WAR SCARS ON THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE
WWI Battlefields
of the Somme
The
Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles of WWI, a desperate
attempt by the allies during the clear weather of the summer though
autumn of 1916 to push through the German
trench lines north of Paris across a 95 mile front which ultimately cost
over a million casualties. The first day of the battle alone was the
deadliest
ever
in
British
Army recorded 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 during
WWI in the bloody battlefields
of the one time peaceful farmlands of Somme River valley (see Battlefields Tours by Rail).
The
Battle of the Somme was recreated with scenes depicted in the
recent World War I movie "War Horse" where the
German
and Allied armies
met in the tragic stand-off of trench warfare
across a field of barbed wire where the armies
slogged back and forth in a mudhole of artillery bombardments, with
thousands
dying for mere inches across the "No
Man's Land". At the end of months of brutality 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
heroic Australian
troops made a desperate and tragic stand. A 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). © Bargain
Travel Europe
Find the best deals on hotels in Albert on TripAdvisor
Normandy
D-Day Tour From Paris
Eurostar
Booking
Center
Web Info
Somme
Trench Museum 1916
WWI
Links
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SEE ALSO:
BELLEU
WOOD - AMERICAN MILITARY CEMETERIES IN FRANCE
WAR DAMAGED CATHEDRAL VALENCIENNES
PASSCHENDAELE & TYNE COT CEMETERY - FLANDERS FIELDS
KAISER WILHELM II FORT DE MUTZIG - ALSACE
70TH ANNIVERSARY NORMANDY D-DAY TOURS
