Combining real illustrations of modern history, with citizenship & English Literature areass, this is a moving, yet powerful inclusion to any French School Trip to this area of Normandy. The Battle of the Somme affected a broad area of Northern France, from Beaumont-Hamel in the north to Chilly, south of Chaulnes. Lasting four and a half months this famous battle involved almost 3 million men; of those fighting, some 1,200,000 were killed, wounded or missing in action.
Our tour of the WWI battlefields begins at the Museum Des Abris Albert. Students can see a good collection of WWI memorabilia, and engage in the real life experiences of the fighting soldiers.
Created on July 16, 1916, by t he explosion of 60,000lbs of guncotton, Lochnager Crater is the largest on the Western Front. Students can experience the vastness of this crater, which heralded the start of the Battle of the Somme.
Students can get a feel for how perilous life was like for the soldiers as they explore preserved trench lines from the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel. This 84-acre park also contains a visitor centre, and no end of cemeteries and memorials, including the many Caribou Memorials, founded to remember soldiers from Newfoundland, in Canada.
The Thiepval Memorial remains the largest British war memorial in the world. Built in 1932, it honours the 73,357 British and South African men who have no known grave and who fell on the Somme between July 1916 and 20 March 1918.
Battlefields of the Somme - Official Website
Musee des Abris Albert
First World War Information Site
