MTBS 2016 History Dept WWI Battlefields Trip: April 2016

What a busy day we've had! After an hour-and-a-half drive from Ypres, we arrived at the road to Sheffield Cemetary, where the Accrington Pals and other northern Pals' Battalions were based. We walked the 200 metres through No-Man's Land and the boys had the chance to study the records from the first day of the Somme Offensive, on the 1st July 1916. The Offensive has been highly criticised by modern commentators and historians, who have viewed General Haigh's tactics of walking 'steadily' towards the enemy as reckless with the lives of his men.

We then travelled to Beaumont-Hamel, a large memorial to the Newfoundland regiment who suffered extremely heavy losses on the first day of the Somme Offensive.

We had a much-needed lunch at Ulster Tower (thanks for the sandwiches Menin Gate Hostel!), then moved on to Thiepval. The boys had a great time looking through the records for matching surnames, but were also sobered by the scale of the monument and, therefore, the amount of lost soldiers from across the Empire. We also spotted one of our Old Boys, 2nd Lieutenant Zacharias.

Finally, we paid a very special visit to Mr Heap's friend, Philippe. Philippe, through his own passion and enthusiasm for the Battle of Cambrai, discovered a buried tank that turned out to be the tank commanded by Mr Heap's great grandad, Frank, during Cambrai! Whilst generally being somewhat of an expert on WWI artefacts and events, Philippe has made himself an expert on the story of this particular tank; and the boys were given a detailed history, in addition to being able to handle some WWI artefacts.

Tonight we enjoyed a delicious home cooked three-course meal, and the boys have burned off steam in the garden with a football. Despite some cloudiness today, the weather this evening has been beautiful. Tomorrow morning we travel toVimy Ridge, hopefully for a clear and bright final day before heading back to Belgium!