A BRIEF LOOK AT THE HISTORY:

After the disaster of Gallipoli (1915) the Australian & New Zealand troops were progressively transferred to France (Marseilles), beginning in March 1916.  And whilst Gallipoli was the first battle that ANZAC forces encountered during World War I, it was the Western Front in northern France and Belgium where Australian and New Zealand troops would go on to serve in their greatest number and, tragically, suffer its largest & most horrendous casualties.

The Australian and New Zealand men who fought in the First World War were undoubtedly amongst the bravest of all troops in the theatre of war. Their ferocious tenacity gained them the distinction of being used as 'shock troops', and given the most difficult of attacks to make. It is not surprising that ANZAC troops suffered the greatest percentage of casualties to men employed than any other allied army. In fact, 64.8% of all of the 417,000 ANZAC combatants were killed or injured in the Great War. And it is not often realised that the Aussies lost more men at Poziers and Bullecort than at Gallipoli.

Australian and New Zealand soldiers on the Western Front won recognition from both Allies and enemy alike as elite storm troops possessed of great courage, tenacity and initiative. On the Somme and at Passchendaele they suffered heavy losses in two of the costliest attritional battles of the war. Elsewhere they achieved outstanding success at Messines, Villers-Bretonneux, Le Hamel and Le Quesnoy. 

THE CEMETERIES:

Tyne Cot Cemetery: The world's biggest Commonwealth cemetery with 11,908 graves and 34,927 names engraved on the rear wall of the cemetery. Tyne Cot still contains remnants from the WWI including several concrete pill boxes used by the German Army. These boxes were built above ground as the land was not suitable for digging trenches & bunkers, with its narrowing openings designed for firing on enemy, often at chillingly short range. The empowering size of Tyne Cot Cemetary serves as a sad & sombre reminder of the sheer magnitude of death and suffering that war has inflicted on the modern world over the past century.

Messines: the Messines Ridge Cemetery and New Zealand Memorial to the Missing (left) sited on land that previously belonged to the Royal Institution of Messines and where the landmark Moulin d'Hospice once stood. The New Zealand Memorial to the Missing bears the names of 839 New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in the area but who have no known grave. It is one of seven such New Zealand Memorials in Flanders and France and followed a decision by the Government of the time to have the names of missing New Zealand soldiers commemorated close to where they fell. The cemetery contains the graves of 1,531 Commonwealth servicemen, 954 of whom are not identified. 128 New Zealanders have their graves in the cemetery although several of these are commemorated on common memorial headstones.

• Western Front ANZAC Tour 2009 Itinerary

Day 1: Friday 24 April

We will have an early evening departure from London on Eurostar for our journey to Lille. On arrival in Lille we will transfer by coach, to our accommodation for the weekend.

Day 2: Saturday 25 April
An early start as after breakfast we split into 2 groups today [Australian & New Zealanders] to begin our specially designed itinerary. This will include: NZ ANZAC Service at Messines, Australian ANZAC Service at Tyne Cot, and battlefield walks. We have a full programme of activities based on the battles fought in this area by the ANZAC.

Tonight our groups will come together at Ypres (see more info on Ypres below) for an evening meal before transferring back to Messines. 

Day 3: Sunday 26 April
Another early start as we check out of our accommodation and board our coaches for guided tours of Zonnebeke and Passchendaele. You will have plenty of time to visit the battlefields and other historical sites, before we transfer back to Lille and our evening Eurostar departure back to London 

YPRES

Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. Ypres was a strategic position during World War I because it stood in the path of Germany's planned sweep across the rest of Belgium and into France from the north, moreover, the neutrality of Belgium was guaranteed by Britain. After the war the town was rebuilt using money paid by Germany in reparations, with the main square, including the Cloth Hall and town hall, being rebuilt as close to the original designs as possible. (The rest of the rebuilt town is more modern in appearance.) The Cloth Hall today is home to In Flanders Fields Museum, dedicated to Ypres's role in the First World War.

The poem "In Flanders Fields" was written upon a scrap of paper upon the back of Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, during a lull in the bombings (as recited to his grandson).

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

Keep checking the website for your full range of tours available in 2009!