Somme and Vimy WWI Battlefields

Western Front Battlefields Of The First World War, With The Thiepval Memorial, The Canadian National Vimy Memorial And Hundreds Of Commonwealth War Cemeteries; Several Sites Form Part Of The Funerary And Memory Sites Of The First World War UNESCO Listing Inscribed 2023 · Albert, Hauts-de-France

The rolling farmland of Picardy and Artois in northern France was the Western Front of the First World War, and it is now dotted with cemeteries, memorials and the scars of trenches. On the Somme, around the town of Albert, the British and French offensive that began on 1 July 1916 cost more than a million casualties on both sides over four and a half months. The Thiepval Memorial carries the names of over seventy thousand British and South African soldiers with no known grave, and the Lochnagar Crater, blown by a mine on the first morning, is still a huge hole in a field. At Beaumont-Hamel, a Newfoundland memorial park keeps its trench lines. Forty minutes north near Arras, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial stands on the ridge Canadian troops took in April 1917, above preserved trenches and tunnels. This is not a single site but a landscape to be driven, with small cemeteries at the edges of fields, and many visitors come to find the grave or name of a relative.

The Somme battlefields around Albert and Thiepval, and Vimy Ridge near Arras, Albert, Hauts-de-France, France

Most of the battlefield is open countryside, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries are open to visit freely at any reasonable time, with the register of names kept in a small box by the entrance. The Thiepval Memorial itself is open at all times, while its visitor centre keeps daytime hours, with longer opening in summer and a winter closure of a few weeks around the end of the year; confirm. The Lochnagar Crater is a privately cared-for site open at all times, and a ceremony is held there at dawn on 1 July each year. At Vimy, the memorial and grounds are open daily, and the visitor centre keeps seasonal hours with some winter closures. The preserved trenches and tunnels at Vimy are shown on guided visits led by young Canadian guides, and the tunnel tours are limited in numbers and sometimes closed for work, so confirm and consider booking. The Historial in Péronne and the Wellington Quarry in Arras close one day a week in the low season and for part of winter. Remembrance events around 1 July, 9 April and 11 November bring crowds, road closures and full hotels.

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