CANADIANS IN
FRANCE AND BELGIUM WW1
From
L ille
The Battle of the Somme – 1916 • The Battle of Arras – 1917 • The Ypres Salient – 1915 – 1917
At 10.58 hours in the Belgian village of Ville-sur-Haine on November 11, 1918 a single 7.92mm round fired by a German soldier
hit Private George Lawrence Price of "A" Company, 28th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Price died instantly. Two minutes
later at 11.00 hours the First World War ended. With his death Price would become the last soldier of the British Empire to be killed
in the war. By then, Canada had lost 66,975 through enemy action. Canadian troops and the men of Newfoundland had fought with
courage and distinction in World War I winning 71 Victoria Crosses. Our tour pays tribute to their sacrifice and bravery and takes
you to the key battlegrounds of war including Ypres and Vimy Ridge. Come with Spirit of Remembrance to France and Belgium and
walk over land that through courage and sacrifice has become a part of Canada.
Two Departures
Mon 04 – Thu 07 July 2016
Mon 05 - Thu 08 September 2016
Ridge and spend a couple of hours visiting the
Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park. The tour
will include the following:
• Preserved trenches
• Vimy Memorial to Canada’s Missing
• The story of how the allegedly impregnable
German position was taken in style
• How four Victoria Crosses were won during the
battle.
£667
per person
share twin
• A guided tour of Grange Tunnel with a
Canadian student guide.
We will then drive to our hotel for the night.
Dinner will be taken in the hotel.
Accommodation: Arras
Meals: B, D
DAY ONE
10.00 AM You will meet your battlefield guide at
Lille Europe Station. After loading your baggage onto
the tour vehicle you will be driven to Ypres, Belgium.
You will then have free time to make optional visits
to St. George’s Memorial Church, ‘In Flanders Fields
Museum’ or have an opportunity to shop. Lunch will
be taken at own expense in Ypres.
In the afternoon you will visit the following:
• Essex Farm. Dressing station where in 1915 a
Canadian surgeon, John McCrae, wrote the
famous poem “In Flanders Fields” and the story
of the Poppy was born.
• PPCLI Memorial – commemorating a gallant
stand by the Patricia’s in May 1915.
• Vancouver Corner – where Canadians held the
line during the first German poison gas attack in
April 1915.
At around 5.00pm you will return to Ypres and
check-in to your hotel where we will stay overnight.
7.00PM We will take our places at the Menin Gate
ready to experience the Last Post Ceremony which
takes place at 8.00PM
DAY TWO
After taking breakfast at 7.30am and checking
out of the hotel we depart at 8.30am for the
Ypres Salient. We will visit:
• Mount Sorrel – The 1916 British Front Line
south-east of Ypres was situated on this high
ground of the Ypres ridge at Zillebeke and the
double summits of Hill 61 and Hill 62. Three
divisions of the Canadian Corps were involved
in the defence of the line here when the
German Army made an attack on 2nd June
1916.
• Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood) Canadian Memorial.
3rd Battle of Ypres – July to November 1917
• Passchendaele Memorial Museum (admission
included)
• Tyne Cot Cemetery – the largest
Commonwealth cemetery in the world. Act of
Remembrance. Travel via Passchendaele New
Cemetery viewpoint and hear how the
Canadian Corps took Passchendaele in
Oct/Nov 1917
Accommodation: Ypres area
We will return to Ypres for lunch which will be
taken at your own expense.
Meals: D
At approximately 1.30 PM we will depart to Vimy
DAY THREE
After breakfast in our hotel and collecting a packed
lunch we will depart at 8.30AM for the Battle of the
Somme 1916. The Battle of the Somme raged for
over four months and resulted in over a million
casualties to Allied and German troops. The
Canadians, originally in the Ypres sector, missed the
first months of the fighting, but had moved to the
Somme by early September. On 15 September, in a
carefully prepared infantry attack, the Canadians
captured the ruined village of Courcelette. Despite
thousands of casualties, it was a victory, one of the
few for Allied forces on the Somme. Further attacks
through September and October were just as costly,
but less successful.
Operations against Desire Trench and Regina
Trench, to the north of Courcelette, were grinding
affairs where soldiers attacked and
counterattacked repeatedly over the same
ground, and always under heavy enemy fire. In
late October, the three battered divisions of the
Canadian Corps limped off the Somme having
suffered 20,000 casualties.
More itinerary on the following page
CANADIANS IN
FRANCE AND BELGIUM WW1
We will visit the following today:
• Adanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont. Act of
Remembrance.
pushed through the enemy defences, eventually
capturing strong points like Bourlon Wood and
Cambrai on 9 October. We will visit:
• Mouquet Farm area – 3rd Canadian Division.
The story of Pte John Kerr VC, 49th Battalion.
• Canal du Nord
• Courcelette – 2nd Canadian Division. The first
use of tanks.
• Cantimpre Canadian Cemetery
We will have a picnic lunch in the Albert area.
Beaumont Hamel - Newfoundland Memorial Park.
Here, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, attached
to a British division, was cut down on 1 July 1916
by German machine-gun fire as it attacked over
open ground. Within 30 minutes the regiment
suffered a crippling 324 killed and 386 wounded
out of a total of 801 soldiers.
• Domart Bridge – A Canadian engineer story.
• Hangard Wood & War Cemetery – the story of
three VCs
• Beaucort Wood – another VC
• The defence of Hallu by the Winnipeg
Grenadiers & the Calgary Battalion.
We return to our hotel. The remainder of the
evening is at leisure.
Accommodation: Arras
Meals: B, L
DAY FOUR
• Bourlon Wood Canadian Memorial
The German Army Retreats - The Arras and Canal
du Nord battles cost over 30,000 Canadian
casualties but helped break the German army's
final defensive positions. After Canadian and other
Allied troops crossed the Canal du Nord, the
German forces were in full retreat. The end of the
war was near. In the final month of the war, Allied
forces pushed ahead on all fronts. The Canadians,
having lost more than 40,000 killed and wounded
since August, closed on Mons, a city of huge
symbolic value. From here, British troops had
staged an epic fighting retreat in the early days of
the war, delaying the Germans in their advance
towards Paris but suffering heavily in the process.
Now, the Canadians had a chance to capture
Mons on the last day of the war... which is exactly
what they did.
At approximately 12.30 PM we will have lunch in
Grand Place Mons at own your own expense. This
is where the Canadian Corps Commander, Lt Gen
Sir Arthur Currie, took the salute on 11th
November 1918.
After lunch we will visit:
After breakfast in our hotel and checking out we
depart at 8.00AM to the Mons area via the
Hindenburg Line 1918.
After the victory at Amiens, Allied commanders
agreed on a multi-army offensive along the
Western Front against German forces that, for the
first time in the war, appeared vulnerable. The
ensuing campaign, known as the Hundred Days
(August - November 1918), ended in the defeat of
German forces in the West.
After almost a month of planning and preparation,
the Canadian Corps attacked across the Canal du
Nord in a high-risk operation on 27 September.
Behind a complicated fire plan and the work of
engineers, the Corps crossed the canal and
• St Symphorien Cemetery – Buried here is the
last Canadian soldier to die in combat in the
First World War. He was Private George Price of
the 28th Battalion, killed by a German sniper
northeast of Mons only a few minutes before
the Armistice. The war ended at 11 AM on 11
November 1918.
• The Last Shot memorial
We will leave here at 17.00 PM to drive to Lille
and arrive at Lille Europe station at 6.30 PM
where you will depart.
Accommodation: None
Meals: B
SPECIAL
£100 OFF!
(p/person
if booking WW1
& WW2 tours
together)
21/1/16
TOUR
CODE
DATES
04 – 07 Jul
CA16WILILJ
2016
05 – 08
Sep 2016
CA16WILILS
TWIN /
DOUBLE
SRS*
£667
£170
£667
£170
• Per person based on twin/double share & subject
to a minimum of 6 passengers
• Subject to currency fluctuation & confirmation
at time of booking
* Single Room Supplement
INCLUDES
• Luxury coach with air conditioning
throughout tour
• Military historian and experienced guide
throughout tour
• 1 night at 3 – 4 star hotel, Ypres area
• 2 nights 3 – 4 star hotel, Arras
• 1 night at 4 star hotel, Ypres area
• Breakfast daily
• 2 Packed Lunches
• 2 Dinners
• Tours as detailed in the itinerary
• All entrance fees as detailed in the itinerary
• Comprehensive tour pack
• Social media presentation including original film
footage, images and historical background
• Group forum with photo gallery where group
members can ask your guide questions
• Links through to in-depth research and a wealth
of background information
COSTS DO NOT INCLUDE
• Meals and beverages not detailed in itinerary
• Porters and tips
• Travel to and from Lille
EXTRAS
We are pleased to arrange the following:
(Subject to additional charges)
• Pre or post tour accommodation
• Overnight accommodation in Lille for those who
wish to join the Canadians at War – WW2 Tour
• Travel to and from Lille to meet tour and return
to your final destination
• Single supplements
TERMS & CONDITIONS
• £200 Per Person deposit required to confirm booking
• Final Payment 12 weeks prior to departure
• Please see website for full Terms & Conditions
For enquiries or booking please contact: [email protected] or call 01634 233785