Full Day Private New Zealander 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 including the first world war. During these 20 minutes, your guide will take you on a journey through time.

The Wellington Quarry in Arras is a remarkable network of underground tunnels built, mostly by 500 miners from the New Zealand Tunnelling Company in 1917 before the Battle of Arras. This network of tunnels will accommodate 24,000 soldiers before the surprise assault on the 9th of April. The tunnels are accessed via a glass-walled lift down the twenty meters to the quarry floor. The tour consists of both guided and audio-guided tours on a planned path accessible for wheelchairs.

When the Germans launched their massive Spring Offensive, the New Zealand Division was hurried to the Somme and fought near the village. Our visit will take us by La Signy Farm and the Dressing Station in Mailly-Maillet.

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. The ground, purchased in 1921 by the women of Newfoundland and their government has become the symbol of sacrifice and a source of identity of the island.

The “Memorial of the Missing” The “Memorial of the Missing” is the largest British War Memorial in the world. This imposing monument overlooks the surrounding rolling countryside. On its walls are engraved the names of over 72 000 soldiers who are rather missing or whose bodies were found but not identified. Here we will talk about military tactics and also about the notion of being “missing” and what it meant for all the families of those soldiers.

The cemetery is named after Caterpillar Valley which was the name of the the long valley which rises eastward. In 2004, the remains of an unidentified New Zealand soldier was exhumed from this cemetery and is now resting in Wellington. This site is also the site of the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing , recording the names of 1205 New Zealand soldiers who were killed during the Battle of the Somme and have no known final resting place. From this point you will see the ground from which the New Zealand Division started during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and an ideal place for your guide will tell you all about it.

ted during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and an ideal place for your guide will tell you all about it.