Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours | Tours

D-Day 65th Anniversary
12 Nights 2-13 June 2009 $3450*

Pay your respects to the Allied forces who landed on D-Day on this memorable 12-day tour. Enjoy the rare privilege of attending the moving 65th anniversary commemorations on the beaches of Normandy, and see all the major sites from the largest seaborn invasion in history. The tour also includes a journey through the Australian battlefields of the First World War, the scene of so much Australian courage and loss. A very special tour for a special anniversary.

Features and Inclusions:

All excursions, scenic drives and sightseeing as described in the itinerary
D-Day 65th anniversary commemorations in Normandy
12 nights First Class accommodation
Hotel porterage
Breakfast daily, 1 lunch, 8 dinners
Welcome drink in Paris
Services of a Tour Manager plus a War Historian and experienced local guides
Extensive touring of the WWII battlefields in Normandy and the Australian WWI battlefields in France and Belgium
All entrance fees as per the itinerary
Travel by First Class air-conditioned coaches
Local taxes and end of tour tips to your Tour Manager and Driver
D-Day anniversary commemorative cap
Autographed copy of Mat McLachlan's definitive guide to the Western Front, Walking with the Anzacs

DAY 1 2 JUNE

Welcome to Paris, and the start of a very special tour. This evening, get to know your fellow travellers, tour manager and war historian with a welcome drink and dinner in the hotel.

DAY 2 3 JUNE

First stop of the day will be a guided tour through Louis XIV's magnificent Palace of Versailles, where the Versailles Treaty, which brought WWI to an end, was signed. In the afternoon we return to Paris for a Panoramic Tour which will bring alive the city from the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysées and Arc de Triomphe (including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), to the Louvre and Notre Dame. The rest of your day and evening is at leisure in the City of Lights.

DAY 3 4 JUNE

This morning we depart Paris for Normandy and our tour of the WWII battlefields. Our first stop today will be in Bayeux, one of the first towns liberated by the Allies in 1944. We will also see the famous Bayeux Tapestry, the 500-year-old, 70-metre-long embroidered cloth that tells the story of the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Dinner tonight will be in our Normandy hotel.

DAY 4 5 JUNE

Today we will spend a full day visiting the sites that will be forever associated with the courage and sacrifice of the D-Day landings. Omaha Beach, the Pointe du Hoc, Pegasus Bridge, the American cemetery at Colleville, Sainte Mere Eglise, and the artificial harbour at Arromanches are just some of the places we will visit. At the end of this memorable day we will enjoy dinner in our hotel.

DAY 5 6 JUNE

A very special day, and one that will not easily be forgotten. Today we will attend the moving commemorations that mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. After an emotional day, we will return to our hotel for dinner, and to share our memories of this special occasion.

DAY 6 7 JUNE

This morning we bid farewell to Normandy and the WWII battlefields as we drive to Belgium for the start of our tour of the Australian battlefields of the First World War. We will stop at Essex Farm Cemetery, where the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ was composed, before travelling to Ypres, where we will spend the next three nights. On arrival we will enjoy dinner in our hotel.

DAY 7 8 JUNE

Between 1916 and 1918 thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers came to Ypres where some of the heaviest fighting in WWI took place. Completely destroyed in the war, the town was lovingly rebuilt, the grand old buildings and picturesque square carefully restored. This morning we'll take you on a walking tour through the centre of town including the magnificent Cloth Hall, St Georges Chapel and St Martin's Cathedral. In the afternoon we will visit the outstanding In Flanders Fields Museum located in the Cloth Hall before visiting the beautifully situated Ypres Ramparts Cemetery, one of the most beautiful cemeteries on the Western Front. A walk on top of the ramparts leads us to the Menin Gate Memorial, the British Empire's tribute to missing from the battles around Ypres. Tonight we will attend the moving ceremony, begun in 1928, of the sounding of the Last Post at the Menin Gate.

DAY 8 9 JUNE

A fascinating day! This morning includes visits to the main Australian and New Zealand battlefields of the Ypres Salient: Hooge Crater Cemetery and Museum, the 5th Australian Division Memorial and New Zealand Memorials at Polygon Wood and the old British Empire's largest war cemetery at Tyne Cot, in the middle of the Passchendaele battlefield. Dinner tonight is included at your hotel.

DAY 9 10 JUNE

Today we visit the old Western Front battlefields between Ypres and Amiens. On our way to France this morning we visit the site of the Battle of Messines in 1917 and the Irish Peace Tower. After crossing the border into France, we visit the Australian Memorial Park at Fromelles and see the location of the recently discovered Australian mass grave at Pheasant Wood. Later we visit the spectacular Canadian National Memorial on Vimy Ridge, and the Bullecourt ‘Digger’ Memorial. Dinner tonight is included in your hotel.

DAY 10 11 JUNE

Today we follow the tragedy of the 1916 Somme Battlefield including the Australian memorials at Pozières. Lunch has been included at the fascinating Tommy Café in Pozières, which displays a huge collection of relics from the battlefield. After lunch we visit the vast and tragic Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, the Ulster Tower to the 36th Ulster Division and the Newfoundland Memorial Park. Returning to Amiens your evening is free. Make sure you visit the grand old market square to take in the glorious Cathedral with its mass of colourful stained glass, beautifully illuminated at night.

DAY 11 12 JUNE

First stop today will be Adelaide Cemetery (site of the exhumation of Australia's Unknown Soldier in November 1993) and the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. It was here on April 25, 1918, exactly three years after the Gallipoli landings, that Australian courage and determination provided a stunning victory that proved a turning point in the war. Driving on across the uplands of the Somme we visit the Australian 2nd Division Memorial at Mont St Quentin before a last stop at Compiègne, where the Armistice of 11 November, 1918 was signed. Tonight we will enjoy a farewell dinner at our Paris Hotel.

DAY 12 13 JUNE

Sadly our tour ends this morning after breakfast.

*Per person, twin share, land only.