THE GUIDE REMEMBRANCE 2023
Musée du Fort de la Pompelle Puisieulx, Marne
The Musée de la Grande Guerre on the site of the Battle of the Marne
the fighting during the First World War, with the Western Front running close to the country’s borders with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A century on, there are no survivors left to tell the tale, but the cemeteries, museums and memorials remain as poignant as ever.
Cemetery tours Arras, Pas-de-Calais Designed especially for Australians, Sacred Ground Tours, based in the town of Arras, offers tours around the First World War sites of northern France to the areas where Australian soldiers made their most notable wartime contributions.
www.sacredgroundtours.com.au
The Sir John Monash Centre Fouilloy, Somme
Through a series of interactive media installations, this museum, in the grounds of the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, tells the story of the huge sacrifice made by Australian servicemen on the Western Front – all in the words of those who served.
sjmc.gov.au
Musée de la Grande Guerre Meaux, Seine-et-Marne It claims to be Europe’s largest museum dedicated to the First World War. Built on the site of the first Battle of the Marne, the 3,000m2 building houses 70,000 or so
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items and documents pertaining to everyday military life. Many of the exhibits once belonged to passionate historian Jean- Pierre Verney, who spent much of his life gathering them together, before selling his collection to the museum. The venue is closed between August 15 and September 1.
www.museedelagrandeguerre. com
Historial de la Grande Guerre Péronne and Thiepval, Somme Two sister museums comprise this visitor attraction split between the Somme towns of Péronne and Thiepval. The former, which you enter through a 13th-century castle, explores the “full cultural, social and military scale” of the Great War. The latter, close to the imposing Thiepval Memorial, is dedicated to the fighting of the Somme, especially the Somme Campaign of 1916.
www.historial.fr/en
Le Centre d’Interprétation Vignacourt 14-18 Vignacourt, Somme During the First World War, keen photographers Louis and Antoinette Thuillier took more than 4,000 glass plate photographs of soldiers and civilians, all of which gathered dust in the farm attic for almost a century before being discovered and put on display at this museum.
www.vignacourt1418.com
Constructed in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, Fort de la Pompelle was of vital importance to the defence of Reims in the First World War and came under heavy bombardment from the German offensive of 1914. In the 1950s, it was converted into a museum. Displaying artillery equipment and troops’ living quarters, the museum’s chief attraction is its impressive collection of 560 helmets and caps worn by the various regiments of the German Imperial Army.
musees-reims.fr/fr/musees/ musee-du-fort-de-la-pompelle
Memorial de Verdun Verdun, Meuse
Located in the hills around Verdun, still pockmarked from the millions of shells which killed more than 300,000 soldiers here, the Verdun Memorial Museum retraces the history of the most famous French battle in the First World War through its displays of weaponry, medical equipment, photographs and recreated trenches.
memorial-verdun.fr
Citadelle Souterraine Verdun Verdun, Meuse
Augmented reality headsets really bring this visitor attraction to life in the underground galleries of the town’s citadel where, on foot and aboard battery-powered
carriages, you can find out what life was like for French soldiers during World War I.
www.citadelle-souterraine-
verdun.fr
Musée de la Bataille de Fromelles Fromelles, Nord
Inaugurated in 2014, this museum honours the 250 or so British and Australian soldiers who were buried in a mass grave near Fromelles, in the Nord department. The building, designed by architect David Serero, is inspired by the German military blockhouses dotted along the local beaches. To celebrate this year’s Rugby World Cup, which is being held in France, there’s a temporary exhibition (until the end of January) called ‘Au Coup de Sifflet!’ (‘Blow the Whistle!’), dedicated to the history of rugby during the First World War.
www.musee-bataille-fromelles. fr/le-musee
Musée Jean et Denise Letaille Bullecourt 1917 Bullecourt, Pas-de-Calais Jean and Denise Letaille spent a lifetime collecting various military objects from the fields around Bullecourt. The resulting museum – in the couple’s former barn – presents the very personal stories behind the two Battles of Arras, one from World War I, the other from World War II.
www.arraspaysdartois.com/en/ remembrance/visit-bullecourt- 1917-museum
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The Sir John Monash Centre in Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery
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