http://www.guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk/

Guided Battlefield Tours, 22 Oakfield Road, Newport (2024)

22/12/2022

Winter sun on Ovillers Military Cemetery on the Somme. The village of La Boisselle can be seen in the distance. The ground in between is Mash Valley. The 34th and 8th Divisions lost heavily in an unsuccessful attack up this valley on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

14/11/2022

Looking at Fricourt from just behind the British lines of 1 July 1916. Fricourt New Military Cemetery is in the foreground and cattle are grazing on the craters of the Triple Tambour Mines to the right. The craters are on the site of the German front line. The 10th West Yorks attacked across this ground on 1 July 1916, suffering the greatest number of casualties of any battalion on the day. Mametz can be seen in the distance.

The broad gravel track is a recent creation. The cemetery was in the middle of fields. A similar track now also runs past the two Point 110 cemeteries, which are on the high ground to the right. The cemeteries are now more accessible, but there is no doubt that the tracks have affected the atmosphere previously created by their remoteness.

03/11/2022

Looking across the Ancre Valley from Hamel. The Ancre Valley British Cemetery lies in the valley bottom. St Pierre Divion church is clearly visible on the other side. German machines guns sited here were able to pour enfilading fire across the valley. A track from the church leads to the site of the Schwaben Redoubt on the higher ground in the distance.
The 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers and 12th Royal Irish Rifles lost heavily on 1 July 1916 attacking in vain across the area in the foreground.

21/10/2022

Some other photos from our August Somme recce. We sat on the wall of Point 110 Cemetery to eat our lunchtime sandwich and we were given our own air show. Two French air force planes practised dog fighting tactics right over our heads.

15/10/2022

The roses in Becourt Cemetery looked wonderful when we were there in August this year.

25/02/2022

A bright winter's evening over Guillemont Road Cemetery yesterday. The WW1 Prime Minister's son, Raymond Asquith, is buried here. Longueval and Delville Wood are in the distance.

23/02/2022

Aveluy Wood Cemetery this morning. Very atmospheric in the morning mist. The most recent entry in the visitors' book was November 2021. Spending a week on the Somme continuing research for our book.

14/11/2021

We took our family medals to the local Remembrance Sunday service today. This is something we have not done before. Remembering:

Bombadier Walter Tyrrell RFA (Steve's grandad)

Craftsman Charles William Hollands REME (Susan's dad)

11/11/2021

Some photos for 11 November. We had the privilege of taking people to Ypres for Armistice Day 2018. It was a powerful experience to be in a town around which over 250,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers died in WW1 exactly 100 years to the minute since the guns went silent. I thought that people might appreciate seeing the photos on Armistice Day 2021.

08/11/2021

When we were in Ypres last week, we walked around the ramparts to the Lille Gate and the Ramparts Cemetery. The lawn of the cemetery runs down to the water of the town moat. No matter how many times we go back, the sense of calm and tranquility never loses its force.

06/11/2021

There was an interesting art installation on the Ramparts at Ypres this week. It was made up of barbed wire piquets and salvaged wooden sleepers that had once been part of the trench narrow gauge railway system. Each sleeper had a face carved on it. There was also the remains of a trench narrow gauge truck.

In addition to the installation, it was a wonderful autumn day to walk the ramparts.

04/11/2021

In Ypres this week- the first time in two years. There is a lot of renovation taking place. It was great to be back and it brought back memories of lots of fantastic tours.

30/10/2021

We are spending a week on the Somme working on our book. We saw this amazing autumn sunset over Montauban.

17/10/2021

One of the panels by Charles Sergeant Jagger on the Royal Artillery Memorial in London. They are true masterpieces. Sadly, they are becoming eroded away by the weather and pollution. They deserve to be preserved.

19/09/2021

We were in London yesterday and took another look at the Bomber Command Memorial. It really is a magnificent memorial. My uncle Jim, Flight Lieutenant James C***s DFC was very much in my mind. He was grounded in 1945 after over 50 operations.

12/09/2021

Authuille Cemetery. The cemetery is in a wonderfully tranquil setting, sloping down to the banks of the River Ancre. It is just above the site of Black Horse Bridge, a major crossing point for troops moving up to the front around Thiepval. The river bank here was a line of dug outs and is mentioned in numerous accounts. It is a shame that the cemetery is infrequently visited.

02/09/2021

We also came across this memorial, Victory Over Blindness, at the entrance to Manchester Piccadilly Station. We had not been up to Manchester for about three years and so had not seen it before. It Commemorates the work of the St Dunstans Charity which was set up in World War 1 and works with military personnel blinded in service.

31/08/2021

We came across this wonderful Jagger sculpture in the entrance of the old S and J Watts building in Manchester. It is part of the memorial to company employees who died in World War 1. In our view Charles Sergeant Jagger is without doubt the greatest of the WW1 memorial sculptors.

24/08/2021

The memorial to WW1 fallen of the Commonwealth in Arras Cathedral. The wreath is from the Welsh Guards who were the last Allied troops to leave the town on 24 May 1940 and the first to re-enter it on 1 September 1944.

19/08/2021

This wonderful collection is on display in Arras Cathedral. It is made up of objects taken from the ruins of the cathedral by British soldiers as souvenirs in World War 1. They were all returned by soldiers in later life or by their families following their death. The candlesticks were taken home by Private Frank Knibbs in 1917. They were returned by his daughter and two granddaughters in 2016.

16/08/2021

The latest phase of renovating the Thiepval memorial is well under day. It is due for completion in May 2022.

14/08/2021

Good to be back in Arras. Seems ages since we were here last. Brings back lots of memories of great tours.

06/08/2021

A Mark IV tank from the Tank Corps Memorial Pozières, Somme. Unveiled in 1922, it marks the site of the first ever tank action. The four small replicas make the memorial very distinctive.

17/07/2021

Caterpillar Valley Cemetery looking across to High Wood, one of the most fought over locations on the Somme. The German held Wood was first attacked in a cavalry charge on 14 July 1916 and eventually captured by the London Division on 15 September.

09/07/2021

Y Ravine Beaumont-Hamel, Somme, today. This was an enormously powerful position guarding the southern approach to the village. A warren of shelters and passageways, burrowed deep into the chalk, built from wood, iron girders and concrete. The attack on it failed on 1 July 1916 and it was captured by the 51st Highland Division on 13 November.

01/07/2021

First day of the Battle of the Somme. 105 years ago today. A sea of poppy crosses 1 July 2016 on our Somme Centenary tour.

21/06/2021

And lo a mighty army came out of the north. Memorial at Serre to the men of West Yorkshire who served in WW1. The Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield Pals attacked the village in 1916 on the first day of the Somme. The 834 French soldiers buried in the cemetery behind are from a previous attack on the village in June 1915. The quote is taken from Jeremiah.

17/06/2021

Somebody is still remembering Karl Jung or Heinrich Friedrich, both killed on the Somme in September 1916. The German Cemetery at Rancourt. Standing at the German cemetery gate, there is a British cemetery and a French cemetery, each just a few hundred yards away. The village is well worth a visit.

09/06/2021

Montauban on the Somme. The village was captured on the First Day of the Somme by the Liverpool and Manchester Pals. This was perhaps the outstanding British success of the day. The village church is visible for miles around and a useful landmark on any Somme tour.

06/06/2021

D Day anniversary. Pegasus Bridge veteran Pat Turner by the grave of his mate Fred Greenhalgh. Fred was probably the first Allied D Day casualty on French soil. He was thrown into a pond and drowned when his glider split in two on landing at the bridge. We had the privilege of taking Pat back to Normandy twice, on one occasion with his wife and ex-WRNS Barbara. Sadly Pat died in 2017.

05/06/2021

The striking entrance to the South African Memorial in Delville Wood on the Somme. The cross of Delville Wood Cemetery can be seen through the arch. The memorial commemorates the 11,575 South Africans killed in World War 1.

02/06/2021

The name of Private John Ross of the 8th Royal Scots was removed from the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme. You can clearly see where his name was on this panel. His remains were originally listed incorrectly as those of John Rass and he was assumed to be one of the missing. On discovering the error, his name was removed from the memorial and he is buried in Flat Iron Copse Cemetery. Names are no longer removed in this way.

28/05/2021

The dragon grasps the barbed wire as it looks out defiantly over Mametz Wood, scene of the baptism of fire of the Welsh Division in July 1916. The Welsh Memorial on the Somme at Mametz.

21/05/2021

Serre Road Cemetery Number 1, Somme, last August. The men buried in the front row were in the14th Hampshires. Captain Ernest Green is on the left, Privates Frederick Humphreys and Charles Hammond are on the right and the rest are unknown. The battalion was involved in an attack near Hamel on 3 September 1916. The Hampshires captured the first two German lines, but were driven back out, suffering 457 casualties.

15/05/2021

Luke Copse Cemetery on the Somme last August. This small, secluded cemetery is not frequently visited and always has a powerful sense of calm and tranquility. 72 men are buried here. There are 14 Sheffield Pals from the failed attack on Serre on 1 July 1916. The rest of the men are from the East Yorks and Suffolks, who took part in the second abortive attack on the village on 13 November 1916.

12/05/2021

This grave in St Woollos Cemetery Newport tells a remarkable, although tragic, story. The German passenger ship Belgia was anchored just outside the harbour at Newport on the day broke out. It was boarded by the local police, requisitioned by the government and renamed SS Hunststrick. She was put into British service and her captain was Robert McGregor Duncanson of Newport. She was torpedoed off the coast of Morocco on 8 June 1917 carrying supplies and troops to Salonika. Fifteen lives were lost, including her captain. Just over three weeks later his son Stuart was killed during the Battle of . This is the grave of Amanda Duncanson, who had her husband and son commemorated on her grave. Robert's body was lost and Stuart is buried in Cemetery.

08/05/2021

The village of Beaumont-Hamel on the was completely destroyed during World War 1. This stained-glass image of the Virgin Mary is the only surviving fragment of the original village church. It was found in the rubble by Leutnant Georg Muller of the German 99th Reserve Infantry Regiment and taken home after the war. He returned it in 1962.

04/05/2021

The oldest WW1 private? We came across Pte James Collis VC age 62 in Wandsworth Cemetery. He was awarded the VC in 1880 when in Afghanistan with the Royal Horse Artillery. His medal was forfeited in 1895 when he was found guilty of bigamy. He enlisted into the Suffolks in 1914 and served as a drill instructor. He died in 1918 of heart disease and was buried in a pauper's grave. In 1998 a CWGC VC headstone was placed on his grave.

24/04/2021

Delville Wood on the Somme saw some of the fiercest fighting of the battle in 1916. The wood was destroyed, but one tree survived. This is it.

22/04/2021

A Summer evening in Delville Wood, Somme. The remains of a trench winds its way between the trees. This tranquil scene was the site of bitter fighting and heavy loss of life in July 1916.