5-Day Break

• Day 1 – We travel to the Reims area for a four-night stay.
• Day 2 – 'OLD CONTEMPTIBLES' AND BRITISH ACTIONS (included). We depart on our first full day for the battlefields close to Reims, following both the 'Old Contemptibles' of 1914 and the weary British divisions that defended this area in May 1918. We see the British cemetery at La Ville, looking at the moving story of Colonel Buckle and his last stand. We then examine the Devonshire Regiment at the Bois des Buttes, an action which resulted in the award of the Croix de Guerre, seeing their memorial. In the 1914 sector we see the British graves in Soupir churchyard, with its WW1 graffiti, and at Varennes. We spend lunchtime in Soissons, taking time to visit the British memorial to the missing there. In the afternoon, we drive along the Chemin des Dames, where French forces fought in 1917, seeing the Dragon’s Cave, an underground quarry where both sides fought each other, and now a museum B
• Day 3 – FLEURY VILLAGE, DOUAUMONT OSSUARY AND THE TRENCH OF BAYONETS (included). Today we head for Verdun to begin our look at the fighting there in 1916. The tour starts at the Fleury Museum, arguably the best war museum on the whole Western Front, with time to visit what remains of Fleury village. Lunch in Verdun, followed by time at the huge National Cemetery and Ossuary at Douaumont; the resting place of more than 120,000 men. At the Trench of Bayonets we look at this famous legend, seeing the unique memorial and head out to the bunkers and trenches where the battle began at the Bois des Caures, where Colonel Driant fought a desperate battle in February 1916. B
• Day 4 – COTE 304 AND MORT HOMME; FORTS DOUAUMONT AND VAUX (included). Our second day at Verdun starts with a look at the left flank at Cote 304 and Mort Homme – two vital pieces of high ground, which cost thousands of lives on both sides in 1916. We see the memorials and signs of trenches among the trees. Lunch in Verdun with extended time in the town. We then spend the afternoon exploring the forts at Douaumont and Vaux. These huge defence works have been left in their wartime state with shell holes and battlefield relics everywhere. This is a fascinating end to a tour to one of the most remarkable battle sites in France B
• Day 5 – We travel to Calais, then home. B

B=Breakfast Br=Brunch L=Lunch D=Dinner