Western Front Battlefield Tours

Examples of a Tailor- Made Tours

If you have a personal reason for visiting the battlefields and prefer the company of your own group, then our Tailor-Made tours are absolutely ideal! Regardless of how much research or prior knowledge you have, we will help in tailoring an itinerary to match your groups requirements. The following examples demonstrate our flexible approach.

2009

In February 2009 we were contacted by Jim Anderson from Caversham, Berkshire. His battlefield tour enquiry specified a 3 day tour for himself, his wife, his two sisters and their husbands; to follow in the footsteps of their grandfather, the late Private Patrick Clark of the 2/Royal Irish Rifles.

Like many amateur family historians, Jim had already researched as much as he could in to the service of Private Clark and was able to detail specific locations they wished to visit during the battlefield tour, including the battlefields where they believed Private Clark had been killed - Neuve Chapelle. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Commonwealth War memorial at Le Touret.

We don't expect all customers to be as specific or knowledegable as Jim and therefore before we can produce an outline itinerary, further dialog is generally required. Meanwhile we start to research the war service of any soldiers details supplied, regardless of how much information is known by the customer. Using this basic information, we formulate the outline itinerary: length of tour, battlefield locations, memorials and accomodation location(s). Jim had already specified the length of tour (3 days) and that his party would like to attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. Therefore, we decided to use Ypres as "billets" for the two nights.

Jim and his sisters' pay respects to their grandfather. A vital part of planning an itinerary is to be able to tell a soldiers story and place it into context. Day one had followed the route of Private Clark's battalion to the battlefields of Neuve Chapelle. Day two was spent on the battlefields, culminating in a visit to Private Clark's memorial at Le Touret (above). The tour concluded on day three with a tour around the Ypres Salient.

The day to day outline itinerary for the proposed tour is then sent, together with travel arrangements (door to door), channel crossing preference (Euro Tunnel as standard), accomodation and the cost. Once the deposit is received we get to work putting the detail into the itinerary. This invariarably means a visit to the National Archives, Kew. Its not until the archives of diaries, maps and other war office documents - not available on line - are accessed, can the customer tour pack be compiled.

Click on the image to open.

This is an example of our research

2008

In September we organised a Tailor-Made tour for a party of five, predominantly from Vancouver, Canada. Initial contact was made in November 2007, when Erica explained what they wanted to do. The family wanted to commission a short film of her fathers life for her mothers 80th birthday. Erica's mother, Denise, accompanied the tour. Cliff Capriani, a self employed film maker and family friend had agreed to do the filming and was accompanied by his wife.

Although the film would include footage from Essex, Scotland and Malta, it was her fathers exploits on the Western Front in France and Belgium that we would be required to develop a tailor-Made battlefield tour:

Albert James Butt had enlisted in to the Seaforth Highlanders as a boy soldier during 1912. Too young for active service on the outbreak of war he was retained as a Reservist until July 1916, when at the age of 19 he embarked for France with the 7th battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, 9th (Scottish) Division. Albert "went over the top" in October 1916 during the Battle of Transloy Ridge, where he was wounded and spent several months convelesing from shell shock.

On his return to active service he was drafted to the 2nd battalion, Seaforth Highlanders in the wake of their dreadful losses during the Battle of Arras, in April 1917. In October 1917 during the 3rd Battle of Ypres, Albert suffered gun shot wounds to the legs as his battalion attacked Hill 19 during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge. He recalled that he lay out in No Man's Land until the following day when he was brought in by stretcher bearers.

A further period in hospital followed before he returned for a third time to his third battalion of the war! He was drafted in to the 2nd Essex Regiment, where he remained until after the Great War when the regiment embarked for a tour of duty to maltain 1919.

Later Albert served in India, with the Royal Fusiliers as a career bandsman. His family feel that his time spent in the trenches certainly exacerbated his chronic ill health from which he continually suffered from, leading to his discharge from the army and his death shortly afterwards.

The itinerary was very methodically worked through to enable Albert's story to be told chronologically. Additionally, the party wanted to visit the grave of another family member who had died in the Great War and now, as Canadian citizens, wanted to visit the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge. The itinerary agreed upon could be achieved with a 4 day 3 night tour utilising two hotel locations; two night's in Arras to cover our itinerary around Arras, the Somme and the 1918 battlefields and one night in Ypres to cover the 3rd Battle of Ypres.

Although the family had copies of Albert's service records, detailed research including two days at the National Archives at Kew followed. Together with his service records, war diary entries, battle orders and trench maps, Albert's story during the Great War was penned and would form the backbone of the tour.

Although customers may have a sound knowledge of their own research and subject matter, we never assume that they are grounded on all aspects of the Great War and prepare our itineraries, commentary and tour handouts accordingly

Arrangements for door to door pick up from Frinton on Sea and Mersea, Essex was agreed, Euro Tunnel was the preferred method for the channel crossing. The itinerary on day one concentrated on the Canadian actions around Vimy Ridge and also the back areas where Albert's battalion had served before it returned to the Somme in October 1916. The second day concentrated on the battlefields of the Somme and later in the afternoon we headed towards the Canal Du Nord and the battlefields of 1918.On the morning of day three we headed north to Belgium where we spent a day around the battlefields of the Salient. At 8.00 pm we attended the Last Post Ceremony under the Menin Gate. Our last day concentrated on the actions of Albert's battalion during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge.

tm example

Top left; the group at the Canadian memorial, Vancouver Corner, Ypres. It commemorates the sacrifice of over 2,000 officers and men of the Canadian 1st Division who fell during the German gas attacks in April 1915 and the Canadians subsequent counter attacks. Only a handful of these men have a known grave; the majority are commemorated on the Menin Gate.
Middle; Cliff adjusts his camera for a scene at Adanac cemetery on the Somme. Adanac spelt backwards is Canada!
Bottom; The Seaforth's memorial at Fampoux, Arras. On the 11th April 1917 The 2nd battalion was ordered to assemble in the "sunken lane", which was not as "sunken" as had been believed.
A veteren officer wrote in 1981 ; “Right from the start it was a dreadful affair. A fine battalion totally destroyed. It was a total disgrace that the powers that be could order such an attack in full daylight and against such defences”

2007


	The Last Post buglers at the Menin Gate

We were contacted in July 2007 by an Australian couple living in London who wanted to organise a battlefield tour for themselves and their parents. They were flying to London as part of a European tour, and so the first requirement was to be able to fit a battlefield tour around their other tour arrangements. This neccessitated a December tour; not everybody's choice, but our tour calendar is available twelve months a year! Pick up was organised from Kathryn's home address in London with a drop off in Paris at the end of the tour, to enable their parents to rendezvous with their next tour, before returning Kathryn and Patrick back to London.

Once the dates had been confirmed we worked out an itinerary based on information supplied by Bob and Helen (the parents). Bobs father (Sargeant Arthur John Allen, 26th battalion) survived the Great War, but Helen's Uncle (Sergeant Boyd Ellem, 41st battalion) was killed in action. The itinerary would feature the battlefields where they fought, their Divisional memorials and the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneaux. Once an outline itinerary had been produced, we could then advise on the length of the tour to fulfill the itinerary.

Because Bob and Helen were going to be doing a lot of travelling over the next few weeks, we chose one central hotel location in Arras. From here we would be able travel up to Ypres and down to the Somme. We do not have a standing agreement with any hotel as we only book our accommodation once the itinerary has been agreed. Again this allows much greater flexibility; sometimes we would utilise two hotels on a 4 day 3 nights tour.


The Villers Brettonneux school which houses a superb museum

Although we visit most of the popular Australian sites on a regular basis, Tailor-Made tours dictate additional visits. Most notably these are the lesser visited battlefields; the Australian advance of August/September 1918 for example covers all the lower country of the Somme Department, towards and beyond St. Quentin. Such a tour necessitates a great deal of research. The final itinerary is not finalised until we have completed our research. It is this research which is the cornerstone of our Tailor-Made Tours and what sets us apart from most other battlefield tours.


Our research indicated that Bobs father was wounded during the Battle of Bullecourt. The cemetery at Vraucourt was made from the concentration of graves from the local dressing stations established close by.		Part of the casualty form of Sergeant Arthur Allen showing his entry to "5 A.F. Amb.". The Brigade war diary gave the trench map co-ordinates which allowed us to plot its location close to the present day Vraucourt cemetery. An advantage of researching Australian servicemen is the comprehensive availability free of on-line records.

The following examples give further information on Tailor-Made itineraries:-

2006

This was our last tour of 2006; a 4 day 3 night tailor made battlefield tour following in the footsteps of the 24th Manchester's; the pioneer battalion for the 7th Division. Our customers were keen family historians who had researched their Grandfather, Private Walter Baker, who was killed in action at Polygon Wood in September 1917, during the 3rd Battle of Ypres. They wanted a tour which involved visiting the battlefields where he served and a visit to his grave. We suggested a tailor made tour which would enable the family to visit the places they had read about during their research and with our expertise be able to put the story of the 24th Manchesters and their Grandfathers exploits into the context of the Great War. As this was their first visit to the battlefields of the Great War (and perhaps their only visit) we included visits to some of the most memorable sites, memorials, cemeteries and museums on the Western Front.

The left hand image shows the Sanderson family close to the spot where Lt. Col. James Chadwick the commanding officer of the battalion was killed. The 24th Manchesters were responsible for digging communication trenches towards Bullecourt, enabling the captured village to be re supplied.He was hit by German shellfire whilst reconnoitring Bullecourt trench on the 4th May 1917, during the Battle of Bullecourt.
The centre image is Point 110 Old Military Cemetery, Fricourt. The 24th Manchesters arrived in this area during the early days of February 1916. On the 6th February several of the Manchesters were killed when they were hit by German shell fire close to Maple Redoubt. These were the first fatalities of the battalion. In May 1916 the 24th Manchester's converted to a Pioneer battalion and would remain around this sector in support of the 7th Infantry Division.
The right hand image shows Mr. & Mrs. Sanderson at the grave of Private Walter Baker. He was killed by German shell fire on the 30th September 1917 whilst C Company laid mule tracks through Polygon Wood. He is buried in Hooge Crater Cemetery.

2005

We were contacted from Australia by the Myers family; they were coming to England for nine weeks and wanted a short tour of the Great War battlefields to see where the Anzac's fought. In addition Mr. Myers Grandfather had been killed during the Battle of Loos in 1915 and was eager to find out more about where he was commemorated. Several options were discussed (via email) and eventually a 3 day 2 nights tour was organised; as these were exceptional circumstances, the Myers family were happy with early starts and late finnishes, to enable them to see as much as possible.

Day one

The party was collected from their accommodation in Worthing and after a mid morning Euro Tunnel crossing we arrived at the Hooge Crater museum for lunch and a tour of the museum. Next stop was the Messines ridge and commontary on the Battle of Messines with particular emphasis on the Anzac force. We then carried on the 1917 theme with a walk through Polygon Wood; captured by the Australians in September 1917 as part of the Battle of third Ypres. We paid our respects at the Buttes new military cemetery and the memorial to the Australian 4th Division; both situated within Polygon Wood. The story of 1917 continued with a visit to Tyne Cot cemetery where the Australians paid such a heavy price, in their capture of this part of the Passchendaele Ridge. Our final visit of the day was to the Menin Gate in Ypres and the ever moving Last Post ceremony.

Day two

Our overnight accommodation was in Ypres and after breakfast we headed into France and the battlefields around Fromelles. It was here that the Australians would witness their first action on the Western Front, when in July 1916 they attacked the german strongpoint known as the Sugarloaf. After gaining their objectives the unsupported Australian 5th Division were required to withdraw. The Australians suffered 5,500 casualties; their heavy sacrifice is evident in the many cemeteries in this area and no more so than at V.C corner cemetery; the only completely Australian cemetery on the Western Front. We also visited the Australian memorial park at Fromelles, situated on a former German strongpoint. There is a magnificant statue here named "Cobbers", unveiled in 1998.

We then drove to the battlefields of Loos, where Mr. Myers Grandfather fought. We followed the exploits of the 8/Berkshires with the use of trench maps and war diaries. Sgt. John Snellin was killed in action on the 25th September 1915 and is commemorated on the Loos memorial within the walls of Dud Corner cemetery in Loos; our last visit of the day.

Day three

Our overnight accommodation was in the town of Arras. After breakfast we headed for the Somme battlefield and the hamlet of Pozieres. Nowhere in the world have Australians sacrificed more men than they did in this area during July and August 1916. We spent a fair ammount of time in Pozieres, to enable the Myers party plenty of opportunity to really understand what took place here in 1916. Trench maps and war diaries were used to support the visit to Pozieres. After lunch we visited the memorial to the missing at Thiepval and the new visitors centre; ideal for those people visiting the battlefields without a guide! Our journey home took us via the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. Here inscribed on the walls at the rear of the cemetery are the names of over 10,000 officers and men of the Australian Imperial Force who were killed in France (mostly around the Somme area) who have no known grave.

Our tour over, we headed back to Calais and arrived back in Worthing around 9.00pm. The Myers expressed their gratitude for "a wonderful and thought provoking tour". Mrs. Myers added; "I feel as thought we have been on holiday with good friends"!

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 January 2010 )