Category: Tours

The recently restored equestrian statue of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. It was created by French sculptor Paul Landowski in 1931. The statue was melted down by the Germans when they occupied France in 1940. The new monument, cast from the old mould, was erected in 1950. Montreuil sur Mer was the local of British Army GHQ from 1916. This photograph was taken in November 2024.

This area was fought over for most of the war. The name derives from the position being sixty metres above sea level. Much of the action here was underground. It was probably the where British blew their first mine of the war in February 1915. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded in the years of combat at Hill 60. In June 1917, the British Second Army detonated nineteen mines under the German positions removing the Germans from Messines Ridge. The two northern-most mines were at the Caterpillar and Hill 60.

A British bunker on the upper part of Hill 60.

The cemetery was developed on the site of a moated chateau. In the early part of the war it was used by nearby British Field Ambulances and Dressing Stations as a burial ground. In 1917, the chateau was used by 55 Brigade as an HQ and severely damaged by artillery fire. In one day during Third Ypres nearly 500 gas shells were dropped in the area.

This memorial stands on the ridge to the south west of Langemark to commemorate the units of the 38th Welsh Division which took part in the attack on the opening day of Third Ypres, 31st July 1917.

The Last Post ceremony at Ploesteert takes place on the first Friday of each month at 7pm.

Members of the Household Division form up in Ypres for a march through the town to commemorate the action of the Household Cavalry at Zanvoorde in October 1914.

Outside St George’s Chapel Ypres

No tours can currently take place owing to the restrictions imposed upon international travel. The tour to Ypres planned for mid May has been cancelled. The only tour with firm dates will be to Arras from May 19-22 next year. Other tours will have to be rearranged when the travel situation becomes clearer.

This memorial to the Black Watch commemorates the battle known as ‘Nonne Boschen’ (Nun’s Wood) on 11 November 1914. The Prussian Guard together with the 54th Reserve Division had been ordered to take Polygon Wood. The barrage began at 0630. At 0900 German troops advanced on a nine mile front in mist and rain. Across the line the attack faltered apart from a gap between the southern end of Polygon Wood and Nun’s Wood. A company of Royal Engineers with forty members of the Black Watch had just completed a strong point here. This was merely a trench inside a cottage garden with a few strands of barbed wire. When the Guards attacked the British troops opened up such an effective fire that the Germans broke formation. With the help of divisional artillery they were stopped and eventually beaten back. The action of the Black Watch in preventing any breakthrough has been remembered here with this fighting figure.