NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM

I recently visited the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire after originally planning to go in 2025 but having to cancel due to train/tube strikes and the bad weather.

As I live on the south coast I booked a couple of nights away in Tamworth which gave me the chance to spend a whole day at the Arboretum.

I travelled up on the Sunday and after checking in to the hotel spent the evening walking around Tamworth and enjoying dinner and a pint at the local Wetherspoons, The Bole Bridge.

Early Monday morning I headed back to the train station and picked up the local bus service whick took about 30 minutes to reach the Arboretum.

I arrived just as they opened and was greeted by a very polite member of staff who enquired if it was my first visit and was there any memorials in particular that I was interested in seeing.

As I had already purchased a guide book a few weeks before I had a very good idea and plan for the day.

As I had left the hotel early I took the opportunity to enjoy a breakfast at the Arboretum restaurant which was very nice. I have to say, once again, all the staff were very polite. Breakfast eaten it was time to start exploring.

Before I talk about just a few of the memorials I visited, a short history of the site.

The National Memorial Arboretum is a site of remembrance in Alrewas near Lichfield, Staffordshire.

The idea was suggested by Commander David Childs, CBE who, in 1988, wished to create a centre for remembrance to those who had lost their lives in defence of their country.

In 1994 Prime Minister John Major launched an appeal believing that the Arboretum would become a living tribute to the service men and women.

Three proposals were agreed... the site was to be the location of the Armed Forces Memorial, the Ministry of Defence would pay a grant allowing free entry into the site and The Royal British Legion would accept the site as somewhere for the nation's year-round remembrance. 

At first there was no money for the land, staff or trees and it was only an idea. Fortunately The National Lottery granted forty per-cent of the funds required with extra funds being donated by both civilian and military organisations.

The area chosen for the site was reclaimed gravel workings located between the Trent and Tame Rivers and donated by Tarmac Lafarge.

Work commenced in 1997 and the Arboretum was officially opened on 16 May 2001 by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent.

The site covers approximately 150 acres, contains more than 25,000 trees and over 420 memorials to the armed forces, civilian organisations and voluntary bodies that all played a part in serving the country.

The largest memorial, which is positioned at the heart of the Arboretum close to the entrance, is the Armed Forces Memorial. A tribute to 16,000 service personnel who lost their lives in conflict or as a result of terroist acts, since the Second World War.

Designed by Liam O'Connor Architects there are inner and outer walls with each of the names inscribed on them.

At 11am on 11 November each year the sun shines through the gaps between the inner and outer walls casting a shaft of light across the wreath that sits in the centre of the memorial.

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The first memorial to be erected was The Polar Bear Memorial: 49th Infantry West Riding Division. Made from yellow hardwood it took six years to create. Standing 9ft long, 5ft high and weighing over 2 tonnes it is an impressive structure.

It is a tribute to the 49th Infantry West Riding Division who fought in Flanders during the First World War. They received the nickname 'The Polar Bears' during the Second World War when they were stationed in Iceland and fought in Norway, often in more than 20 inches of snow.

The memorial was dedicated in 1998, three years before the Arboretum's official opening in 2001.

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The Guinea Pig Club was formed in July 1941 by Allied aircrew who were being treated for severe burns. The members were being treated by Sir Archibold McIndoe and his team at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. At the end of the war there were more than 600 members of the Club.

McIndoe, born in New Zealand, trained in plastic surgery at St Bartholomew's Hospital and became one of the leading plastic surgeons. His work at the Queen Victoria during World War Two saw those airmen with horrific burns to their faces and bodies, known as 'McIndoe's Guinea Pigs', given pioneering reconstructive surgery.

Carved from green slate the memorial is formed in a similar shape to a Spitfire wing. At the botton there is a depiction of a crashed Hurricane with a vapour trail running down from the top. The trail actually forms a facial outline of McIndoe. An inscription reads, 'Out of the flames came inspiration.'

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The work of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) is remembered with the Vera Atkins Memorial Seat designed in the form of a hexagram, a 6-pointed star, and a shape that is used in many cultures around the world.

The shape of the memorial was chosen as it encompasses a pine tree that was grown from a seed found in a cone from the Natzweiler Concentration Camp by Annette Colton and planted at the Arboretum by her in 2008.

Vera Atkins was an intelligence officer whose responsibility included choosing and looking after the women who were sent to France as couriers, radio operators and to assist the French Resistance. After the war she went back to Europe to find out the fate of those agents who did not return.

There are plaques placed around the memorial with details of those agents who did not return, either executed or died of diseases at concentration camps including Dachu, Ravensbruck and Natzweiler.

The agents include, Violette Szabo, Lilian Rolfe, Diana Rowden, Noor Inayat-Khan and Yolande Beekman but many others are listed.

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Two memorials have a connection with football and they both commemorate events during the First World War.

Christmas Truce Memorial: Football Remembers is dedicated to the soldiers from both sides engaged in an unofficial truce in No Man's Land on the Western Front on Christmas Day 1914. During this brief respite from the horrors of war they shook hands, chatted, exchanged gifts and took part in an impromptu game of football.

Designed by ten-year old Spencer Turner it features two bronze hands, one British and one German, shaking hands all enclosed within a wire football. The stone plinth has the wording, 'Christmas Truce 1914... Football Remembers'.

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The second football related memorial is to the players, staff and supporters of Clapton Orient Football Club who served and died with the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. They became known as The Footballers Battalion.

The dedication reads, 'Footballers who were used to playing together on the field wished also to be together on the battlefields of Flanders and to be side by side with those with whom they fought at football.' In October 1946, Clapton Orient Football Club adopted the name Leyton Orient.

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Also in this area of the Arboretum is a stone with a plaque that has final lines from Robert Laurene Binyon's poem, For The Fallen, 'They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them.'

It also bears the inscription, 'In Rembrance of 956,703 British Empire men and women who fell in the Great War 1914-1919.'

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Many women have seen active service, both at home and on the battlefields, and their contributions are remembered on several memorials.

The Women's Land Army and Timber Corps Memorial is a tribute to those women who provided additional agricultural support and provided food and timber to aid the war effort.

By 1943 more than 80,000 worked in the Land Army and were known as Land Girls. A further 6,000, known as Lumber Jills, worked in the Timber Corps.

The bronze memorial shows two girls dressed in their respective uniforms. The Land Girl is holding a sprig of corn and a pitchfork while the Lumber Girl has an axe over her shoulder and is holding a pine cone and sprig of oak, This sybolises both kinds of work they undertook, in agriculture and timber.

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Both the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) and the Auxiliary Territorial Service are commemorated with statues.

The first, known as the 'WRAC Lady', pays tribute to all the women who served in the WRAC between 1949 and 1992. They played a big part in dealing with emergencies and security threats in Northern Ireland, Iraq, the Falklands and many other countries.

The second statue remembers those women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service which was the women's branch of the British Army and who served in the Second World War. Formed in September 1938 it had its roots in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) which was formed in 1917 as a voluntary service. The ATS existed until 1949 when it was merged with the Women's Royal Army Corps.

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Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Benouville Bridge, was a crossing over the Caen Canal. Along with Ranville Bridge (later renamed Horsa Bridge) which spanned the Orne River, their capture was vital in defending the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy and the Airborne Forces drop zones to the west and east of the bridges.

Operation Deadstick, an operation that saw six Horsa Gliders released from Halifax aircraft landing near to the bridges, resulted in the capture of both bridges.

The Pegasus Bridge Memorial, which commemorates this event, depicts three Horsa Gliders set in a giant letter 'S' on a metal column. The 'S' represents the way the raid was carried out... in secret and silence with stealth, speed and surprise.

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The June 1944 D-Day Landings are remembered on the Normandy Veterans Memorial. The design of the memorial is based on the Normandy coastline, viewed from the sea, where the landings took place.

In front is a stone plinth with two metal plaques, one with a brief history of the D-Day landings and the other has the inscription, 'This plot is dedicated to all those men and women who took part in the Normandy Campaign of 1944.'

A map showing the coastline and beaches and the various army groups that landed is also featured..

Nearby are five stones, one for each of the beaches... Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah and Omaha.

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During the First World War 309 soldiers (British and Commonwealth) were shot for desertion, cowardice and other crimes and they are remembered at the Shot at Dawn Memorial.

The main statue depicts a young soldier, blindfolded and about to face the firing squad. Behind the statue are 309 metal posts arranged in a semi-circle, each with a small metal plaque bearing the name, rank, regiment and date and their age when they were shot.

Today it is known that many were underage when they joined up and many more suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), something which wasn't recognised back in the First World War. It would be the 1980s before it was recognised as a medical condition.

A Pardons Campaign which commenced in the early-1990s aimed to pardon those who were wrongly convicted.

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The Royal Airforces Association Remembrance Garden (RAFA) is an impressive memorial to all those who served in the RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces.

In the centre of the 50-metre garden is the Royal Air Force Association emblem, a stainless steel eagle sitting above a globe. The eagle was constructed from more than a thousand hand-forged feathers.

The eagle is surrounded by an RAF roundel separated into four different sections which depicts the Association at the heart of RAF welfare.

The plinth on which the eagle stands has the dedication, 'In friendship and in service one to another we are pledged to keep alive the memory of those of all Nations who died in the Royal Air Force and in the Air Forces of The Commonwealth. In their name we give ourselves to this noble cause. Proudly and thankfully we will remember them.'

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The Women's Royal Air Force Memorial celebrates the work of the women who served alongside their male counterparts in the ranks or as commissioned officers.

The WRAF has had a long and varied history. Formed in 1918 it was disbanded just two years later in 1920. It was replaced in 1939 as the Women's Auxiliary Airforce (WAAF) at the start of the Second World War. The WRAF was reinstated in 1949 and women were enlisted as regulars into their own branch of the RAF. 

In 1982 women were trained to be fully combatant and carried on the same duties as the men. They served in various conflicts including Cyprus, the Falklands and the Gulf War.

The Women's Royal Air Force ceased in 1994 with terms and conditions equal for both men and women and they were absorbed into the RAF.

The memorial features two WRAF personnel either side of their badge and underneath are the dates they were active... 1918-1920 and 1949-1994.

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The railways have played a major and important role in wars over the years and this is remembered with The Railway Industry Memorial which celebrates the achievements of those who worked on the railways and also gave their lives during times of conflict and peace.

The memorial features a Class 8F locomotive made of black granite sitting on top of a plinth. The reverse features a number of depictions of various activities carried out by the railway workers and companies. This is etched onto the black granite.

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The 36th (Ulster) Division Memorial is dedicated to the Officers and Men of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the Nursing and Medical Corps who served behind them during the First World War.

The black granite stone is inscribed with gold lettering and at the top is the heraldic red hand, the insignia badge of the Division. At the centre of the stone is a painting, by J. P. Beadle, of the Attack of the Ulster Division, showing the fighting on the first day of The Battle of The Somme.

Under the painting is the poem 'Lest We Forget' and either side are listed the battlefields in which they fought... Ypres, Messines, Cambrai, Passchendaele, Fricourt and others.

Scattered around the memorial is soil from Ulster's nine counties and also the Somme, Messines, Passchendaele Wytschaete and Polcapelle.

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The Burma Railway Memorial is a tribute to the more than 250,000 Allied prisoners of war and civilians who were forced to build the 258 mile 'Death Railway' which ran between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma.

Work commenced in October 1942 but the pace increased the following year when the Japanese demanded faster progress. The railway was completed in October 1943 but at a terrible loss.

Over 15,000 Allied POWs and 100,000 labourers died during the construction and are remembered in this memorial.

The memorial is constructed from 30-metres of original track and sleepers from the railway which were brought back to Britain in 2001 on HMS Northumberland.

A FEPOW (Far East Prisoners Of War) plaque explains more about the memorial while another at the other end of the track shows the route of the railway. 

The Bridge Over The River Kwai, as it has become known and depicted in the film of the same name, was just a small part of the railway and crossed the Mae Klong River in Kanchanaburi. Following the success of the film people began visiting the bridge and to avoid any confusion that part of the river was renamed Khwae Yai (River Kwai).

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One of the recent additions to the site is the memorial to the 97 soldiers who were killed in the massacre at Le Paradis, France. This was one memorial that had a special significance to me as, back in 2023, I actually visited the site of the massacre during my Leger Battlefield Tour, Dunkirk and Fortress Europe, which was very interesting and emotional.

On 27 May 1940, during the Battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force were trying to retreat back to Dunkirk and then evacuation back to England.

Troops from the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, had become separated from the rest of their unit and occupied, and defended, a farmhouse in the small hamlet of Le Paradis. Running out of ammunition they surrendered. 

Soldiers from the SS Division Totenkopf, commanded by Haupsturmfuhrer Fritz Knochlein, led the prisoners across the road where they were stood against a wall and gunned down. Two, despite their injuries, managed to escape but were captured a few days later.

After the war, Knochlein was convicted and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1949. The two survivors acted as witnesses.

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Having just mentioned one memorial that relates to the events of May 1940, The Battle of France and Dunkirk, it brings me to the final one I will cover in this article.

The Dunkirk Memorial was one of the last I visited during my trip and my own personal favourite due to its simplicity and the fact that it said all that was needed to remember what happened during those few weeks in May when more than 338,000 troops were evacuated from the beaches in Dunkirk. The rifle and helmet sit on pebbles and sand that came from the beaches.

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This article has only covered a few of the memorials I visited and there are many, many more  to be seen.

The National Memorial Arboretum is a beautiful and peaceful place and a great tribute to the many regiments, organisations and events that are remembered here.

As mentioned earlier, the staff are exceptional and very helpful not only in the reception and the restaurant but also out and about. They were always happy to give directions and information.

If you haven't been to the National Memorial Arboiretum I can highly recommend it and am already planning to visit again one day.

Note: There are plans to rename The National Memorial Arboretum and from the end of September it will be known as The Royal British Legion National Remembrance Garden. There has been a lot of controversy with this decision and a petition to stop the change has been signed by thousnads of people. My own feelings is that it should stay as The National Memorial Arboretum.

HISTORY ARTICLES - UPDATED

I recently set up a new profile on my instagram account which concentrates on my interest in World War One, World War Two and my relevant photography... @ww1.ww2_history_photography

This blog has also included a few articles on history and my various Leger Battlefield Tours to Belgium and France and has been updated with two more trips I have made.

This updated article aims to promote those I have featured on this blog over the past few years. They are listed below with the title, date first published, an image, a short excerpt and the link to the full article.

ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE
First published 5 March 2021

Oradour-sur-Glane was a small idyllic village, with a population of around 350, located approximately 15 miles north-west of Limoges which, on 10 June 1944, was the site of one of the worst crimes against civilians in occupied France.

Following the allied landings on 6 June 1944, along the beaches of Normandy, efforts by the resistance increased with the aim to disrupt German supplies and communications. Any organised attacks against German military personnel or property was met with brutal consequences resulting in members of the French resistance or sympathizers being killed or sent to concentration camps. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief for the West, ordered that the resistance must be crushed, swiftly and with ruthless initiative.

There has been much speculation as to why Oradour-sur-Glane was subject to such a horrific massacre, especially when no German troops occupied the village and it seemed likely that the war would pass it by. Of course, as we shall see, this couldn't be further from the truth.

A number of reasons have been given... the killing of German troops by the resistance or an attempt to blow up a bridge at the nearby village of St. Junien. However, the most common theory was the abduction and execution of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Helmut Kampfe.

Read the full article here...

Oradour-sur-Glane

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D-DAY LANDINGS IN NORMANDY
First published 13 June 2022

An early start saw us heading the short journey to Pegasus Bridge, originally the Benouville Bridge, the site of the first action of D-Day.

Led by Major John Howard, a force from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and a platoon of Royal Engineers, landed in fields close to the bridge in three Horsa Gliders at 00:16 on 6 June. The defending Germans were taken by surprise and within ten minutes the bridge was in Allied hands. 

Reinforcements from the 7th Battalion Parachute Regiment soon arrived. One member of the regiment was actor Richard Todd who would go on to play the role of Major Howard in the film The Longest Day.

The bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge in late 1944 in honour of the operation and the name was taken from the shoulder emblem worn by the British Airborne Forces, Bellerophon riding the winged horse Pegasus.

The original bridge was replaced in 1994 and is now housed in the grounds of the nearby museum along with a replica Horsa Glider.

Inside the museum you can follow the story of the capture of the bridge with hundreds of items related to that first attack including uniforms, equipment along with scores of photos and information boards.. A very interesting museum that would take several hours to read and view every item.

Read the full article here...

D-Day Landings In Normandy

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DUNKIRK AND FORTRESS EUROPE

First published 5 August 2023

Following Hitler's invasion of France on 10 May it was only a matter of a few days before his Panzer Divisions had moved through Northern France towards the coast. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and French Army were trapped in a pocket and were forced to retreat to Dunkirk.

Forced back towards the coast they formed a perimeter along the canals and both the Royal Welch Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry were ordered to defend and hold Robecq, Saint Floris and Saint Venant.

This first stop was an opportunity to see the canal area at Saint Venant defended by the Royal Welch Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry and the memorial. We also visited the Communal Cemetery where many of those killed in Saint Venant are buried.

Moving on to Cassel Hill we examined the last stand of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. They had reached Cassel on 25th May and were ordered to hold the western and eastern halves of the town. The plan was to hold the line to allow the BEF to be evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches.

Despite early success in holding the Germans back, continuous heavy air and ground attacks reduced much of the town to ruins. Most of the regiments men were either killed or taken prisoner. However, they had succeeded in delaying the German advance giving the troops in Dunkirk the much needed time to get off the beaches.

Read the full article here...

Dunkirk And Fortress Europe

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WAR BY TIMETABLE

First published 26 August 2024

An early breakfast and then we set off to our first stop of the day, the Steam Railway of the Three Valleys in Belgium whose name derives from the three rivers the line follows, the River Eau Blanche, River Eau Noire and River Viroin. It is a non-profit society that operates the service which connects with the Belgian rail network at Mariembourg.

A specially arranged journey on a period steam train saw us travel the 14 kilometre journey from Mariembourg via Nismes, Olloy-sur-Viroin and Vierves to Treignes, the last station before the French border. The line does continue the 2.5 kilometres to the border but is not used anymore. An enjoyable journey with great views of the Belgium countryside from our carriage. The staff at the station and onboard the train were excellent and very helpful.

At the end of the journey there was time to look around the museum which was very interesting with its collection of various trains, both steam and electric, along with items of railway memorabilia.

Following a quick lunch, Croque Monsieur and a refreshing drink, in the cafe at the station in Treignes we headed out of Belgium and to our next stop in France.

At La Capelle we visited the memorial marking the spot where the German parliamentarians crossed the French lines seeking an Armistice on 7 November 1918.

Read the full article here...

War By Timetable

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OPERATION MARKET GARDEN

First published 18 October 2025

Back in July I went on my sixth Leger Battlefield Tour... Operation Market Garden, the September 1944 military operation aimed at securing a number of bridges in The Netherlands. I was accompanied by my good friend and fellow history enthusiast John Chisholm and in this article I look back at the tour, highlighting the various sites we visited along with a brief overview of what happened during those few days in September. I am also including some of the many photos I took during the tour. 

Operation Market Garden, which lasted nine days from 17th to the 25th September, was General Bernard Montgomery’s attempt to end the war before Christmas, by launching a ground offensive through The Netherlands into Germany with the route secured by Airborne forces.

Market was the Airborne side of the operation by the 101st and 82nd US Airborne Division and 1st British Airborne Division who would land by glider and parachute at various drop and landing zones, with the intention to secure the bridges along the route.

Garden was the ground offensive by the British XXX Corps who would advance across the bridges and over the Rhine. The main bridges were at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem with smaller bridges at Veghel and Grave.

Although most of the bridges were captured the plan eventually failed. The British 1st Airborne Division found itself embattled at Arnhem waiting for XXX Corps, a battle in which only 2,000 Airborne troops would escape out of 10,000.

Read the full article here...

Operation Market Garden

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ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

First published 1 July 2026

An early start saw us heading to Folkestone where we boarded our tour coach before taking the short journey to Dover and the ferry crossing to Dunkirk. 

We were booked in for four nights at the Hotel & Aparthotel Alize in Mouscron, a lovely hotel with great facilities, staff and only a couple of minutes walk from the town square, restaurants and bars. It was also central for our planned visits over the following few days.

On our way to the hotel we made an unplanned stop at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery about a mile from the Belgian city and municipality of Poperinge in the province of West Flanders.

The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials from the First World War with 24 unidentified. There are a further 883 war graves, mostly French and German. 

During our brief visit we visited the grave of Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler who had joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service and in May 1917 went across to France. At first she was stationed at a hospital in Abbeville before transferring to No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station which, in July 1917, was based in Brandhoek, Belgium, close to the frontlines.

On 21 August 1917 the hospital was shelled throughout the day and Spindler was knocked unconscious by an exploding shell. Despite efforts to save her she died less than 30 minutes later in the arms of another nurse.

Read the full article here...

All Quiet On The Western Front

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ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

I recently returned from my latest Leger Battlefield Tour... All Quiet On The Western Front. Once again I had the company of my good friend and fellow history enthusiast John Chisholm.

In this article I look back at the tour and the various sites we visited along with a brief overview of what happened during those dark days. I have also included just a few of the many photographs I took during the tour.

An early start saw us heading to Folkestone where we boarded our tour coach before taking the short journey to Dover and the ferry crossing to Dunkirk. 

We were booked in for four nights at the Hotel & Aparthotel Alize in Mouscron, a lovely hotel with great facilities, staff and only a couple of minutes walk from the town square, restaurants and bars. It was also central for our planned visits over the following few days.

On our way to the hotel we made an unplanned stop at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery about a mile from the Belgian city and municipality of Poperinge in the province of West Flanders.

The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials from the First World War with 24 unidentified. There are a further 883 war graves, mostly French and German. 

During our brief visit we visited the grave of Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler who had joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service and in May 1917 went across to France. At first she was stationed at a hospital in Abbeville before transferring to No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station which, in July 1917, was based in Brandhoek, Belgium, close to the frontlines.

On 21 August 1917 the hospital was shelled throughout the day and Spindler was knocked unconscious by an exploding shell. Despite efforts to save her she died less than 30 minutes later in the arms of another nurse.

Having checked in to the hotel John and I took the opportunity to take a walk around the local area and ended the evening with a refreshing pint at one of the many bars.

Our first full day concentrated on The Battle of the Somme. An 8 o'clock start saw us heading to Peronne and the first of our museum visits, the Grande Guerre Museum (Museum Of The Great War). Situated in a Medieval Castle it is full of great exhibits. Displayed in cut-outs on the floor are an amazing collection of uniforms, firearms and various pieces of militaria.

In one area of the museum can be found many items and relics found on the various battlefields and includes some fascinationg pieces of militaria.

Another unplanned stop was the Devonshire Cemetery where we learnt about the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment who attacked the German lines on 1st July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.

They suffered heavy casualties as they left their forward trench and later the same day those who had survived buried their comrades in the same trench. Of the 163 graves, ten are unidentified and two are not from the Devonshire Regiment.

When you look along the two rows of graves it is easy to see where the original trench had been located.

We learnt about one grave in particular, that of Lieutenant W. N. Hodgson. He was a poet and one of his poems, Before Action was published in The New Witness on 29 June 1916 two days before he went into action with the 9th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He was only 23 when he was killed during the attack on 1 July 1916.

Before Action is a poignant and powerful reflection on the emotions of soldiers in wartime. It's mixture of reverence, nostalgia and finally resignation covers the universal themes of life, death and sacrifice. The final few words are somber but also an acceptance of the inevitable... "Help me to die, O Lord."

Three days after the attack a wooden cross was placed bearing the words, 'The Devonshires Held This Trench, The Devonshires Still Do.' Sometime later the cross disappeared, possibly stolen, and in the 1980s officers of the regiment who were visiting the site made plans to replace the cross and a new stone was placed at the entrance to the cemetery bearing the same words.

Lochnagar Crater, close to the village of La Boiselle, was our next stop. The crater, which  is 21 metres deep and 100 metres wide, was created when a large mine was detonated under the German lines at 7.28am on 1st July 1916. One of 19 mines placed, it is the largest man-made crater on the Western Front.

The mine was placed by the 179th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers to assist the infantry advance at the start of the Battle of the Somme. The British named the mine after 'Lochnagar Street', a British trench from where tunnelling had begun. They dug almost 90 foot down then excavated a distance of 1,030 feet towards the enemy lines. They placed 27 tons of ammonal explosive in two seperate chambers 60 feet apart with the intention of destroying the formidable German Schwaben Hohe (Swabian Heights). Debris from the explosion flew nearly 4,000 feet into the air 

Sufficient explosive was used so not only would it break the surface and form a crater, but enough to result in the spoil falling in the surrounding fields and causing a lip around the crater approximately 15 foot high which would protect the British troops who were advancing. The crater was captured and held by the British but the attack on either flank was defeated by the Germans except for the extreme right flank between La Boiselle and the crater.

Leaving Lochnagar Crater we took the short drive to our next location, The Ulster Tower. Located in Thiepval it stands on what was the German front line during the Battle of the Somme and the site of the Schwaben Redoubt.

The redoubt was a fortified position that overlooked the River Ancre with commanding views. It consisted of many machine-gun emplacements, trenches and dug-outs.

The tower commemorates the 36th (Ulster) Division, who made a historic charge on 1st July, and all those from Ulster, who served in the First World War.  

Standing 70 feet tall it was the first official memorial to be erected on the Western Front and was dedicated on 19th November 1921. It is a replica af the Ulster landmark, Helen's Tower, which is located in the grounds of Clandeboye Estate in County Down, Northern Ireland.

There was a small museum and cafe both of which we took time to visit during our time there.

Before we left our guides pointed out some remains in a field close to the tower, a German observation post in an area known as the Pope's Nose Salient. Unable to take a closer look I did try to capture an image which unfortunately is not that great but I have  included it here.

Our next stop was Newfoundland Park, near Beaumont Hamel, one of the few areas which has remained largely undisturbed since the First World War.

The Park gained its name due to the significance to Newfoundland, as it was the Newfoundland Regiment, part of the 29th Division, that attacked here on 1st July 1916. Purchased by Newfoundland in 1921 and maintained ever since as a memorial, it was designated a Canadian National Historic Site in 1997. Young Canadian volunteers spend time greeting visitors and providing information.

As you enter the park one of the first things you see is a memorial to the 29th Division but it is a little further on that the most impressive structure comes into view, The Memorial to the Missing. The statue of the Caribou atop some stones was chosen as it is  the symbol of the Newfoundland Regiment. On the base are three bronze panels listing the missing.

Directly in front are the original 1st July frontline trenches from where the British and Newfoundland soldiers attacked. We took the opportunity to walk along these original trenches which are zig-zagged, as are most of the trenches on the Western Front, so that if a shell fell in the trench the blast would be contained. It also meant any enemy getting into the trenches could not fire in a straight line.

Following a marked path there are many sites to see including the remains of trenches, both British and Canadian, along with shell holes and dugouts. While some of the trenches are from July 1916 many date from November. It was interesting to spot the corkscrew ended metal poles which were used to support the barbed wire on no-man's-land.

Mid-way across no-man's-land is the Danger Tree, a preserved tree that is thought to be original and possibly marks the limit of the Newfoundlands advance on the firs day of the Battle of the Somme.

As we walked further on there were more trenches, this time German, and the path then passes Y Ravine Cemetery. The park contains two more cemeteries, Hunter's and Hawthorn Ridge No. 2, and two more memorials to the 51st Division.

The first is a simple wooden cross, which originally stood at High Wood and bears the inscription, 'This cross is erected in memory of the Officers, NCOs and men of the 51st Highland Division who fell at High Wood in July 1916.'

The other memorial, near the rear of the park, features blocks of Rubislaw granite, from Aberdeen, assembled into a pyramid. At the top stands a statue of a kilted Highland soldier looking east towards Beaumont Hamel which the men captured in November 1916. Three panels have inscriptions in Gaelic, English and French and can be translated as 'Friends are good on the day of battle.'

I could have spent hours at Newfoundland Park as there is so much to see. However it was time to move on.

Standing approximately 46 meters high, Thiepval Memorial to the Missing is an impressive structure and dominates the local area. It was the next stop on our tour.

The Memorial bears the names, on stone panels, of more than 72,000 men who died in the Somme Sector before March 1918 and have no known grave. Almost 90% of those named died between July and November 1916.

Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and constructed from Portland stone it comprises a series of arches of varying size interlocked at right angles. The main arch is topped with a tower. In the central space is the Stone of Remembrance and there are sixteen stone wreaths with the names of the battles that made up the Battle of the Somme and subsequent actions in which the men commemorated on the memorial fell.

At the foot of the memorial there is the Anglo-French Memorial, containing 300 British Commonwealth headstones and 300 French crosses. Many are unknown and were re-buried after discovering the bodies in 1931 and 1932, mostly from the Somme Battlefield but also from Loos and Le Quesnel.

On the Cross of Sacrifice the joint British and French contributions are remembered with the inscription, 'That the world may remember the common sacrifice of two and a half million dead, here have been laid side by side Soldiers of France and of the British Empire in eternal comradeship.'

Before leaving the Memorial I took time to walk through the nearby woods where there were remains of some German trenches, although they were heavily overgrown and barely visible.

Our final stop of the day was another unplanned visit, this time to the area of some of the most iconic images of the First World War... Hawthorn Ridge and The Sunken Lane. This is one of my favourite sites on the Western Front and I had been there ten years earlier during my first battlefield tour.

Hawthorn Ridge was a German redoubt close to the village of Beaumont Hamel and one of the planned objectives on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Prior to the start of the battle the 252nd Tunnelling Company dug a tunnel 300 metres towards the Ridge and packed it with 40,000 pounds of ammonal.

The British plan, after days of constant shelling, was to blow a number of mines before going over the top. They were due to be detonated at 7.30am as whistles blew and  troops were advancing out of the trenches. Unfortunately, the mine under Hawthorn Ridge was detonated ten minutes early giving the Germans advance warning of an attack.

Geoffrey Malins was one of two cameramen sent to France to capture footage for newsreels. On 1st July he was in an area called Jacob's Ladder where he set up his camera and captured the incredible footage of the mine being detonated. The footage has become one of the most iconic images of the war.

Malins had earlier in the day filmed troops from the Lancashire Fusiliers who were in the area known as The Sunken Lane and waiting to go over the top. They had moved into the area at 0300 hours on 1st July and his film captures the men, some sitting and some leaning against the banks. A few are looking at the camera but many don't. The look on their faces capture men waiting to go forward knowing they may not make it.

At 07.30 they rose up out of the Sunken Lane and were cut down before making it only a few metres. They were vunerable from the high ground they were attacking, because of the early detonation of the mine, and were being fired upon by the Germans who had advance warning of the attack. Their positions enabled them to fire from the left, right and front. The soldiers didn't stand a chance and by lunchtime the Sunken Lane was filled with the wounded and the dying. They lost 163 men killed and a further 323 wounded or missing.

Malins produced the film 'The Battle of the Somme' which was shown in British cinemas in August 1916 and seen by more than twenty million people in its first six weeks. It remains one of the most historicallty important films of the war.

It was a long day that examined The Battle of The Somme and we learnt so much from the guides during the journey between each place we visited.

Day three of our tour would find us in Northern France where we learnt about the 'Forgotten Front' between Flanders and the Somme. The day started with a visit to St. Mary's A.D.S. Cemetery near Haisnes

The St. Mary's Advanced Dressing Station, where wounded soldiers would receive emergency treatment, was established during the Battle of Loos. The cemetery, which took its name from the Dressing Station, is at the same location and created after the Armistice. The cemetery has 1,815 graves with over two-thirds unidentified. 

Buried in the cemetery is Second Lieutenant John Kipling, son of novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling. He had joined the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards two days before his seventeeth birthday. Sent to France in August 1915 he was posted missing in action in September during the Battle of Loos.

There was some doubt about the grave being that of John Kipling and it was  first marked as an 'Unknown Soldier'. However, mistakes discovered in paperwork and research undertaken by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission proved that it was his grave and in 1992 the inscription was changed.

At our next stop, Dud Corner Cemetery, we learned about the Battle of Loos which took place between September and October 1915. The first major British offensive, involving six divisions (60,000 men), often referred to as 'The Big Push' and the first time the British used poison gas.

The idea was to support the French who were trying to break through the German lines at Artois. The ground chosen to make their attack was not ideal and although ammunition and heavy artillery were available in large numbers and they had the use of gas it was not the success they had hoped for. Despite success on the first day with advances towards Loos and Hulloch the battle soon turned into attritional warfare for very few gains. This was, in part, due to the reserves being held a long way back from the frontlines to have any effect.

Most of the burials at Dud Corner Cemetery, which is on the site of the German  Lens Road Redoubt, were those killed during the Battle of Loos. There are 1,812 British and Canadian graves of which only 686 are identified with the remaining 1,126 unknown and only identified as British or Commonwealth soldiers.

The two side walls and rear walls are known as the Loos Memorial and contain the names of over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave and who fell in the area from the River Lys to the southern boundary of the First Army east and west of Grenay.

On either side tablets are fixed on which the names are carved, while at the back are circular courts in which more tablets are located. In the centre stands the Cross of Sacrifice.

The left hand tower at the front of the cemetery has a viewing platform from which you can look across the battlefield.

On our way to our next planned stop we learnt even more about the Battle of Loos and Vimy Ridge and took a detour to pass by the largest French cemetery in the world, Notre Dame de Lorette, just north of Arras. Also known as Ablain St.-Nazaire French Military Cemetery, it contains the graves of more than 40,000 soldiers. Standing in the middle of the cemetery is the Chapel of Notre Dame de Lorette.

The ridge it stands on, along with Vimy Ridge, dominate the flat Douai Plain and the town of Arras. This ground was strategically important during the war and the focal point of major battles... The Battle of Arras (October 1914), First Battle of Artois (December 1914), Second Battle of Artois (May 1915) and Third Battle of Artois (September 1915).

Our next stop was the Lens Memorial 14-18, a museum dedicated to the events that took place in Artois and Flanders. Only opening in 2015 the museum is divided into six areas with a selection of artefacts although the most interesting areas are those containing the numerous photos. Many of these show the horrors of trench warfare and the use of chemical weapons. One image in particular shows soldiers blinded by poison gas, walking in single-file, bandages on their eyes and holding the shoulders of the men in front. 

We then stopped for lunch in Arras which is a lovely city with some wonderful architecture, cobbled streets and a wide choice of places to eat and drink.

The city was strategic in the face of the German invasion and was heavily shelled during the war, suffered extensive damage and many of the cities famous buildings were destroyed.

In 1919 work started on the reconstruction of this martyred city and many of the buildings, including The Belfry, were rebuilt.

Following lunch we headed just south of Arras to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitor Centre. This was an opportunity to go behind the scenes at the work they undertake throughout the world.

As you walk around the centre you can watch skilled stonemasons, carpenters and blacksmiths at work and learn about the methods used to maintain the cemeteries. There are also sections on sign-making and the work that they do in the research, recovery and reburial of soldiers found on the former battlefields. Their work is crucial in preserving their memory.

Late-afternoon and the tour took us to The Arras Memorial which commemorates more than 35,000 soldiers from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who have no known grave and who died between 1916 and 1918 in the Arras sector.

Also located within the grounds is the Arras Flying Services Memorial. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who also designed the cemetery and Arras Memorial, the four sides of the obelisk contain the names of 990 airmen from the Royal Naval Air Service, The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force who were killed on the Western Front and have no known grave.

At the top of the memorial is a globe which has a significance as explained by Lord Trenchard, who unveiled the memorial in July 1932. In his speech he said, "The globe placed on the obelisk has a significance bridging the years that have passed since November 1918. It stands exactly, with its North and South points, as our globe hung in space on the morning of Armistice Day 1918."

Our final stop of the day was Vimy Ridge and the Canadian National Monument and, despite the heavy rain, it was somewhere I didn't want to miss.

Vimy Ridge formed a salient separating the Lens plain to the north from the Arras plain to the south. At its highest point it stood at an altitude of 145 metres and because of the height it was a strategic position.

The ridge was occupied by the German army from October 1914 who built a strong defensive sytem of trenches.

For several months during early 1915 the French army had tried to recapture the ridge without any success although they did capture the hill of Notre Dame-de-Lorette. They made a second, unsuccessful attempt in late 1915. The ridge was finally captured during April and May 1917 by the Canadians during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The Canadian National Monument is located on Hill 145 and stands 110 metres above the adjacent Douai Plain. Along with the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, it is one of the most impressive memorials on the Western Front and can be seen for miles around.

In December 1920 a design competition was held and there were 160 submissions which were narrowed down to just seventeen. It was Walter Allward's design that was chosen and work commenced on the memorial in 1924 when structural engineer Dr Oscar Faber was asked to prepare plans.

It took eleven years to construct using 11,000 tonnes of concrete and 6,000 tonnes of stone. The twenty sculptured figures were carved on site and made out of limestone from half-size plaster models made by Allward in his London studio.

The monument was opened on 26th July 1936 by King Edward VIII and French President Albert Lebrun. Over 50,000 people attended the ceremony.

The site also includes the Canadian Cemetery No. 2, Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery, a visitor centre and tunnels and restored trenches. The weather and time meant there wasn't time to visit these but I am sure I will get back there one day.

Another busy, interesting and emotional day and time to relax in the evening with dinner and a refreshing drink.

Day four concentrated on Ypres and Passchenale and began with us learning how Germany commemorated their dead with a visit to the Langemarck German Cemetery. Located near the village of Langemarck, which was the scene of the first gas attacks by the German army, it is one of only a small number of German cemeteries in the Flanders region.

There are more than 44,000 soldiers in total buried there including 3,000 school students who were killed during the First Battle of Ypres.

Near the entrance is a mass grave known as the Comrade's Grave which contains almost 25,000 servicemen. This mass-grave is guarded by a statue of four mourning figures, added in 1956 and designed by Professor Emil Krieger.

There are several groups of three basalt-lava crosses placed as an architectural feature while those buried are marked by stone tablets. These are not for individual soldiers but mark the place where several, often 10 or 12, are buried, and each tablet is inscribed with  the names, rank and date of death.

Following a short journey we stopped at Vancouver Corner where we remembered the Canadians who defended Ypres in 1915. The St. Julien Memorial, also known as The Brooding Soldier, commemorates the Canadian's First Division and their participation in the Second Battle of Ypres. This battle saw the first use of poison gas attacks on the Western Front.

The memorial, which stands 11 metres tall, was designed by War veteran and architect Lieutenant Frederick Chapman Clemesha and selected following a design competition. On top of the memorial is a sculpture of a Canadian soldier with his hands resting on the butt of his down-turned rifle in 'arms reversed' position, a gesture of mourning and respect for the fallen performed at remembrance services. A plaque on the side reads... 'This column marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left withstood the first German gas attacks on the 22nd-24th of April 1915. 2,000 fell and lie buried nearby.'

Our next stop was Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest British military cemetery in the world, with 11,956 graves, most of which are unknown and marked as 'A Soldier Of The Great War.'. A further 35,000 names appear on the memorial, many of which were killed at the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917.

The cemetery has three Victoria Cross recipients buried... Captain C. S. Jeffries, Sergeant L. McGee and Private J. P. Robertson with a further three listed on the memorial... Lt-Colonel P. E. Bent, Corporal W. Clamp and Lt-Corporal E. Seaman.

The area surrounding the cemetery saw some of the fiercest fighting on the Western Front. The Ypres Salient was an important position but also vulnerable. The weather had made the area a waterlogged and muddy place with trenches and shell craters making it a nightmare for the soldiers. The Battle of Passchendaele, or Third Battle of Ypres as it is also known, was a brutal battle and Tyne Cot is the final resting place of those who lost their lives between July and November 1917.

Tyne Cot first became a cemetery in October 1917 after the ridge on which it is now located was captured by the British.

In 1922 King George V visited and at his suggestion a Cross of Sacrifice was built at the east end of the cemetery. It is on the site of one of three German pillboxes which had once dominated the ridge. They were kept in place as the cemetery was the resting place of many of the soldiers who had fought and died in their efforts to capture them.

I have visited many war grave cemeteries over the years and always been impressed and moved by the way they are constructed, laid out and looked after. Tyne Cot is no different and stands as a place of remembrance and a reminder of the human cost of war.

Following the emotional time at Tyne Cot we headed to Hooge where we had lunch before exploring the museum, site of the Hooge Crater and the cemetery.

The front line of the Ypres Salient was here in 1914 and over the following three years there was fierce fighting which saw the village destroyed. A mine was laid by the 175th Tunnelling Company, led by Lieutenant Geoffrey Cassels, completed in just over five weeks and in July 1915 it was detonated.

The museum contains a fascinating collection, including uniforms, shell cases, an impressive selection of rifles and bayonets, various pieces of militaria, photographs and much more. There are also a number of life-size reconstructions of battle scenes which help tell the story of World War One.

Following our visit to the museum we took the short walk to the site of the Hooge Crater. Now filled with water you can walk around and there is much to see. Last time I was here I did take time to view the pillboxes, trenches, shell cases and other wartime relics. Unfortunately there wasn't time during this trip to take another look.

Before leaving we crossed the road and paid a visit to the Hooge Crater Cemetery. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Noel Ackroyd Rew, it was begun in October 1917 by the 7th Division Officer and originally contained just 76 graves. However, following the Armistice graves were moved from battlefields including Zillebeke and Gheluvelt along with some of the smaller cemeteries in the area.

The cemetery now has nearly 6,000 graves, 2,348 identified soldiers from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada and 3,568 unidentified casualties. Many of the graves contain more than one burial and during our walk around we noticed several headstones marked 'Six' and 'Eight Soldiers Of The Great War.' 

John and I stopped at the grave of Private P. Bugden V.C. of the Australian Infantry who was killed on 28th September 1917 aged 20. We placed a cross on the grave before we left.

A short five-minute drive took us to Sanctuary Wood Trench Museum. During the First Battle of Ypres the British Army had used the cover of a large wood near Hooge to care for casualties. The wood was west of and behind the British lines and given its name on trench maps as Sanctuary Wood as it provided a safe place (sanctuary) to the wounded.

After the war a farmer reclaimed the land and although some debris was cleared he left the British trench system exactly as he found them. It is one of the few places on the Ypres Salient where original trench layouts can be seen. Other than some scaffold poles used to support the sides of the trenches they are exactly as they would have been in 1914 and it is fascinating, and emotional, to walk along them. There is also a large pile of shell cases to be seen.

One thought comes to mind as you walk along the trenches, which in places are damp and muddy, is how life must have been unbearable with the conditions and, of course, the ever-present danger from the German trenches close by.

The museum, which is housed in two rooms, is another fascinating collection of relics from the war including rifles and personal effects. The most interesting part of the museum were the many photographs on the wall and the stereoscope viewers on which you could view 3-D images from the war, many were quite upsetting and hard to view.

We then travelled down the Messines Ridge towards Ploegsteert, a small village and wood about eight miles from Ypres that, to those who served there during the war, became known as Plugstreet.

Although no major battles took place in Ploegsteert it was an area that remained in British hands for most of the war only being occupied by the Germans for a short time in 1918.

Our visit was to the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing in an area which became known as Hyde Park Corner during the war. The Memorial stands within the grounds of the Berkshire Cemetery Extension which was started in June 1916 and in use until September 1917.

The memorial is a circular structure supported by pillars and feauring two lions on each side, one aggresive and the other serene. There are the names of more than 11,000 British and Empire servicemen with no known grave commemorated on the walls, listed by regiment and then alphabetically. Most of the men fought at battles including Armentieres (1914), Loos (1915) and Hazebrouck (1918).

Buried in the Berkshire Cemetery Extension are two brothers and we visited their graves.

Leonard Crossley and William Crossley were born in Wheldrake, Yorkshire, enlisted together in the King's Royal Rifle Corps and landed in France in May 1916. They were both killed on 30 June 1916 and are buried next to each other.

Across the road is Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery, a small plot that contains just 90 graves. Our guide picked out a few graves and the saddest was that of Albert French of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps who joined up aged only fourteen and was killed in July 1916 aged just sixteen.

It is also the final resting place of Samuel McBride of the Royal Irish Rifles who was already serving a two-year sentence of hard labour for going absent. Released after a year he was executed for desertion at Hope Farm on 7th December 1916. Many of the graves of those 'shot at dawn' mention the fact but McBride's makes no mention of it.

Our final stop on the tour was to attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. This was the third time I had attended this event which has been held every evening at 8pm since 2 July 1928 with the exception of the period 1940 to 1944.

It is a ceremony that never fails to move me and it was a fitting end to our tour of the Western Front.

It was back to the hotel for a refreshing pint before calling it a night after another really busy and emotional day.

An early start saw us heading back to Dunkirk for the return ferry and then our local coach back home. It was also a chance to reflect on the past few days and everything we had seen and heard.

Special thanks to our excellent tour guides, Ian and Lee, and our drivers Ian and Phil. Thanks also to John Chisholm for his company during the tour.

Another enjoyable and interesting tour with geat company. There are still so many other Leger Battlefield Tours I'd like to book and feel sure that it won't be long before I can look forward to another trip.

Although I had visited many of these places on previous tours in 2016... Lochnagar Crater, The Sunken Lane, Devonsire Cemetery, Hooge Crater and Thiepval Memorial it was great to have the chance to go back again.

This article is not intended to be an in-depth study of the various battles that took place in World War One but a look back at the tour and some brief background to the places visited. There are many resources, books, magazines, internet sites and much more, for those who want to delve further into this period of history.