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Western Front Flexi Tour - 2 Days

YOUR TOUR INCLUDES:

Day 1 - Somme 1916 & 1918

Your tour begins in Amiens, in the heart of the Somme. The most convenient way to travel to Amiens is by train - it is only an hour north of Paris. You will be met by your guide at Amiens train station at 9.30am. You will then enjoy a full day visiting the sites associated with Australian courage and sacrifice on the Somme in both 1916 and 1918. Essential sites include the village of Pozieres, scene of the most costly battle in Australia’s history, where 23,000 men were killed or wounded in six weeks. Nearby is Mouquet Farm, where the Australians and Germans fought a bloody action in August 1916. Also spend time exploring the British sites associated with the Battle of the Somme, including the massive 30-metre-deep Lochnagar Mine Crater, the Thiepval Memorial (where the names of 72,000 missing men are recorded) and the preserved trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial Park, Beaumont-Hamel. Our attention will then turn to the 1918 battles on the Somme, with a visit to Villers-Bretonneux, the town that was liberated by Australian troops on Anzac Day 1918. Here we will visit Victoria School (with its wonderful small Australian museum), Adelaide Cemetery (where Australia’s Unknown Soldier lay before being reinterred in Canberra in 1993) and the imposing Australian National Memorial, where the names of nearly 11,000 Australians with no known grave in France are recorded. We will also visit the site of the crash of the Red Baron in 1918, the scene of the great Australian victory at Hamel and the Australian 2nd Divisional Memorial at Mont St Quentin. We will also see the remains of trenches captured by the Australians in their victory here in September 1918. We will then return to Amiens where you will check in to your 4-star hotel.

STAR INCLUSIONS: Pick-up from Amiens station - Full day touring the Australian battlefields of the Somme - Victoria School Museum - 4-star Amiens hotel

Day 2 - Aisne 1918

Today we will drive east, out of the Somme battlefields and into the area that was the scene of a series of great Australian victories in late-1918: the Aisne. This was the time when Australian troops helped win the war, by defeating the Germans in several key battles. We will visit the sites of this great Australian achievement at places such as the 4th Australian Division Memorial at Bellenglise, the St Quentin Canal tunnel at Bellicourt and the village of Montbrehain, Australia’s last battlefield of the war. At the end of this memorable day you will be dropped at Amiens train station. (B)

STAR INCLUSIONS: Full day touring the Aisne 1918 battlefields - Drop-off at Amiens train station


WHAT ARE STAR INCLUSIONS?: 'Star Inclusions' are the extra things we provide each day that make your tour really special. You don't pay extra for Star Inclusions - they are included in the tour cost, and many of them are exclusive to Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours.

*Per person, twin share, land only. Ask about our airfare deals, which offer great discounts when booked in conjunction with our tours.