Medics Vets & Padres
About this tour
If you were wounded in the Great War your chances of survival were high – if you could be evacuated into the casualty system quickly. From Regimental Aid Post to Advanced Dressing Station, to Casualty Clearing Station, to Base Hospital, to Hospital Ship and England.
The sad silent cemeteries remain at each stage to remind us of those not making it. We look at the tasks of the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Stretcher Bearers, Orderlies, Nurses, Doctors, and Surgeons.
The Great War also saw the start of a formalised Veterinary Corps, which transported, treated, convalesce, and returned to duty many thousands of horses and mules. What of the Padres and Clerics? How could they reconcile their Religion with the slaughter surrounding them. Whose side was God on? It must have been very confusing!
Sample Itinerary
Day 1
Travel to Folkestone. Shorncliffe Military Cemetery and the Gotha Raids. Tunnel or ferry to Calais. Essex Farm ADS and Colonel John McCrae. Hostel Ypres (2 nights) Hill 60 preserved battlefield (time permitting).
Day 2
0900 depart for Tubby Clayton and the Concert Party at TOC H. The flu epidemic, Nellie Spindler and the 1922 Pilgrimage at Lissenthoek. Captain Noel Chavasse VC and Bar at Brandhoek CCS. Sanctuary Wood Museum and trenches. (Lunch break) Tyne Cot CWGC cemetery. Private John Condon at Poelcapelle. Langemarck German cemetery. St Georges Memorial Church and Ypres. “The Last Post” at the Menin Gate.
Day 3
0845 drive south for the battle of the Somme 1916. The Horse memorial at Chipilly. Lochnagar Crater and Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart. Auchonvillers Stretcher Bearers Post cellars and lunch. Newfoundland Memorial Park and visitor centre. The Reverend Theodore Bayley Hardy VC at Rossignol Wood. This tour will finish at Lutyens Memorial to the missing on Thiepval Ridge. Return to Calais.
Accommodation
We work closely with the owners of four School hotels in Ypres and a purpose-built school hotel in Albert (The Somme) which has three separate floors, all designed to accommodate youth groups. Have a look at www.thepoppies.be and www.poppiesalbert.com to check out floorplans and availability. We can also offer 3* hotel accommodation in the centre of Ypres or in Arras to suit groups with a larger budget. The ‘Peace Village’ in Messines is not just a hostel which offers a lot of outdoor and indoor activities in a secure location, they have their own restaurant, bar area, terrace, sports facilities and conference room / disco. www.peacevillage.be
Battlefield and History Tours recommends the following
Wellington Quarry, or la Carrière Wellington in Arras, is an underground museum created in tunnels dug by the British Army during the 1914-1918 war. The museum commemorates the thousands of men from the British Army and Dominion Forces, particularly the tunnelers of the New Zealand Division, who lived under the city during the Great War.
Musee Somme 1916 in Albert is in the center of the Somme Battlefields, below the basilica of Notre Dame de Brebières. The museum highlights soldiers' lives in the trenches during the offensive of 1 July 1916. It is housed in a 250-meter-long underground passage with alcoves, display cases, sound effects, images, and lights, bringing the experience to life.
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing is a 45-meter-high structure that stands out from the surrounding countryside on what was the old German frontline. The memorial is dedicated to the 73,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who lost their lives in the Somme and have no known grave.
Lochnagar Crater is an impressive crater approximately 90 meters in diameter and 60 meters deep. It was created by a mine detonated on 1st July 1916, laid by the British Army's 179th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers beneath a German strongpoint called "Schwaben Höhe." The crater is east of the village of La Boisselle.
Delville Wood, sometimes known as Devil's Wood, witnessed particularly ferocious fighting. The majority of the wood was eventually taken by South African soldiers on 15th July 1916. These soldiers held on grimly during numerous German counterattacks for six days until they were relieved. There is now a museum in Delville Wood, which is hexagonal in structure.
Vimy Ridge focuses on the Canadian Corps' superbly planned capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, a turning point for the Allies in the First World War. Guided tours of the tunnels are available between 1st May and 30th November and are free, but availability is on a first-come, first-served basis. There are also trenches above ground and a remarkably interesting Visitor Education Centre.
Historial de la Grande Guerre is located in the medieval chateau of Peronne and consists of four large rooms dealing with the multicultural aspect of the war. The museum presents the perspectives of the European nations at war (France, Germany, and Great Britain) through the memories of war experienced from the battlefront to behind the lines.
Newfoundland Park is a Canadian National Historic Site that commemorates the Newfoundland Regiment near Beaumont-Hamel. The Newfoundland Battalion suffered significant casualties during the most dramatic days of the 1916 campaign. The park retains the two opposing trench systems as they were in 1916 and has an interesting Visitor Centre.
Other variations on numbers and duration available plus day trips available on Request.
Experience information
Each group will have its own special interests and curricular needs. That is why every visit can be completely tailored to you. You will find some suggestions below, but you can always call us to discuss more options.
Other variations on numbers and duration available, plus day trips available on request.
