ADVERTORIAL ❘ SOMME BATTLEFIELDS 1


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1. Underground graffi ti on display at the Cité Souterraine in Naours 2. Thiepval’s museum 3. The impressive Thiepval memorial 4. A remarkable photography exhibition at Vignacourt


THE BLOODIEST BATTLE MEMORY AND REMEMBRANCE IN THE SOMME


What to visit and how to pay your respects to soldiers from around the world who fought and died in the Great War’s epic and brutal Somme Offensive of 1916


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he Battle of the Somme, which took place from July 1 to November 18, 1916, saw 141 days of devastating combat that pitched three million soldiers against each other along a 45-kilometre front in northern France. On the fi rst day alone – the bloodiest in the army’s history – the British suffered more than 57,000 casualties, lost or injured going ‘over the top’ and mown down by German machine gun and rifl e fi re. The losses – those killed, wounded, missing or taken prisoner – from the Battle of the Somme are estimated at 1,200,000 men across all sides.


REMEMBRANCE SITES The Remembrance Trail links two of the symbolic towns of the Great War, Albert and Péronne, and as well as the physical scars visible along its length – trenches, mine craters, wiped-out vegetation and obliterated villages – visitors paying respects to the scale of human sacrifi ce can head to an array of memorials and cemeteries


138 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Apr/May 2019


which keep memories of the lost alive. There have been many innovations in recent years to enhance the visitor experience to the Somme battlegrounds.


The new Historial inside the visitor centre at Thiepval Museum (opened in 2016) interweaves British, German and French accounts of war in the Somme, while the Franco-Australian museum at Villers- Bretonneux is themed not only on the story of an international friendship that developed through war and hardship, but also on remembrance and hope for the future. Also at Villers-Bretonneux is the Sir John Monash Centre, opened in April 2018 to tell the story of Australian troops on the Western Front. At Vignacourt, which was used as a logistics hub by Allied forces during the Great War, the new interpretation centre enables you to discover the extraordinary collection of images taken by amateur photographers Louis and Antoinette Thuillier. They photographed thousands of soldiers in and around their


village. Late in 2018, two major ‘peace gardens’ opened at Thiepval and Péronne. Designed by artists representing countries involved in the confl ict, they provide serene new places of refl ection and contemplation.


UNDERGROUND HISTORY Upcoming remembrance highlights in the region include the opening of a travelling soldiers museum in Naours’s Cité Souterraine. Scheduled to launch in November 2019, this is one of the largest tunnels in the north of France and features the highest


concentration of World War One ‘graffi ti’ inscriptions ever found.


There is so much to explore in the Somme


battlefi elds of the Western


Front, so plan your trip and stay informed about ceremonies, exhibitions and guided tours by visiting:


www.somme-battlefi elds.com ■


IMAGES © SOMME TOURISME; A CARRIER


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