The fourth day of our tour saw us travelling around France to delve into the profound impact of the 1916 campaign and the vital roles played by different nations. We started the morning standing in the haunting Sunken Lane near Beaumont-Hamel, walking the exact ground where the Lancashire Fusiliers waited to go over the top on the fateful morning of the 1st July 1916. We then walked through the preserved trenches in the Newfoundland Memorial Park.
In the afternoon, we focused on exploring the scale of the conflict by standing at the edge of the enormous Lochnagar Crater, before going to the memorial at Delville Wood to discuss the huge sacrifice of South African servicemen. To conclude these discussions, we visited the Thiepval Memorial. As the largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing, it was another staggering reminder of the immense scale of the campaign and the sheer devastation caused during the Battle of the Somme.
As we move into the final part of our journey, we’ll be exploring the remaining sites to complete our understanding of the events that took place on the Western Front.
