Military History Tours          On Tour - Our Other ANZAC Day Tour 24 April 2014

Today we began our first day of battlefield Touring with a safety briefing and a visit to the Battle of the Somme area at Lochnagar Crater.

We then followed the Australian assault into the battle of Pozieres through the township and to the First Australian Division memorial site. After a presentation on the opening stages of the battle, we then moved to the Windmill memorial site on the eastern edge of Pozieres for another presentation on the later stages of the battle and also the actions at Mouquet Farm. We then stopped at the entrance to the Farm to read the plaque installed by the Australian government to commemorate the action.

WE then motored to the Canadian Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel. Here our group was able to walk along the preserved trench lines to get a soldier's view from a trench.

This also gave Tom & Peter Gibbons an appreciation of where their grandfather fought on the Somme as a member of the Royal Garrison Artillery in the British Army.

After lunch, we then went to the village of Bullecourt for presentations on the battles there and to see the area around Lagnicourt where Anne and Jack Drummond's relative, Henry Hope Ridley was thought to have been killed in action.

This was followed by a visit to the newly re-opened Jean and Denise Letaille Museum in Bullecourt. This modern museum commemorates both the battle and the work done over the years by the late Jean & Denise Letaille in locating and preserving artefacts from the battle, particularly Australian ones.

At the conclusion of our museum visit, we returned to our hotel.