police world Edition 3 2013

Article

South East Essex Visit the Somme In March, twelve IPA members of the South East Essex branch plus one guest travelled to France for the branch’s annual ‘Battlefields Tour’. This time the destination was The Somme.

To see more photos from this event visit: www.ipa-uk.org /10-Region- Somme-Tour

T he group got a suprise whilst taking in sights, such as the Lochnagar Mine Crater at Boisselle, on their trip to the Somme battle site in France. A couple of days into the trip the group woke to a ‘Christmas Scene’ as a couple of inches of snow had fallen. “It was a surprise to say the least” , said Steve Hunt, 10 Region Secretary. With more potentially on the way the group decided on a tactical retreat back towards Calais abandoning plans that day in an effort to get back to the UK before the weather got worse. Not a problem as they had already had an action packed few days prior to the bad weather. Their adventure began at the Agincourt museum where they stayed for a couple of hours before pressing on to the village of Thiepval and its memorial. This memorial is dedicated to over 72,000 missing British and South African soldiers who died in the battles of the Somme. Steve said, “ This is a huge construction on a massive site which brought home the scale of the loss of life in WW1. 58,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded or reported missing in the first few hours of the start of the campaign on 1 July 1916. Numbers that are almost impossible to comprehend nowadays.” Accommodation was an old château secured by the tour organiser Phil Parker. Steve explained, “This was a palatial building with in excess of 13 bedrooms which allowed everyone to have their own room – for the first time ever might I add!” It was at the château that Ian Rayner, the group’s tour guide, delivered a fantastic briefing - detailing where they were to visit. Steve added, “As usual his detail and enthusiasm left us all spellbound and in awe of what happened all those years ago.” The following day saw them visit the towns and villages of Gommecourt, Sere, Beaumont and Hamel - stopping at particular areas where allied action had taken place. A particular highlight was the Newfoundland Memorial Park which was bought by Canada after the war to commemorate the many

soldiers from Newfoundland who lost their lives in that particular area. The memorial is staffed by young Canadians who were busy showing what seemed to be an endless line of school children around the grounds - which boast preserved trench lines and areas of ‘no- man’s land’. After a refuel at ‘le Tommy Café’ in Pozières, which is a friendly French cafe and small museum, the Group headed for the Connaught Cemetery. Connaught was built as a tribute to the many soldiers who died from the 36th Ulster Division Northern Ireland. Running out of daylight, the travellers retreated to ‘The Three Pigeons’ public house to ‘re-group’ and plan the evening campaign. Steve joked, “The landlord, in this sleepy French town, as you can imagine, was grateful to receive 13 thirsty visitors who were effectively his entire customer base for the evening!” The next day the group descended on Albert and visited the Musee Des Abris - which is in Basilica Square in the town centre and is built into a series of tunnels. “This is an excellent museum and a must for any WW1 visitors to the area,” explained Steve. He went on to say that it was later that day that the Group visited the Lochnagar Mine Crater at Boisselle. This is the location of a huge explosion caused by detonation of 60,000lbs of high explosive by the British at the start of the Somme offensive. The group then travelled on to visit the only German cemetery in the Somme area, at Fricourt, where the remains of 17,000 German soldiers are interred. Then on to the Mansel Corpse at Mametz. This was the scene of the massacre of at least 116 soldiers and 6 officers from the 9th battalion of the Devonshire regiment cut down by a strategically placed German machine gun. Comrades later claimed their bodies and buried them in the trenches they had occupied previously. Steve described this as a very sobering location indeed. A plaque there states that, ‘The Devonshires held this trench - The Devonshires hold it still’ .

Thiepval memorial

Lochnagar Mine Crater at Boisselle

The group’s final location was the South African memorial cemetery at Delville Wood in Longueval. At this venue stands the only original tree that remained following the battle! It was at this point in the trip that the weather changed. There was disappointment in prematurely ended proceedings but it was a truly enjoyable trip and everyone would highly recommend it to other branches. If your branch is considering a Battlefield Tour similar to this - Timeout2enjoy offers IPA members a discount through Leger Tours.

For more information visit: www.ipa- uk.org/Latest-Timeout2enjoy-Offers

Police World Vol 58 No.3 2013

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