Scarred landscape in the Somme
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VestigesLochnagar CraterMine hole
©Garry

The landscape tells its story

  • 45km of front lines
  • 50hectares of vestiges to be visited
  • 100thousand bombs shelled a day

Lochnagar Crater

in La Boisselle

Here, on 1 July 1916, men were out of their starting-blocks by 7.28 am. Little did they know they were rushing to their untimely death.

Just minutes before the infantry assault, several bombs were set off to break up the German front line. They hollowed out several huge craters like the one in La Boisselle, which is 91m in diameter and 21m deep.

It is now the only remaining mine hole you can visit on the Western front. 

A highly emotional ceremony is organised at 7.28 am on 1 July. The site can be visited freely the rest of the year too!

 

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beaumont-feret.jpg
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La Boisselle, Somme© Garry
Baie de Somme© Samuel Crampon
commemorations 1 juilllet, Somme©SommeTourisme

The Newfoundland Memorial

in BEAUMONT-HAMEL

This park is no doubt the most moving and admirable example of a battlefield on the front!

Inaugurated in 1925, the 30-hectare Newfoundland Memorial gives a realistic idea of a network of preserved trenches, no man’s land, and the bombs which rained down here in July 1916.

At the entrance to the site, Canadian volunteers offer to take you to the top of Caribou Mound or to the remains of Danger Tree.  

Feel free to explore the little cemeteries and memorials in the park!

Tel.: +33 (0)3 22 76 70 86 - Veterans Affairs Canada

Fay

A village wiped off the map

The original village has completely disappeared. Fay has been rebuilt on a plateau, above its pre-war location.

You can still visit the ruins of the former village.

Shell holes, vestiges of trenches, ruins and Iron Harvest: The scars of the Great War are all over the site to the west of Samara.
beaumont hamel tranchees moutons, Somme©Nicolas Bryant
Le Hamel, Somme©SommeTourisme
Belvédère de Frise, homme à vélo, Somme©Nicolas Bryant
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The scars above

The Somme Valley

Climb the Frise belvedere to see a unique, authentic site preserved by the Picardy conservatory for natural sites.

Overlooking the Somme Valley, it gives good historical insights into the Great War.

The trenches on the French front described by Blaise Cendrars can still be seen, now with sheep grazing on them!

Near the Le Hamel memorial, we commemorate the decisive Americano-Australian victory of 4 July 1918. A German trench has been exhumed.

From this outcrop overlooking the valley, refurbished for the centenary, you can admire views of Corbie and imagine the scene of the famous Red Baron crash!

 

Let's talk ToArlène King

Director of the Beaumont-Hamel memorial

"I recommend climbing the mound to see the statue of the proud caribou. This is where the attack of 1 July was launched. You can use an orientation table to see where you are and find your way round the entire site, with the maze of trenches and the ground pitted with shell holes."