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Itinerary
Day 1 Arras Fromelles VC Corner Messines Hill 60 Tyne Cot Arras
Pick up from Arras Train Station at 9:00am.
On this first day, you will travel to the Flanders Battlefields.
You will visit the new Fromelles Cemetery, where the British and Australian dead from the mass grave at Pheasant Wood were re buried. Visit the Museum of the Battle of Fromelles, then you move on to the battlefield itself and see the Australian Memorial Park with its famous ‘Cobbers’ statue, situated on the German Front line, with the "sugar loaf" in view, the strong point in the German line where the Australian and British Divisions met.
See the Memorial to the Missing at VC Corner, where 410 sets of remains were gathered from the Battlefield in 1918 and buried in two mass graves.
After lunch (not included) you head off to the Belgian battlefields, passing through Ploegsteert Wood and see the Missing from Fromelles and nearby battlefields commemorated on the British Memorial, the Chums Cross, site of one of the 1914 Christmas Truces, Messines Ridge and the offensive of the 7th June 1917, Hill 60, the scene of bitter fighting throughout the war and its famous craters.
Then you move across to the attacks around Polygon Wood, where you will see one of the remaining bunkers in the woods. From here we follow the third battle of Ypres to Zonnebeke and Passchendaele. Visit the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world and the Memorial which bears the names of nearly 35,000 men of the British and New Zealand forces who died after August 1917 and have no named grave. Followed by Langemark German Cemetery, one of four German cemeteries in Flanders, it lists 3000 names of German students killed during the first Battle of Ypres, as well as a mass grave containing the thousands of unidentified remains found in the years after the War.
On arrival in Ypres, you'll have a chance to enjoy a meal in the Ypres Market Square (not included) before attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8.00pm. You'll return to Arras at approximately 10.00pm.
Overnight in Arras at Mercure Arras Centre Gare in a standard room
Note: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has started a 2 year restoration project of the Menin Gate. The Menin Gate Memorial will not be fully accessible to visitors during renovations. Scaffolding will cover the Memorial and the name panels entirely. The scaffold covering features one of the original pencil sketches of the Menin Gate by Sir Reginald Blomfield. The drawing is believed to date to 1921.
The daily Last Post service at 8pm will still take place but its location will be moved to an alternative location near the Menin Gate, usually on the bridge in front of the Menin Gate.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Information Centre is in the centre of town, just a stone’s throw from the iconic Menin Gate. You can drop in and visit the friendly team who can help you find out more about CWGC’s local sites, undertake research on the CWGC database or answer questions you may have about their work. It is open until 9pm. It is here that you can also take advantage of a digital search application if you are looking for a particular section of the name panels on the Menin Gate.
Day 2 Arras Australian National Memorial Villers-Bretonneux Pozieres Arras
Pick up from the Arras Train Station at 9:00am and travel to the Australian National Memorial near Villers-Bretonneux. Explore the Sir John Monash Centre and the Australian National Memorial to the Missing.
Continuing with the 1918 Battles around Amiens, visiting Villers Bretonneux where you will see the Victoria School and hear the story of Australia’s Unknown Warrior, exhumed from Adelaide Cemetery. You will see Le Hamel where the Americans fought alongside the Australians under the command of Gen Sir John Monash and drive past the Crash site of the Red Baron and the Australian 3rd Division Memorial before stopping in Albert for lunch (not included).
After lunch you will discover underground warfare and see the awe inspiring Lochnagar mine crater at La Boiselle.
Follow the footsteps of the Diggers into the line on Pozieres Ridge and stopping at Casualty Corner, many soldiers wounded at Pozieres Ridge passed through this triage point. See Pozieres Ridge and the Gibraltar Blockhouse and Australian 1st Division Memorial, The Windmill Australian Memorial and the Tank Corps Memorial and Mouquet "Moo-Cow" Farm.
At Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park, you can see preserved trenches and discuss tactics, aims, objectives and the outcome of the 1st July 1916.
Drop off in Arras at 6pm.
Overnight in Arras at Mercure Arras Centre Gare in a standard room
Day 3 Arras Vimy Ridge Wellington Quarries Bullecourt Arras
Depart from the Arras Train Station at 9.00am and travel towards Vimy Ridge. The preserved battlefield, the trenches and craters of the landscape bear witness to the ferocity of WW1. See St Vaast German Cemetery, the largest WW1 German cemetery outside Germany with over 44,000 burials. Visit the Carrier Wellington (Wellington Quarries), now a musuem in Arras, which was part of a network of tunnels used by forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth.
A break for lunch (not included) and a chance to explore the Medieval squares in Arras.
After lunch visit the new Commonwealth War Graves Commission Experience (open weekdays only) where you will learn about this amazing organisation responsibile for maintaining Commonwealth War Grave cemeteries and memorials around the world.
Then follow the 1917 Hindenburg Line to Bullecourt, the furthest end, and learn about the first and second battles of Bullecourt and ‘Outpost Villages’, see the ‘Digger’ and the Cross Memorials. Finally the Bullecourt Museum, the village Mayor's private collection.
Drop off in Arras at 5.30pm where this tour will end.
