Reserve Army and the Battle of the Ancre Heights .

Organisational difficulties and deteriorating weather frustrated General Joseph Joffre's intention to proceed with vigorous co-ordinated attacks by the Anglo-French armies, which became disjointed and declined in effectiveness during late September, at the same time as a revival occurred in the German defence. The British experimented with new techniques in gas warfare, machine-gun bombardment and tank– infantry co-operation, as the German defenders on the Somme front struggled to withstand the preponderance of men and material fielded by the Anglo–French, despite reorganisation and substantial reinforcement of troops, artillery and aircraft from Verdun. September became the month most costly in casualties for the German armies on the Somme.

Place of interest

Figure 9: Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial (Source: Olaf2) and cemeteries contained within the site.

Author: More information

Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt 5

- Distance along route: 24.94 km

Author: More information

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial 4

- Distance along route: 21.93 km

The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I. The 74-acre preserved battlefield park encompasses the grounds over which the Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916 during the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The Battle of the Somme was the regiment's first major engagement, and during an assault that lasted approximately 30 minutes the regiment was all but wiped out. Purchased in 1921 by the people of Newfoundland, the memorial site is the largest battalion memorial on the Western Front, and the largest area of the Somme battlefield that has been preserved. Along with preserved trench lines, there are a number of memorials

Figure 10: Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt (Source: Hohum) Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt was a German front-line fortification, west of the village of Beaumont Hamel on the Somme. The redoubt was built after the end of the Battle of Albert , and as French and later British attacks on the Western Front became more formidable, the Germans added fortifications and trench positions near the original lines around Hawthorn Ridge.

At 7:20 a.m. on 1 July 1916, the British fired a

6

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Place of interest

Author: More information

huge mine beneath the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt.

Sprung ten minutes before zero hour, it was one of 19 Mines on the first day of the Somme and was filmed by Geoffrey Malins. The attack on the redoubt by part of the 29th Division of VIII Corps was a costly failure. The corps commander had ordered the mine to be sprung early, to protect the advancing infantry from falling debris but this also gave the Germans time to occupy the rear lip of the mine crater. When British parties crossed no man's land to occupy the crater, they met German machine-gun and rifle fire. A few British soldiers reached the crater but at noon, a German counter-attack forced them out. The success of the German defence of the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt crater contributed to the failure of the British attack on the rest of the VIII Corps front.

Serre Cemetry 6

- Distance along route: 28.64 km

Author: More information

Beaumont-Hamel 5

- Distance along route: 25.43 km Figure 12: Serre Cemetry Dame Judi Dench came to the Serre Cemetry during the filming of Stephen Frears'' film ''Mrs Henderson Presents''.

Author: More information

Middle Earth of Tolkien 7

- Distance along route: 34.51 km

The location of ''Middle Earth'' of the famous book of J.R.R. Tolkien ''The Lord of the Rings" was inspired on the No-man''s land in this neighbourhood during World War I. Tolkien was sent to the trenches. In June 1916 he was fighting with the Lancashire Fusiliers. He occupied front line trenches in Beaumont-Hamel, Serre, the Leipzig Salient and the area of Thiepval. On 21 October 1916, he helped to capture Regina Trench. Some authorities state that he was struck by psycological problems and sent back to England. There he developed the mythology of ''Middel Earth'' where you will notice many parallels with the World War One horrors of good, bad and distruction.

Figure 11: Beaumont-Hamel On the 1st of July 1916, the big offensive of the Battle of the Somme was started here at 7.20 am. It was the start of a débacle.

Elsewhere, the attack would be launched a few minutes later at 7.30 am. Along the full length of the front, the soldiers advanced on their thousands, but the Germands were prepared and fought back fiercely. 20 000 British soldiers were killed in one day.

Author: More information

7

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Place of interest

Mametz - The Welsh Dragon 9

- Distance along route: 48.5 km

Figure 13: Middle Earth of Tolkien

Courcelette Figure 15: Mametz - The Welsh Dragon 8

- Distance along route: 41.95 km

There is a memorial for the Battle at Mametz Wood that takes the form of a red Welsh Dragon tearing at barbed wire on top of a 3 metre plinth.

Author: More information

Mametz 9

- Distance along route: 50.22 km

Figure 14: Courcelette (Source: Markus3) Courcelette was a major tactical objective in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette during the Somme Oensive of the First World War during which the village was razed. The village was assigned as the major objective of the Canadian Corps during that battle and they succeeded in capturing it.

Accordingly, the actions and sacriďŹ ces of the Canadians are commemorated at the Courcelette Memorial which is just south of the village beside the D929 roadway.

Figure 16: Mametz (Source: File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske)) Mametz is situated on the D64 road, some 32 kilometres northeast of Amiens and 4 miles east of Albert. Fricourt lies to the west, Contalmaison is to the north, Montauban to the north-east and Carnoy and Maricourt are to the south-east.

Mametz Wood is 1,000 yards to the north-west.

Author: More information

8

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Place of interest

monument to the Liverpool and Manchester 'Pals', who, as part of the 30th Division, were the first to reach the village.

Before the First World War, the village was the fifth largest in the area, with about 120 houses and had a station on the line from Albert to Péronne.

In the First World War, the area was the site of intense and sustained fighting between German and Allied forces. Between 1914 and 1916, the Western Front ran through Mametz, and the area was devastated. In 1916, Mametz was the site of particularly heavy fighting during the Battle of the Somme . It was also one of the sites where British mines were exploded on the first day of that battle. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the former inhabitants returned and gradually rebuilt most of the infrastructure as it had been before the war. There is a memorial in the commune to the 38th Division at Mametz Wood.

Author: More information

Bazentin 11

- Distance along route: 56.56 km

Author: More information

Montauban-de-Picardie 10

- Distance along route: 52.94 km

Figure 18: Bazentin On august the 1st, 1744, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck was born in the village Bazentin.

Lamarck was the eleventh child in an impoverished aristocratic family. He became famous with his theory of biological evolution which was later rejected by Charles Darwin.

Author: More information

London Cemetery and Extension 12

Figure 17: Montauban-de-Picardie (Source: APictche)

- Distance along route: 60.71 km

Montauban-de-Picardie is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Its inhabitants are called "Montalbanais".

The village lies on the First World War battlefield of the Somme. Montauban lay close behind the German front-line and was turned into a fortified strongpoint. On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, the village was seized by the British 30th Division in one of the few successful British advances of the day. In the village itself there is a Figure 19: London Cemetery and Extension (Source: Wernervc) 9

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Place of interest

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was taken from here. South of Longueval is the Longueval Road Cemetery. In the centre of the village is the Pipers' Memorial, built to commemorate bagpipers who fought in the First World War. Longueval was chosen because it was retaken by the 9th Division in July 1916. To the east of the village is the South African War Memorial Delville Wood.

The London Cemetery and Extension is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at High Wood near Longueval, France.

It is the third largest of the Somme battlefield cemeteries, containing 3,872 World War I burials.

The cemetery stands directly opposite High Wood as it exists today. This area was the centre of fierce fighting in 1916 and the first interments at what would become the London Cemetery were 47 soldiers of the 47th Division killed in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September.

These soldiers, barely a handful of those who had lost their lives in the attack, were buried in a large shell hole in the days following the battle.

By the time of the Armistice, further burials had taken place, bringing the number of graves to 101.

Author: More information

Delville Wood South African National Memorial 13

- Distance along route: 62.87 km

Author: More information

Longueval 13

- Distance along route: 62.18 km

Figure 21: Delville Wood South African National Memorial (Source: Carcharoth_(Commons)) The Delville Wood South African National Memorial is a World War I memorial, located in Delville Wood, near the commune of Longueval, in the Somme department of France. It is opposite the Delville Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, on the other side of the Longueval–Ginchy road.

Following the war, Delville Wood was purchased by the author and politician Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, and presented to South Africa. This was followed by the standard French policy of repurchasing the land for one franc and granting South Africa the land in perpetuity for memorial purposes. The memorial was funded by public subscription.

Among those involved in organising the memorial was General Henry Lukin, who was appointed Deputy Chair of the Delville Wood Memorial Committee in July 1921.

Figure 20: Longueval (Source: Keith-264) Longueval is located 38 km northwest of Amiens on the D919 road, at the junction with the D8.

Longueval is found in the north-east of the département, almost equidistant to the surrounding towns of Péronne , Albert and Bapaume .

A cemetery in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has 214 New Zealand graves from the Battle of the Somme among the over 5000 graves, of which 3800 were unidentified. There is a Memorial to the Missing from New Zealand, recording the names of 1272 men lost in 1916 . The body for the New Zealand

Author: More information

10

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Combles was the operations centre for the battle of Bapaume during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.

Combles was again at the centre of much fighting during World War I , with many of its buildings damaged and many of its residents injured or killed, not to mention the numerous casualties among the forces in combat there.

Many British soldiers who fell in the war are buried in the local cemetery, and there are numerous war cemeteries in the immediate surrounding area.

Ginchy 14

Place of interest

- Distance along route: 67.96 km

Author: More information

Le Prieuré 16

- Distance along route: 75.05 km

Figure 22: Ginchy (Source: APictche) Ginchy is situated on the D20 road, some 45 km northeast of Amiens. The graphic below shows the community in relation to nearby places.

Ginchy has a small park devoted to the memory of Captain Charles François, "Dromedary of Egypt" , who husbanded the camels during Napoleon's French campaign in Egypt and Syria.

Author: More information

Figure 24: Le Prieuré (Source: Booking.com) Located in a region renowned for its life style and gastronomy, Hotel Le Prieuré offers a warm and friendly welcome in a unique setting combining modern and classic styles. Le Prieuré features comfortable rooms of various sizes.

Review score: 7.3/10 (126 reviews)

Combles 15

- Distance along route: 71.93 km

Author: More information

Mont Saint-Quentin 17

- Distance along route: 81.37 km

Mont Saint-Quentin overlooks the Somme River in the region of Picardie approximately 1.5 km north of the town of Péronne, Somme, France.

The hill is about 100 metres high but as it is situated in a bend of the river it dominates the whole position and is of strategic significance.

During World War I, it was a key to the German

Figure 23: Combles (Source: Markus3)

11

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Figure 25: Mont Saint-Quentin (Source: Jarekt)

Figure 26: Historial de la Grande Guerre (Source: Markus3)

defence of the Somme line and was the last German stronghold. Its location made it an ideal observation point, and strategically, the hill's defences guarded the north and western approaches to the town of Péronne. It was the site of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin from 31 August to 2 September 1918.

The Australian Second Division has a war memorial on the road from Bapaume to Péronne.

It is the only one of the five Australian division memorials initiated by members of the division. It has been unveiled by Marshal Ferdinand Foch on the 30th of August 1925.

Historial de la Grande Guerre 18

- Distance along route: 84.75 km

Figure 27: Historial de la Grande Guerre Historial de la Grande Guerre or The Museum of the Great War is thé museum to see about the Great War in this area. It strives to place war in a social context, stressing "the common suffering of the combatants" and "the civilians, who were equally mobilised by the war effort". There are three different points of view presented: the view of France, Germany and Great Britain.

Here you can also see the etchings of the German Expressionist Otto Dix.

Author: More information

Historial de la Grande Guerre 18

Place of interest

- Distance along route: 84.72 km

The Museum of the Great War (French: Historial de la Grande Guerre) is in Péronne, France, near the heart of the World War I Somme battlefields.

The museum looks mostly at the Great War, and the years just before and just after. It strives to place war in a social context, stressing "the common suffering of the combatants" and "the civilians, who were equally mobilised by the war effort".

Author: More information

Cappy Trainstation (historical) 19

Author: More information

- Distance along route: 102.55 km

During the First Wordl War, there was a railway line from Froissy to Cappy, to bring supplies to the battle fields. A volontueer organisation maintains these lines now, and yo can still take that ride on a steam train.

12

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Place of interest

Figure 28: Cappy Trainstation (historical) Figure 30: Austrialian Memorial

Author: More information

Every year, the Australian National day, ANZAC Day, is celebrated on the Saturyday nearest to 25 April.

Vaux-sur-Somme

Author: More information 20

- Distance along route: 118.32 km

Figure 29: Vaux-sur-Somme (Source: APictche) Vaux-sur-Somme is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It is notable as the place where famous ying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron during World War I, was shot down and killed.

Author: More information

Austrialian Memorial 21

- Distance along route: 125.31 km

On April 5, 1918, the Australians halted the German army at Villers-Bretonneux.

13

RouteYou route guide: World War I tour - the Battle of the Somme

Links

Find the route on RouteYou:

RouteYou Website

RouteYou Mobile

14