Picardy, the Somme, Mametz, Thiepval, Delville Wood, Flers. Place names that would have meant nothing to the British army of spring 1915. By the end of 1916 they would be names that would be engraved in the minds of the survivors of the Battle of the Somme.

Optimism was rife before 1st July 1916, with our French Allies we would break the German line and 'roll up the flanks'. The Regular Soldiers, the Territorials, the keen young New Army Pals and the first of the Conscripts would achieve the breakthrough that had proved impossible since 1914. General Haig wanted his place in history and he accepted huge casualty figures as the only way to win the war, in the only place it could be won – the Western Front.

By mid-morning on 1st July the dream was in tatters. The only ground captured and held was at the southern end of the battlefield adjacent to the French. The British and Empire army on the Somme learnt quickly after that terrible first day, but the next five months were still a bloody struggle over ground with no strategic or tactical value containing a few pulverised villages.

In 1917 the battles moved away as the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line but in 1918 they finally achieved a breakthrough and swept back over the desolate Somme battlefield. Then in August 1918 General Haig executed his breakout from in front of Amiens and pushed the Germans eastward on the road to the Armistice.

John Grimwood has been walking these battlefields for many years and with him you will examine the disasters and success of 1st July 1916, the battle for the woods, the first use of tanks and the last minor successes in the mud and cold of November. We also walk the breakout of 8th August 1918 and look at the final actions on the Somme later that month.

ITINERARY
Day 1 (Friday): Depart Victoria Coach Station, London 0900. Dover – Calais ferry. Drive south to Somme battlefield. Walk 1 – 'Disaster in the North' 1st July 1916 The village of Gommecourt and on to the British Lines and attacks by the 46th and 56th Divisions.Arrive hotel. Dinner and overnight (3 nights).
Day 2: Walk 2 – 'Success in the South' 1st July 1916 . The attacks of the 18th and 30th divisions, adjacent to the French, on the village of Montauban. Thiepval Memorial and Visitor Centre. Picnic lunch. Walk 3 – 'Battle of the Woods and the Tanks'. July to September 1916. The horseshoe of woods. Delville Wood to Flers and onward to Bulls Road CWGC and tanks objective at Gueudecourt.
Day 3: Walk 4 – 'The Mud of Winter' October and November 1916 – the fortified village of Martinpuich to the Butte de Warlencourt. Group lunch in Auchonvillers. Walk 5 – 'Breakout to the Last Hundred Days' 8th August 1918. Battlefield overview at Thiennes. Walk the advance of Canadian, Australian and British attack divisions on 'The black day of the German Army'.
Day 4: Walk 6 – 'The Last Battle of the Somme' Late August 1918. With the Lancashire Fusiliers and Sgt Danny Baker from Serre to the Beauregard Dovecote and Miraumont. Short commemoration ceremony at Bucquoy CWGC cemetery.Lunch break in Arras. Calais – Dover ferry. ETA Dover 1830 and London 2030.