2009 Battlefield Tour of The Somme, Day 3
Monday 10th August 2009
Well Monday was another fantastically hot day, but instead of walking we spent some of it in the car as what Amanda wanted to see was at least 28km away.
We drove over to Arras to visit the tunnel system under the town. Which are a series of underground limestone quarries from the 17th century linked by 20 km of tunnels dug by the New Zealand Tunnelling Corps in just 6 months prior to the battle of Arras in April 1917. They where used to hide 24,000 men before a surprise attack on German positions on the morning of 9th April 1917, the population of Arras itself only numbered 20,000 at the time. As a result of my research into my family history I have discovered an ancestor (Private Arthur Lambeth of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment) who was one of those 24,000 men waiting in those tunnels, he survived the first days of the battle but was killed in action on 27th April 1917 and he has no known grave, so a special moment for me.
After that we drove to the centre of the old town for a walk round and a look at all the old buildings and then stopped for a spot of lunch, which gave Amanda a chance to practice her spoken French.
After Arras we drove to Vimy Ridge which is now the site of Canada's national memorial of remembrance for the dead of WW1, I visited this last October when I was out here with the lads and after Amanda had seen my photographs she was particularly keen to visit Vimy Ridge. We had a guided tour of the tunnel system and surviving trenches. The French and British had spent 2 years trying to take the ridge, the Canadians threw everything at it (4 division's) and took the ridge in 4 days, for the loss of just under 4000 men
Much wine and Leffe was consumed in the evening, even by Amanda who is a bit of a light weight when it come to alcohol.
Vimy Ridge Memorial.
Well Monday was another fantastically hot day, but instead of walking we spent some of it in the car as what Amanda wanted to see was at least 28km away.
We drove over to Arras to visit the tunnel system under the town. Which are a series of underground limestone quarries from the 17th century linked by 20 km of tunnels dug by the New Zealand Tunnelling Corps in just 6 months prior to the battle of Arras in April 1917. They where used to hide 24,000 men before a surprise attack on German positions on the morning of 9th April 1917, the population of Arras itself only numbered 20,000 at the time. As a result of my research into my family history I have discovered an ancestor (Private Arthur Lambeth of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment) who was one of those 24,000 men waiting in those tunnels, he survived the first days of the battle but was killed in action on 27th April 1917 and he has no known grave, so a special moment for me.
After that we drove to the centre of the old town for a walk round and a look at all the old buildings and then stopped for a spot of lunch, which gave Amanda a chance to practice her spoken French.
After Arras we drove to Vimy Ridge which is now the site of Canada's national memorial of remembrance for the dead of WW1, I visited this last October when I was out here with the lads and after Amanda had seen my photographs she was particularly keen to visit Vimy Ridge. We had a guided tour of the tunnel system and surviving trenches. The French and British had spent 2 years trying to take the ridge, the Canadians threw everything at it (4 division's) and took the ridge in 4 days, for the loss of just under 4000 men
Much wine and Leffe was consumed in the evening, even by Amanda who is a bit of a light weight when it come to alcohol.
Vimy Ridge Memorial.
posted by Whitey in Telford at
02:39
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home