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The Wellington Quarry, a memorial to the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917:
Under the cobbles in Arras, there are the chalk quarries created as far back as the Middle Ages. These were linked up by New Zealand tunnellers to provide “underground barracks” for up to 24000 soldiers ready for the offensive.
The paths of remembrance:
The Regional Council of Nord Pas de Calais has created these so that tourists and visitors to the region gain a better understanding of the causes and consequences of the First World War.
The wall of the executed (Second World War):
In Arras, in the dried-out moat of the citadel, where a large number of Resistance fighters were executed during World War Two.
The Battles of Artois:
On 1 August 1914, there was general mobilisation, war was announced on 2 August and on 3 August a surprise invasion of Belgium took place.
Notre Dame de Lorette:
French national Necropolis; violent combat in 1915. The battlefield with the heaviest fighting between October 1914 and September 1915. This living museum is situated on the hillside of Notre Dame de Lorette, and contains more than 2000 objects as well as reconstructions of dugouts with laser effects.
Canadian National Vimy Memorial:
the most prestigious Canadian monument in Europe erected in memory of the 60 000 young Canadians who lost their lives on French soil. It commemorates the battle of 9 April 1917. The battle was the founding act of the nation. The memorial and the nearby trenches make up a sanctuary which the Maple Leaf nation is anxious to protect.
Memorial to the Battle of Arras and the British cemetery of Faubourg d’Amiens:
located to the north of the citadel, in Faubourg d’Amiens in Arras. It is home to 2652 graves. The memorial wall bears the names of the 35 942 servicemen who died in the Battle of Arras. There is a memorial to the Royal Flying Corps. It commemorates the deaths of the 35 000 British, New Zealand and South African servicemen who lost their lives between that Spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918. The Faubourg d’Amiens cemetery is home to a further 2 652 graves.
The Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916)
First engagement of the First World War. The British and French forces attempted to break through fortified German lines on a North-South line on the British side at Péronne and Bapaume.
Albert: Museum of the Somme 1916
Beaumont-Hamel: Newfoundland Memorial
Pozière: Memorial to the Australian First Division and tank monument
Thiepval: Franco-British monument
Ollivers la Boiselle: Lochnager Crater (the largest hole in the ground in the world from the First World War)
Villers Bretonneux: Saint Quentin memorial.
Ypres
The first battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Flanders. It was the last major battle of the First World War, along with the Battle of Yser. They marked the end of what was known as the race to the sea.
The centre of Ypres: the cloth market and the church of Saint Martin
Flanders Field Museum: situated on the first floor of the cloth market.
Every day at 8pm, under the Menin gate, the trumpet players of the fire brigade of Ypres sound the Last Post in honour of all the fallen soldiers of the Commonwealth.
Paths of Remembrance:
There are four paths to be visited.
The main one is the Arras/Ypres axis which follows the “horrific gash cut by the front”. This circuit leads to the very recent Arras Memorial (Wellington Quarry), to major sites such as Vimy and Lorette, and to lesser-known ones such as the German cemetery of Neuville Saint Vaast, Saint Laurent Blangy cemetery and the British memorial to the Battle of Cambrai at Louverval.
The other three axes cover different themes:
The Eastern axis, entirely located in the Nord département, is dedicated to the war of movement which took place at the very beginning of the conflict, before the combatants occupied the trenches, and the end of the war from the time when the allies started to take the advantage again and forced the Germans to withdraw to the Belgian border, the point they had reached at the time of the Armistice.
The Western circuit leads to the coast which was the support base for the Allies.
The final circuit revisits post-war reconstruction sites with key places to visit including Arras Town Hall and the reconstruction of Bailleul.
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