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and secret spots missed by travel tours.
WAR SCARS ON THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE
WWI Battlefields
of the Somme
The
Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles of WWI, in a desperate
attempt by the allies in the summer to fall of
1916 to push through the German
trench lines north of Paris across a 95 mile front costing over a million
casualties. The first day of the battle was the
deadliest
ever
in
British
army history.
Driving
along the
backroads
between
Paris and 
Belgium,
north of Amiens, you come across
a series of cemeteries laid out in crisp rows of ordered headstones and
marked with memorial columns. The great disasterous offensive
of the Battle of the Somme
was launched from the trenches near Albert, France north eastward. There
are separate cemeteries along the road between Proziers and Albert for
the French,
English, Americans and Australians who died in
WWI in the 
Battle
of the Somme the tragic stand-off of trench warfare in which the allies
and German armies slogged back and forth in a mudhole of artillery
bombardments, with thousands dying for inches acorss the "No Man's
Land". Ultimately, the allies only gained 6 miles of ground. The
German Cemetary for the Somme dead is just east of Albert in Fricourt.
The
Red Baron Von Richtofen was buried there for awhile, but later moved.
Much
of the battlefields have been plowed into flat farmland, but there
is
a small patch of ground which has been left as it was with the bombardment
pock marks remaining like earthen acne scars on the landscape where
Australian
troops made a desperate and tragic stand. A great monument adorned
with miniature WWI tanks stands at the edge on the former battle
field. French farmers still today come across the occasional unexploded
artillery shell.
Tours
of the
cemetaries
and other sights can be arranged in Albert, leaving from the rail station.
In Albert, the Somme 1916 Museum presents the story of the WWI battles
along with the history of Albert. The little museum and its trench
is located in the center of town next to the church. The
Tommy Bar has a realistic display of what the trenches were like along
with a growing collection of memorabilia. The WWI memorials of the
Somme can be reached in about two hours by car from Paris, or by train
to Albert. For more World War I battlefields you can continue on into
the Belgium fields
of
Westhoek near Bruges for the Flanders Fields monuments (see Belgium
Flanders Fields in WWI) or head south
west of Paris to the Champagne region for battles of the Marne (see Belleu
Wood Marne Memorial). ©
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Somme
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SEE ALSO:
OVER THERE - OVER THERE
American Military Cemetaries in France
CANNON
BALLS AND BOULES BALLS
War Damaged Valenciennes
ENGLISH
KINGS & ALE, WITCHCRAFT AND FOOTBAL
North Moreton & Stapleton's Chantry
PASSCHENDAELE & TYNE COT CEMETERY - FLANDERS
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