The Somme tourist board
Somme Battlefields
A landscape that reflects the battle lines of 1914-1918... discover the history of this battle through the Circuit of Remembrance, with its frequently very impressive memorials, traces of battles and its cemeteries.
The Somme sufered severely in the battles of the First World War : the invasion and the "race to the sea" in september 1914, the battle of the Somme in July-November 1916 and the battles of Picardy from March until September 1918.
Today, this dramatic period of history can be explored by folowing the Circuit of Remembrance.
Somme 1916 Museum - AlbertThis museum displays life in the trenches at the time of the offensive on 1 July 1916. Somme fifteen alcoves and show-cases are set out along a 230-metre underground passage which was used an an air-raid shelter during the Second World War. Sound effects, pictures and lighting plunge visitors into the soldiers'daily life. |
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Historial of the Great War - PéronneIt is the central reference museum for the First World War. It offers a better understanding of the causes, consequences and events of the war, daily life in the front line and behind the lines - all the cultural, social and political features of this overwhelming war which shaped the twentieth century. |
Franco-British Memorial and Visitor Centre - Thiepval
The impressive bulk of the memorial (45 metres high) is visible for many kilometres around. Its pillars bear the carved names of 73 367 men, the " Missing of the Somme" who died in the battles of the Somme and who have no known grave. |
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The Newfoundland memorial - Beaumont-HamelThis site offers a realistic and moving view of these battles in its remarkably well-preserved trenches system. This vast site is full of surviving traces and memorials : the monument to the 29th division, the 51st Highland division, the mound with the royal Newfoundland regiment's emblem figure of the caribou, the "Danger tree" and others. An information centre completes the visit. |
Lochnagar Crater - La BoisselleImpressive mine hole 100 metres across and 30 metres deep, the remaining mark of the series of explosions on 1 July 1916. Here, at 7.28am, it marked the launching of the Battle of the Somme by the British troops. |
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PozièresThis village remembers the first attacking engagement of the Australian troops (memorials to the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions). Remains of a blockouse known as "Gibraltar" are still visible. Pozières is also the site of the tanks monument, with four small-scale model tanks as its corners. |
South-African National Memorial and Museum - LonguevalThese monuments honour the South African troops who underwent their baptism of fire in Delville wood, known as "Devil's wood". Of the 3,200 men who went into the attack of 15 July 1916, only 143 came out unhamed 5 days later. |
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Chapel of the Souvenir Français - RancourtThis chapel next to a vast cemetery is the only French site in the department. This village also has the sad distinction of a cemetery for each of the combatant nations - French, British and German. |
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National Australian Memorial and Franco-Australian Musuem - Rancourt
At Villers-Bretonneux, on 25 April 1918, the Australians halted the German army. The National Australian Memorial (the site each year of the commemoration of Anzac Day on the saturday closest to 25 April), the Franco-Australian museum and the Adelaide cemetery are proof of the strength of the links and mutual recognition between Australia and France. |
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P'tit train de la Haute-Somme - FroissyThis narrow gauge railway runs on the line which carried supllies up to the front line in 1916. At Froissy, the departure point, the Museum of military and industrial railways displays a large number of vehicles used to provision the trenches in the battle of the Somme, and describe the use of small narrow-gauge railways from 1880 until the present day. |
Hall of the "sole command" - DoullensThe town hall contains this hall recalling the turning-point in the history of the Great War: on 26 March 1918, in this room, the French and British governments put into General Foch's hands the sole command of the Allied forces which would lead the counter-offensive on 8 August and the Armistice of 11 November 1918. |
The Lochnagar Crater
The only mine hole still visible, testimony of the terrible battle of the Somme...
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Franco-British Memorial
The names of 73,367 soldiers are engraved in the stone of these pillars, a most impressive and moving memorial...
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South African National Memorial and Museum
In the heart of the Bois Delville, known as the “Devil’s Wood”, discover two surprising buildings...
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Historial of the Great War
The Great War seems hard to understand? The Historial will make it all clear...
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Hall of « The Sole Command » - Doullens
The Allies had full confidence in Foch and placed him at the head of operations...
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Australian National Memorial – Villers-Bretonneux
Australia is honoured at Villers-Bretonneux: the National Memorial, the France-Australia Museum....
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The Somme 1916 Museum
Descend into the underground passages to appreciate what life was like for soldiers in the trenches...
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Pozières
The Battle of Pozières is remembered for the role played by the ANZAC forces. It was also the first front to see the use of tanks...
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Newfoundland Memorial
A broad park still pocked with shell-holes and gouged with trenches, dominated by a monumental caribou...
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Chapel of the « Souvenir Français »
A private memorial chapel that has come to symbolise the memory of the French soldiers who fought there...
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Tour d'Ulster
A surprising tower in Gothic “troubadour” style in memory of the Irish troops...
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« Le P’tit Train de la Haute Somme » and the military and industrial railways museum – Froissy
By steam or diesel engine, take the line that carried supplies to the battlefields....
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