Full Day Private Canadian Battlefields Tour from Arras

Arras is blessed with a very rich architectural heritage as its two Flemish Baroque style squares : « La Place des Heroes » and « La Grand Place » will confirm. It is also a place full of history going from Roman times and across the centuries. During the hour long visit the guide will tell you some of its story walking along its paved street

Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery was established near the site of a small café called Cabaret Rouge used by soldiers in the early days of the First World war. It contains 7,655 Commonwealth burials from WWI from 100 other cemeteries and WWII. On the 25th of May 2000, the CWGC exhumed the remains of an unidentified Canadian Soldier. His ashes were returned to Canada and laid to rest at the foot of the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

There is a legend that says that in any war whoever wins will be the army that captures the range of the hills where Notre Dame de Lorette stands. At 165 meters high and overlooking the whole of the Douai plain, Notre Dame de Lorette is the largest French military cemetery in the world and is the resting place of over 40,000 soldiers who died in action in 1914 and 1915 in the battles of Artois. This site also includes the beautiful Neo-Byzantine Basilica Notre Dame de Lorette, the lantern tower, and seven ossuaries.

The first Canadian troops arrived in France in December 1914 in the largest convoy ever to cross the Atlantic. Respected and feared by the ennemy their courage led to Victory in the Battle of Vimy Ridge which later became the marker of Canadian nationhood and identity. In this tour we will visit the «Canadian National Vimy Memorial» and the battlefield on which it stands. Walk in the trenches, use one of the tunnels dug before the battle and see what happened here between the 9th and 12th of April 1917.

L'Estaminet de Lorette We will have an hour for lunch in this very quirky place by Notre Dame de Lorette

This memorial commemorates the Canadian soldiers who fought during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. It is on this ground that the Canadians suffered their worst casualties in France, with a staggering 24,000 casualties during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. This is also when we saw tanks on a battlefield for the first time. During our time here, your guide will give you the details of this battle and put it into the context of the Battle of the Somme.

The Newfoundland Memorial Park is the largest battlefield site in the Somme and a memorial dedicated to all Newfoundlanders who served during the First World War. The Battle of the Somme was the first major engagement of the regiment where they suffered staggering losses on the 1st of July 1916. Your guide will describe their action on that fateful day The ground, purchased in 1921 by the women of Newfoundland and their government, has become the symbol of sacrifice and a source of identity for the island.