'Loos-Arras' tour

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Between Ypres and the Somme...

 

At Notre Dame de Lorette you find the largest French military cemetery, and at

Neuville-Saint-Vaast the largest German cemetery in France.

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Around you also find countless

British cemeteries and monuments:

silent witnesses of the intensity with which

'the Great War' raged here. ​

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That is why this sector should not be ignored. The dominant heights of Vimy and Lorette were obviously important, and therefore these were always at stake in the fierce battles that took place here in ‘the Artois’. ​

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For the courageous British army - in the process of building up - the casualty numbers at the Battle of Loos were staggering. The French attacks on the notorious heights of Lorette and Vimy – not resulting in a decisive breakthrough – made clear, by the end of 1915, that this war was going to be an unprecedented battle of attrition… ​

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This tour makes clear how the Franco-British balance of power on the Allied side evolved.

And how the British army grew into its role of a

most decisive player.

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We have our stops at special - sometimes almost hidden – places, and of course we visit some impressive monuments. As always, our journey is peppered with both the big stories and the small anecdotes.

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We hereby discuss the British and the French,

as well as the German side with personal stories.

 

The following places are included in the tour : Dud Corner Cemetery & Loos Memorial, Quarry Cemetery (Hohenzollern Redoubt), St. Mary's ADS Cemetery, Arras Memorial & Faubourg d'Amiens British Cemetery, Nécropole Nationale de Notre Dame de Lorette & Ring of Remembrance and the Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial.