Belgium | Anzac Day on the Western Front 2012
Visit the key Australian battlefields in France and Belgium and pay your respects to the 48,000 Australians who were killed on the Western Front. This 9-night first-class tour visits all the key Australian battlefield sites, as well as Paris, Champagne, Reims and Bruges. The highlight is the moving Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux. This once-in-a-lifetime tour is escorted by WWI authorities Mat McLachlan, Will Davies and Michael Molkentin.
| Duration: | 10 Days |
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| Tour Code: | ITW137 |
| Trip Style: | Superior - 4 star |
| Departure Dates: | 18 Apr 2012 |
| Price: | Please Contact Us |
| Single Supplement: | $1,097 |
| Places you'll visit: |
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| Highlights: |
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Ideal for Solo Travellers
This tour is guided by one of the world's leading battlefield authorities. It is suitable for solo travellers because, being special interest military tours, you will be with like minded people, many of them travelling on their own.
Trip Details
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: Book and pay the deposit before 30 June 2011 and receive a $500 discount per couple!
GROUP SIZE: Please note this is NOT a small group tour - group size is approx 35.
Day 1, 18 April (Paris)
Welcome to our Western Front tour! After checking in to our Paris hotel, we will come together for a welcome drink. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know our fellow passengers, Tour Manager and War Historian. After drinks, we'll enjoy a welcome dinner in the hotel. (D)
STAR INCLUSIONS: 4-star central Paris hotel - Welcome drink - Dinner
Day 2, 19 April (Paris)
Today will be spent exploring the sights and sounds of Paris, the 'City of Light'. In the morning we will visit Louis XIV's magnificent Palace of Versailles. A local guide will give us an exclusive tour of the spectacular palace, including the Hall of Mirrors, where the Versailles Treaty was signed, bringing the First World War to an end. We will also see some of the Palace's amazing gardens.
After enjoying lunch, we return to Paris for a Panoramic Tour of the city's iconic sights. The Eiffel Tour, Champs Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and Notre Dame will all be seen. At the conclusion of the tour we will have free time to enjoy dinner. (B, L)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Guided tour of the Palace of Versailles - Traditional French lunch - Paris sightseeing tour
Day 3, 20 April (Paris)
Our tour in the footsteps of the Anzacs begins today. After breakfast we depart Paris for Ypres, scene of some of the most horrific fighting of the First World War and our home for the next four nights. On the way we will stop at Epernay, the birthplace of Champagne, and enjoy a guided tour of the cellars of Moet & Chandon. After a tasting of their famous bubbly we will depart for Reims, the historic city in the heart of the Champagne district.
We will have free time for lunch and to explore the historic old town - don't miss the magnificent cathedral, where the Kings of France were once crowned. After leaving Reims we will visit the inspiring Australian 2nd Division Memorial and see the remains of trenches captured by Australian troops on the 1918 battlefield of Mont St Quentin. On arrival in Ypres we will enjoy dinner in our hotel. (B, D)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Guided tour and tasting at Moet & Chandon - Free time in Reims - Central Ypres hotel - Dinner
Day 4, 21 April (Ypres)
Between 1914 and 1918 the town of Ypres was the centre of four great battles, and was completely destroyed by shellfire. Today the rebuilt town is one of the iconic places on the Western Front. This morning, join your historian for a walking tour around the town, visiting key sights from the war such as the magnificent Cloth Hall, St George's Chapel, St Martin's Cathedral, the Menin Gate and Ramparts Cemetery.
After some free time for lunch, we will visit the outstanding In Flanders Fields Museum, a provocative collection of relics and displays that chronicles the fighting in Flanders and the personal stories of the people involved. This evening we will return to the Menin Gate, where the names of 54,000 missing British and Commonwealth soldiers are recorded, for the moving Last Post ceremony. The Ypres fire brigade has performed this bugle ceremony every day and in all weather since the memorial opened in 1927. The only interruption was during the four years of German occupation during the Second World War - the ceremony recommenced on the day the town was liberated. Two of our passengers will be invited to lay a wreath on behalf of the group. (B)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Walking tour around Ypres - In Flanders Fields Museum - Participation in Last Post Service at the Menin Gate
Day 5, 22 April (The Ypres Salient)
The Ypres Salient was a bulge in the front line that curved around Ypres for most of the war. More than a million men were killed or wounded trying to gain control of this small patch of ground. Today we will explore the Australian battlefields in the Salient, places where the Anzacs made history in 1917.
Our first stop will be the Passchendaele Museum which features a recreated British dugout. We will then visit the 5th Australian Division Memorial at Polygon Wood and see the graves of Private Hunter and Sergeant Calder, the two Australian soldiers who featured in Mat McLachlan's and Michael Molkentin's documentary 'Lost in Flanders'.
Lunch is included at Cafe de Dreve, where the owner, Johan Vandewalle, will tell us about his discovery of the bodies of Private Hunter and Sergeant Calder in a Belgian field. We then get a taste of the devastation caused by four years of continuous artillery fire at the cratered landscape of Hill 60, before visiting Tyne Cot, the world's largest Commonwealth war cemetery. Tyne Cot sits in the heart of one of the most horrific battlefields of the war - Passchendaele.
Our final stop today is at the German Cemetery at Langemarck, where we will learn about the men on the other side of the line. As we drive back to our hotel we will see the magnificent Canadian memorial at Langemarck, marking the spot where poison gas was first used in the war. (B, L)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Full day touring the battlefields of the Ypres Salient - Passchendaele 1917 Museum - Lunch - Presentation by Johan Vandewalle
Day 6, 23 April (Bruges)
We will spend time today exploring Bruges, one of Europe's most charming medieval cities. Wander the cobbled streets, take a cruise on one of the city's enchanting canals, ride through the picturesque squares in a horse and cart or sample the lace boutiques, chocolate shops and cafes that make Bruges famous.
On the drive back to Ypres we will stop at Essex Farm Cemetery, where in 1915 Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae composed 'In Flanders Fields', the most famous poem of the war. We will also visit the ominously named Trench of Death, where the preserved trenches give a frightening impression of the four bitter years of war. (B)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Tour to beautiful Bruges - Essex Farm Cemetery - Trench of Death
Day 7, 24 April (Ypres to Amiens)
Today we leave Ypres and travel south to the battlefields of the Somme. Our first stop is the battlefield of Messines, scene of a huge Allied attack in 1917 that was heralded by the explosion of 19 massive mines. We will then travel to French Flanders, and the very moving 1916 battlefield of Fromelles, where Australia lost 5533 men during its first action on the Western Front.
While here we will visit the Australian Memorial Park, VC Corner Cemetery (the only all-Australian cemetery in France), the site of the recently discovered Australian mass grave at Pheasant Wood and the brand new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery, where 250 Australian and British soldiers were laid to rest in 2010.
Leaving Fromelles, we will visit the magnificent Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge and spend time wandering the maze of preserved trenches on the site. Our final stop of the day is the battlefield of Bullecourt, where Australia lost 10,000 men in two great battles in 1917. We will pay our respects to them at the Slouch Hat memorial in the centre of town and the Australian Memorial Park on the site of the German front line. A packed lunch is included today, and we will enjoy dinner in our hotel on our arrival in Amiens. (B, L, D)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Touring of the battlefields between Ypres and the Somme including Fromelles, Vimy Ridge and Bullecourt - Picnic lunch - Amiens Hotel - Dinner
Day 8, 25 April (Anzac Day)
An Anzac Day we will never forget! We have an early start this morning and a short drive to the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. We will gather here with thousands of other Australians to pay our respects to our 48,000 countrymen who were killed during fighting on the Western Front. As the sun rises over the imposing memorial to Australia's 11,000 missing from France, the strains of the Last Post will echo across the countryside, peaceful now, but the scene of a monumental Australian victory on Anzac Day 1918.
After this moving ceremony we will begin our tour of the 1916 battlefields of the Somme. Our first stop will be the imposing Lochnagar Mine Crater, which was detonated beneath the German lines on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Even though erosion has reduced the size of the crater it is still enormous - more than 100 metres across and 30 metres deep.
We will then visit the village of Pozieres, scene of the most costly battle in Australia's history. 23,000 men were killed or wounded in six weeks' fighting, and we will visit the scenes of their heroic sacrifice at the 1st Division Memorial and the Windmill. We will also have time to walk the battlefield with our historian, gaining a better understanding of the fighting that led to more Australian casualties than any other battle in our history. We will then return to our hotel where our afternoon is free to rest after a memorable morning. (B, L)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonnuex - Picnic lunch - Touring of the Somme battlefields
Day 9, 26 April (Amiens to Paris)
Our last day in the footsteps of the Anzacs will see us return to the 1916 Somme battlefields, where we will visit the maze of trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial Park. The Newfoundland Regiment was almost wiped out here on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
We will then drive past the Ulster Tower, modelled on Helen's Tower in Northern Ireland, before visiting the spectacular Thiepval Memorial, where the names of more than 72,000 British men missing from the Somme fighting are recorded. We will also see Mouquet Farm, scene of a costly advance by Australian troops in August 1916.
We then return to Villers-Bretonneux, where we will visit Adelaide Cemetery, the place where Australia's Unknown Soldier lay for 75 years before being returned to Australia in 1993. We will also visit the remarkable Victoria School, home to a wonderful small Australian museum, and where a sign in the playground entreats that the students 'Do Not Forget Australia'.
We will then return to the Australian National Memorial where we commemorated Anzac Day the previous day, to spend some peaceful time exploring the memorial, reading the names of the missing Australian soldiers and taking a last opportunity to pay our respects to the original Anzacs.
We then farewell the battlefields and board our coach for the return trip to Paris. This evening we will enjoy a farewell dinner while cruising along the Seine River, a wonderful opportunity to see the landmarks of Paris bathed in light. (B, D)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Touring of the Somme battlefields - Victoria School Museum - 4-star central Paris hotel - Farewell Seine cruise (with dinner)
Day 10, 27 April (Paris)
Sadly our Western Front Tour ends this morning after breakfast. The journey may be over but the memories will last a lifetime. (B)
STAR INCLUSIONS: Assistance with hotel check-out
Mat McLachlan
Mat McLachlan is one of Australia's leading war historians and battlefield guides, and has spent more than a decade following in the footsteps of Australian troops on battlefields around the world. His 2007 book, Walking with the Anzacs, is considered the definitive guide to Australian battlefields on the Western Front. It was reprinted in 2008. Mat also produced and appears in the First World War documentary Lost in Flanders, airing on the ABC in 2009. His next book, Walking with the Anzacs: Gallipoli, will be released in 2010 and will be the most comprehensive guide to the Australian battlefields of Gallipoli yet published. He also appears regularly as a historian on the ABC, The History Channel and Channel 7's Sunrise. Mat is the founder of Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours and personally designs or escorts all our tours.
Will Davies
Will Davies has been a documentary producer for over 30 years. He is a major producer of historical programmes including When the War Came to Australia, Our Century and Tales From a Suitcase. In 2006 he produced a series of short films on the history of Norfolk Island and 30 short films on relics in the Australian War Memorial. He is the author of five books including the bestseller Somme Mud (editor) and In the Footsteps of Private Lynch and also wrote the driving tour Villers-Bretonneux to le Hamel. He is currently doing a PhD at the ANU in Canberra and is working on other books on the Great War. Will is the historian on many of our Western Front tours.
Michael Molkentin
Michael Molkentin has had a life-long interest in the First World War. He graduated from the University of Wollongong with first class honours in history in 2004, where he wrote his thesis Culture, Class and Experience in the Australian Flying Corps. Michael has been awarded scholarships by the Australian War Memorial and the NSW Premier for his work on Australians in the First World War. His articles have appeared in the Journal of the Australian War Memorial, the Wartime magazine, Teaching History and Cross and Cockade International. He was a featured contributor to the television documentary Lost in Flanders. Michael teaches History at the Shellharbour Anglican College and is passionate about helping Australians understand their wartime heritage. He is currently preparing his first book, a history of the Australian Flying Corps for Allen & Unwin. Michael is a regular historian on our Western Front tours.
Inclusions
- All excursions, scenic drives and sightseeing as described in the itinerary
- Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux
- Educational kit - follow the service of an Australian soldier as you travel across the battlefields
- 9 nights 3-4 star accommodation
- Hotel porterage
- Breakfast daily, 3 lunches, 4 dinners (including farewell Seine river cruise with dinner and entertainment)
- Welcome drink in Paris
- Services of a Tour Manager, Driver plus a WWI War Historian and experienced local guides
- All entrance fees as per the itinerary
- Travel by First Class air-conditioned coaches with fridge, toilet, DVD player and seatbelts
- Local taxes and end of tour tips to your Tour Manager, Historian and Driver
- Souvenir cap
- All tips to your Tour Manager, Historian and Drive
- Autographed copy of Mat McLachlan's definitive guide to the Western Front, Walking with the Anzacs
- Quality travel bag
- Detailed map showing the battlefields and key sites visited on the tour
Terms & Conditions
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For more information, availability and pricing and options, please contact our expert travel specialists at Inspired Travel Worldwide on (02) 9449 8598 or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.
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