We stayed at a Gite near Albert for two nights to explore the Somme before moving north to another gite near Ypres. Renfrey had some particular sites he wanted to visit regaridng his PHD thesis on a particular British division in the Great War.
In the main the battlefields are not that exciting to look at, but interesting to see just how flat the terrain generally is & how low the hills & ridges so many men died on were. And the frequency & size of the cemetaries is geninely awful.
The most interesting location we visited was the Canadian site on Vimy Ridge, which the Canadians took with enormous casualties. The site has tunnels & trench lines partially restored you can get into, plus a mess of vast craters from mine explosions in ground still undulating in a maze of shell holes. The site also had the cutest guides - Canadian uni students on 4 month work experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment