One Day In The Area Around The Somme

One Day In The Area Around The Somme

One Day In The Area Around The Somme

Much like the area around Ypres, there are many cemeteries, time and again along very small, muddy roads. My 1st planned destination was the Hawthorn Crater. This is one of the mines that was detonated underneath the German lines at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The detonation was recorded on film and is often shown in documentaries about the Battle of the Somme. After driving around the area for a while, I came across the Newfoundland Park Memorial & Visitors Centre and stopped there.

It was a part of the British and Canadian Trenches on 1st July 1916 when the Battle of the Somme began. Some of the trenches are very well conserved and looking out from the Caribou Monument, you can get the perfect idea of the landscape as well as the direction of assault. It is also frighteningly clear how far the soldiers were required to move over open ground facing of cannon and machine guns.

At Newfoundland Park, I was provided directions to help me find the Hawthorn Crater and so it transpired I'd driven right by it. It wasn't long before I arrived back and found the access point along a fairly muddy field. To start with I was hesitant but decided it's part and parcel of the experience. I got to the side of the crater but it really was very over grown therefore I didn't venture too far and I was quickly heading to my next point of interest, Ulster Tower. It is a memorial to the Ulster Regiments that conducted themselves so well on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Nearby is the Thiepval Memorial that is the biggest British War Memorial in the world. Each 1st July, an important ceremony is held here in memory of the dead. The tower is visible from quite some distance and there is also a motivating visitors centre with information regarding the battles fought here.

Not far away is the South African Memorial at Delville Wood. It was dedicated to all South African conflicts, not merely those in The Great War. As with all the memorials, Delville Wood is sacred ground but I found this place in particular to be very serene and appropriate. I'm really not sure what made Delville Wood stand out to me but for me, there was really something a bit special about this spot.

My last stop of the day was a short one at the place to the east of Amiens where the Red Baron was shot down. There isn't really a lot to see except for a small notice board by the side of the road. The site is situated by a local factory with a notable chimney. The history of the Red Baron is one of the first I was told about concerning The First World War so despite the fact that there wasn't a lot to look at, it was something that I wanted to see. The Red Baron was a German air ace called Baron Manfred von Richthofen. From 1916 - 1918, he shot down a total of 80 Allied aircraft and was eventually shot down but ground fire from an Australian unit on 21 April 1918.

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