THREE DAY TOUR
The Somme, Bullecourt, Fromelles and Flanders and Hindenburg Line St.Quentin Canal
This 3 day tour allows you to visit all the Australian battlefields on the Western Front
Daily tour from your hotel in Saint-Quentin. up to 7 people
Starting at 9.00am and finishing at around 6.00pm
Day 1
Leaving from Amiens or Saint-Quentin, we'll first visit Villers-Bretonneux and surroundings. In Adelaïde cemetery, we'll see the former Grave of the Australian Unknown Soldier. Then, we'll visit Victoria school, the Franco-Australian Museum and we'll reach the National Australian Memorial, where are engraved 11,000 names of soldiers who died in France and whose graves have never been found.
Afterwards, we'll drive to the battlefields of the Somme of 1916, through Le Hamel, where the victorious attack launched by General Monash took place in July 1918.
After visiting the Lochnagar Crater, left by a tremendous mine explosion on 1 July 1916, we'll have a lunch break (snack, restaurant or picnic)
We'll continue the visit with the bloodiest Australian struggle on the Western Front, in the village of Pozières, where remain vestiges of Gibraltar bunker, the First Australian Division Memorial, the Windmill and the Tanks Corp Memorials.
We’ll then head towards Thiepval to visit the memorial erected to remember the some 71,200 British and 800 South African soldiers who died during the Battle of the Somme with unknown grave. We will make a stop at Mouquet farm (Moo-Cow farm), another terrible place of the Pozières battle.
To understand the Trench war, we’ll also visit the Newfoundland Park in Beaumont Hamel and especially it's well preserved trench system; we will then continue the tour in Péronne. The 2nd Australian Division Memorial in Mount St.Quentin recalls a great victory.
The visit should end either at your hotel or at the railway station in Amiens or in Saint-Quentin (for other town, please contact us).
Day
2Your guide Olivier will pick you up at your hotel at 9.30am and drive you to the Australian battlefields in Northern France.
Your first step is the Bullecourt battlefield where Australian troops suffered the loss of 10,000 soldiers in April and May 1917 (battle of Arras). We'll drive to the place where Albert Jacka VC captured one German officer and one German soldier during a night reece prior to the attack. For your information, the Digger Memorial was erected on the former German first line and the Slouch Hat Memorial in the village.
This will then us take through Vimy Ridge to see the impressive Canadian Monument, the battlefield of Fromelles, theater of a deadly diversion attack on 19 July 1916. The official casualties of the fifth Australian Division were 5,533.
Afterwhich we'll visit the Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, built by the CWGC to rest 250 soldiers whose bodies were found in mass graves at Pheasant Wood. We will also stop at the Cobbers Memorial and at the VC Corner Memorial (where the names of the missing soldiers of Fromelles are recorded) to learn about the battle.
Lastly, we'll reach the Ypres Salient through Armentières and Ploegsteert wood (Plugstreet wood) in order to visit the places where the Australians fought the third battle of Ypres :
Messines Ridge (Isle of Ireland Peace Park, New Zealand Memorial, Bastian plaque in the village), Hill 60, Polygon Wood (5th Australian Division Memorial), Tyne Cot Cemetery (battle of Passchendaele) and the Menin Gate Memorial in the town of Ypres.
Following a short break downtown, we will head back to St-Quentin.
Day 3
On the third day, we will visit the locations where the Australian commitment on the Western Front came to an end. We'll go to the Hindenburg Line along the St-Quentin canal and Montbrehain, theater of the last battle of the Australian infantery during WWI.
Olivier will pick you up at your hotel and will take you to the German military cemetery in Saint-Quentin. This cemetery was inaugurated in November 1915 by the kaiser Wilhelm II himself. We'll then drive to the 4th Australian Division Memorial, located on the outpost line of the Hindenburg Line captured by the Division in mid September 1918.
We'll then move to the Riqueval bridge over the canal which was the main artery of supply for the German troops on the western side of the canal. There remains concrete vestiges of the German defence system and the entrance of the famous tunnel fortress of Riqueval, captured on 29 September 1918 both by Australians and Americans troops.
Visiting the Bellicourt British Cemetery (1,204 burials) and the Somme American Cemetery, where some 1,844 men and women rest in peace, allows us to understand better the joint Australian and American efforts.
On our way back to St-Quentin for lunch, we will stop at the US Memorial of Bellicourt on main road N44.
After lunch, we will complete the visit in Joncourt village and surrounding attacked by British troops and the Second Australian Division on 3rd october 1918. We'll finally visit Montbrehain, last battle and last Australian Victoria Cross of the Great War. In the village, we will stop at the Calvaire Cemetery to pay our respect to the last Australian soldiers who died in action in WWI.
At the end of the visit, Olivier will take you back to your hotel or to the railway station.
Option : if required, an extra visit of St-Quentin Gothic inheritage, especially the 16th century townhall and Gothic Basilica, as well as its Art Deco facades, may be provided
This itinerary is subject to change depending on request. Specific sites, Memorial or grave visit can be arranged.
This tour includes :
- Pick up to your hotel
- Drop off to train station or hotel
- Museum entrance fees (Villers-Bretonneux, except on Sunday)
- Transportation in a very comfortable air-conditionned Citroën minibus
- Guide services
- Guide lunches
Please, contact us for availability, cost and further information
