Flying visit to France to see the War Memorials

    A couple of weeks ago, I made a very brief weekend trip to France with the parentals to go on a bit of a tour of the World War One memorials.  It was more my stepdad who planned the trip as he has a keen interest in this period of history and his family come from France.  

Nonetheless, I was quite excited to tag along! 

We set out at the very unsociable hour of 5:30 am and got the Eurotunnel over to Calais.  We then drove just over an hour south to Vimy Ridge to see the very grand Canadian memorial there.  When we arrived, it was absolutely pelting it down with rain (hence the poor quality photo) and the prospect of walking around memorials and getting soaked through wasn't feeling like a very desirable one.  Despite the rain, it was still quite impressive how the monument gleamed a bright white in the distance.

We then travelled to the lovely little city of Arras for lunch.  I learnt from the tour guide book that my stepdad was enthusiastically reading aloud at every stop (it seems he took his role as tour guide very seriously!) that the city was almost entirely destroyed during the war and had to be rebuilt.  When we arrived at Arras, the rain had thankfully stopped and everything was looking a lot brighter.  I really liked the architecture of the city as I thought that it was so typically French.  There was quite a large market which was really interesting to look around.

Next we visited a series of memorials that were all situated quite close together...

We visited so many memorials, I'm sad to say I've forgotten what some of them were commemorating but I'm pretty sure this is an Australian memorial.

This is the Ulster Tower Memorial that was built to commemorate the Northern Irish soldiers that lost their lives in WW1.  It was probably the most unusual and unique monument I saw on the trip.

I found it surprising and perhaps harrowing that there were so many graves in the memorials that were dedicated to soldiers who had never been identified.

The Mile End Memorial dedicated mainly to British soldiers

There were also graves of German soldiers that sat alongside those of British ones in the Mile End memorials.  I thought this was really interesting.  I think that too often our own country's historical narrative tends to focus on the afflicted of our 'own' in wars.  At the end of the day, many soldiers on both sides were conscripted and lost their lives while fighting for their countries.

What I found really unusual was that all these memorials are quite literally in the middle of nowhere.  They sit in the midst of beautiful French farmland.  It was very quiet and peaceful.

Our next stop was the Newfoundland Memorial which had a museum attached to it.  I presumed quite ignorantly beforehand that soldiers from Newfoundland would have served under the Canadian regiments but I discovered that they in fact had their own independent regiment.

You learn something new every day!

During our trip we saw lots of the mounds and depressions in the landscape surrounding the memorials that were caused by the battlefield activity.  Evidence of WW1 trenches could be seen, as shown in this photo that I took near the Newfoundland memorial.

Our last stop of what felt like a very long day was the famous Thiepval memorial to 'the Missing of the Somme' which marks the site of a German stronghold that was stormed in 1916.  Inscribed in the arch are the names of over 70,000 Commonwealth soldiers whose bodies were never identified.  Our main reason for going there was that some relations of my stepdad are believed to have served in WW1 and he wanted to look up their names.  It was quite exciting when we found them inscribed on the wall.

That concluded our tour for the first day. 

 As far as common knowledge goes, I get the impression that people know more about the Second World War than the First.  I have to admit, my academic interests have mainly concerned WW2.  However, after going on this trip, I think it quite sad that this period in history has become neglected.

What limited knowledge I have of the First World War comes from studying GCSE History several years ago.  Yet when you hear in class or read in a textbook that their were 60,000 casualties on the first day alone of the Battle of the Somme, I don't think you gain such a real sense of what that actually meant until you go to the memorials and see for yourself the endless rows of graves that represent the soldiers that lost their lives.  

It was quite a moving experience to visit the memorials.

 It is difficult to comprehend when you see such a mass of graves, especially when you stop and think that every young man who died during the war would have had friends and family who deeply missed them.

We didn't visit many places on the second day of our trip as we had to catch the Eurotunnel back at midday so it really was a quick trip!  

We did manage to visit a large crater just outside La Boisselle that is known locally as 'La Grande Mine'.  It was created when a British mine exploded under the German lines in 1916.  I think it is quite remarkable that something which occurred so long ago has had such a profound impact upon the face of  a landscape.

I spotted this little dude when we visited the crater.  How cute!

After taking a walk around the crater, we went to a French supermarket to buy some lunch and then headed home.

The One Day Seeker