At first we were not sure we would fly, as the weather wasn’t perfect. However our French pilot decided to go ahead. He was a great pilot, and despite the low cloud we flew smoothly and relatively low over the French countryside seeing many of the World War One villages and sites from the air. There was some sites obstructed from cloud, but generally we saw enough to be pleased. You could easily imagine the early pilots enjoying a similar view except they would be scanning sky for the “Hun out of the sun”.
Our wonderful hosts, John and Jenny (from the Silent Picket B&B) then took us on our tour of the Somme battlefields focusing on the famous and important sites (including many Australian sites.)
We saw a German cemetery at Fricourt where the dead are surrounded by a hedge and have black crosses. This was a somewhat harsh requirement of the Versailles peace treaty. As time has past, people have forgiven and the hedge once obstructing view of the cemetery has reduced down to waist height.
We saw the Lochnagar Crater (https://lochnagarcrater.org/) where the British exploded tons of explosives under a German strong point before the Battle of the Somme (1916). The explosion was of colossal size and destroyed the targeted German structures and trenches completely, however overall it was a failure as the Battle of Somme (https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-the-somme) was not as successful as planned. On the first day of the battle of the Somme, is often called “the darkest day of British military history”.
We also visited the 1st Australian Division Memorial (Pozieres). At the memorial, we saw the Pozieres battlefields and memorials including the German strong point - “ Gibraltar“ and the Windmill. The Pozieres battle cost many Australian lives in taking the village.
Being local experts, Jenny and John showed us the respective front lines and the path of battle. Depending on which history you read, about 14000 men on both sides lost their lives fighting for high ground of the windmill just outside Pozieres.
The overall battle was intense:
After getting to see the windmill memorial , animal memorial and the trench outlines ((OG 1 & 2) we headed back to “Tommies” a cafe for lunch.
After lunch, our hosts showed us a variety of battlefields that linked together across the Somme. It was very educational but also moving. The memorials at each site are unique and be always respectful.
One of sites was Newfoundland Park Memorial (http://www.greatwar.co.uk/somme/memorial-newfoundland-park.htm), a Somme battlefield were two battles were fought in July and November 1916. It is a very moving site as the ground still shows the scars (shell holes and trenches) from 100 years ago. The Canadian government maintains the site. In November 1916, the second battle was fought predominantly by British and Scottish units. Again the loss of life at Newfoundland Park is considerable on both sides.
After the Park we visit Hawthorn Ridge crater ( http://www.picardie1418.com/fr/decouvrir/hawthorn-ridge-beaumont-hamel.php) which is like the earlier crater.
After lunch, our hosts showed us a variety of battlefields that linked together across the Somme. It was very educational but also moving. The memorials at each site are unique and be always respectful.
One of sites was Newfoundland Park Memorial (http://www.greatwar.co.uk/somme/memorial-newfoundland-park.htm), a Somme battlefield were two battles were fought in July and November 1916. It is a very moving site as the ground still shows the scars (shell holes and trenches) from 100 years ago. The Canadian government maintains the site. In November 1916, the second battle was fought predominantly by British and Scottish units. Again the loss of life at Newfoundland Park is considerable on both sides.
After the Park we visit Hawthorn Ridge crater ( http://www.picardie1418.com/fr/decouvrir/hawthorn-ridge-beaumont-hamel.php) which is like the earlier crater.
Finally we visited Bullecourt ( https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/the-battles-for-bullecourt ), another Australian battlefield rich in Australian blood. While there, we saw shells that farmers had found on the edge of their fields awaiting collection. Amazing.
We visited many other memorials over the day, all related to Somme battles. In particular the sunken road where British prepared for the ill fated attack on 1st July 1916. Very moving and emotionally as the soldiers where filmed in 1916. We have seen the film.
Overall very satisfying day thanks to our hosts at “the Silent Picket” ( https://www.silentpicket.com/ ) which we highly recommend.
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