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 Literally millions of young soldiers were killed or wounded in the First World War. Many regions were totally destroyed, with the scars still visible after 90 years. After all the horrors, people thought it was “the war to end all wars” and it was hoped the League of Nations could solve all future conflicts. However, war broke out again in Europe 22 years later and soon the world was embroiled in a Second World War.
The memory of these conflicts, horrors, suffering and heroism is not forgotten.
This tour has been designed to give you the opportunity to visit sites sacred to the memory of those soldiers. All now in peaceful countryside, the museums, their relics, and the millions of white crosses, bear witness to the horrors those young men went through.
(For information on the background of this poem written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae MD of the Canadian Army, see the website - www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm) |
Part 1
Includes Ypres (Flanders Fields), Tyne Cot, Menin Gate, Somme, Peronne, Verdun, Douaumont, Maginot Line.
By the end of the war in November 1918, over 2 million young Allied soldiers had been killed or wounded in major Western Front battles.
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DAY 1 |
We leave Paris and go directly to Ypres to commence the tour in Flanders Field.
The visit of the superb Flanders Field Museum will be followed by a guided exploration of the battlefields, the Passchendale disaster, Sanctuary Wood, “ the hell where youth and laughter go” and Tyne Cot cemetery which integrates German bunkers captured by the AIF 2nd division on 4 October 1917.
The day will end with attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, performed every night since 1929, except during World War 2. The names of 54,896 Commonwealth soldiers, including 6176 Australians, are inscribed here: they died in the fields of Flanders and were never found. |
Yorkshire Trench, Flanders
Menin Gate
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DAY 2 |
From Lille we go to the Somme for an all day guided excursion. A somewhat heart-rending day as we pass from battlefield to battlefield, monument to monument, cemetery to cemetery, the human horror and grotesque folly leading to more than a million killed or wounded in a four month period, the beginning of which Siegfried Sassoon described as a “sunlit picture of hell”. Australians, New-Zealanders, Canadians, South Africans, British, French, German...The route will take us by Albert, Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval, Pozières, Courcelette, Delville, Colincamps.
The Beaumont-Hamel memorial spreads over more than 80 acres, in the middle of which remains the petrified skeleton of a tree, “the Danger Tree”.
We visit the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Peronne : “an international museum of comparative History. Its trilingual presentation compares the experiences of the war of the major participants...it shows what daily life was like on the front but also behind the lines, reflecting the heavy involvement of the civilian populations....links the past to the present, testifying to the impact that this conflict has had throughout the 20th century” |
Villers-Brettoneux Memorial
Peronne Memorial Grande Guerre |
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DAY 3 |
The day is devoted to the “most formidable fortification system ever built with the exception of the Great wall of China” - the Maginot Line.
How could the “impregnable” fortification built between 1929 and 1941 along the German border stretching from Belgium to Switzerland, with its 108 strong fortresses, fall? And so quickly, let alone at all! The answer to the enigma is in an understanding of the famous percée des Ardennes.
The only forts which were engaged in the battle stopped a German Panzer division for days.
We will visit both the small fort that stood against a Panzer division, and one of the colossal ones including its underground train. |
Fermont Munitions Entrance
Fermont Bloc 4
Fermont - a main gallery
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DAY 4 |
A whole day devoted to Verdun : right bank and left bank.
For ten months two colossal armies hurled themselves at each other. The evidence of this unremitting war is still visible 90 years later. The battle of Verdun was the longest in the Great War and destroyed more human lives than any other battles in the First World War. To the 800,000 young men who died in the first battle of Verdun the Americans added a further 126,000 in the second battle of Verdun at the end of the war.
We visit the fort of Douaumont, at that time the strongest fort in the world, the Ossuary of Douaumont - an experience not easily forgotten, and the Butte de Vauquois taken and retaken over and over again where each side built deeper and deeper tunnels: twelve miles of tunnels honeycomb the knoll. It was here too that minefield warfare really came into its own!
The name of the “Côte 304” (Slope 304) is “Mort d’Homme” (“the death of man”) - a moving but fitting testimony to the Western Front Battlefields. |
Verdun - Ossuaire de Douaumont
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| COST: |
$3875/person - Twin share |
Part 2
The Normandy Landing
During these two days you will have a guided tour of the Normandy coast, which will recount the dramatic story of D Day as you visit the most important sites.
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DAY 1 |
We leave Paris by train for Caen where we meet our tour guide.
The first stop is Pegasus Bridge over the river Orne. The bridge had been seized on the 5th of June late at night by a glider-borne reinforced company commanded by Major John Howard who managed to link up with Lord Lovat’s Commando Brigade on the 6th.
Then on to Arromanches, part of Gold beach which had to be taken as it had been chosen as the future site of the main Mulberry. The British reached their objective on the day of the landing.
When watching the 360° film presented on the landing (compiled from filmed records made by journalists on the spot at the time) you will be totally immersed and share the feelings of terrible disorientation and fear that must have been felt by those young men trying to set foot on the coast of France.
Into Bayeux late afternoon to discover the famous tapestry - a delightful contrast! |
Gold Beach D Day landing
Arromanches 360 degree theatre
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DAY 2 |
Arromanches played a most important part in the landing until the American forces took Cherbourg which was the first real harbour they could use to bring in supplies.
Without this Mulberry harbour the allies would never have been able to land an army of 150,000 men with all their equipment and weapons. We visit the small town and the techniques used by the landing forces will be explained.
All along the coast we see the defences the German had established, known as “The Atlantic Wall”. It becomes obvious that without the fantastic and brilliantly organized deception thanks to which the secret had been kept, the landing would have been totally impossible : the Germans had created a fortress right along all the coasts of Europe which they held.
Just behind, overlooking Omaha beach, you will discover the gigantic and beautiful American memorial and cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer. An extraordinarily moving experience even after all these years...
After lunch when visiting Omaha beach you will realize why the landing there was (nearly) a tragic failure. Heavily defended, with a difficult terrain each pillbox had to be taken out by direct assault.
At la Pointe du Hoc, evidence of the ferocious Allied bombing of German defences in preparation for the landing is still vivid .The Germans had in fact removed the guns replacing them with camouflaged logs and the Americans fell for the ruse: an intelligence-services failure...
At the end of the day we are driven back to the train for Paris. |
Arromanches - vestiges of artificial port
German coastal gun
Longues-sur-mer - German bunker
Omaha Beach tank
Pointe du Hoc - war remains
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COST: |
$1975/person - Twin share |
| COST: |
Complete Tour - $9000/person - Twin share |
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Tour Modules
This tour has been designed to offer three options:
- The complete tour - arriving in Paris Saturday. Depart Paris Sunday for Part 1, returning to Paris at the end of Day 4 (Wednesday). Thursday is spent in Paris before departing Friday morning for the Normandy beaches. Friday evening is spent near Bayeux. Saturday evening the group returns to Paris for the final night.
- Part 1 - departs from Paris Sunday morning, returning Wednesday evening
- Normandy Beaches - departs from Paris Friday morning, returning Saturday evening.
French Travel Boutique specialises in history tours of France and caters to small, select groups. We use only expert guides and offer quality accommodation. If you would like to organise your own group, we are happy to tailor-make an exclusive itinerary.
Departure Dates
Part 1 -
- Depart Paris 22 June - return to Paris 25 June
- Depart Paris 31 August - return to Paris 3 September
Part 2 (Normandy Beaches) -
- Depart Paris 27 June - return to Paris 28 June
- Depart Paris 5 September - return to Paris 6 September
If you are interested in other departure dates (or you have your own small group), please contact us direct to discuss further options.
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