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Remembered Today:

Battles Involving British Troops Nearest To Calais


kerry

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Dear All,

I am planning closely supervised day visits from Dover Calais ferry point of entry, to the nearest sector of the Western Front that would interest young ACF teenagers wearing Yorkshire cap badges (Duke of Wellington, Green Howards, West/East Yorks regt (now PWO).

Grateful for suggestions as to where we can get them to and from within a (very long) day, that has a CWG and visitable section of front line. Theidea is to identify somewhere within reasonable travelling distance - and very sadly this rules out the Wipers Salient - then ask the youngsters to trace any family fallen on the internet and visit specific graves, also telling them what happened where they are now on that morning/afternoon in 1915 or 16 or 17 or 18.

Grateful for any suggestionsregarding worthwhile venues we could do in a day within France. Happy to receive e-mails on this site or privately through the usual link from here. Many thanks

Kerry

Lt PWO

Yorks (N & W) ACF

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Kerry

I suspect you will make life difficult for yourself if you rule out the Salient. In my humble opinion one of the best places you could take them is 'Yorkshire Trench'. Apart from that the nearest section of "Preserved Trenches" is at Dixmuide and they were Belgian.

Ieper is only a little over 60 miles from Calais and most of the route is on motorways. And how could you deny the students a visit to the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. If they are in uniform and you pre-arranged things they could probably lay a wreath. I'm sure if you contacted Jackie Plateeuw via this forum he could give you all the details on that.

I know it means late travel and all that entails but it could be a once in a lifetime experience for many of them; and it may kindle a genuine interest in the Great War for some.

My apologies for going on at you but I'm not one of those who think you can 'do the western front' in a day.

Garth

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Garth is right, if you want to go to where British troops were actually in action I don't think anything is closer than the Salient.

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As far as the 1914-1918 Western Front is concerned, the Ypres salient is about it given your time constraints, although you could go to Nieuwpoort too. Having said that, time-wise it would be much the same from Calais and obviously with a good deal less to see, of the sorts of things you are after.

As an alternative, how about concentrating instead on WW2. You could, with a bit of reading up, cover the defence of Calais in 1940 or go to Dunkirk. You could put together a decent half-day trip around Dunkirk, up to De Panne, visit one of two cemeteries, examine the defensive perimeter, look at a few bits of the Atlantic Wall, etc.

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Kerry

The others are correct. The Salient is closer to Calais, the only other

alternative is Arras/Vimy Ridge as that can easily be done in one day.

Both of these areas have plenty to see and do. Visiting the Somme is

unrealistic in a day.

Geoff

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I repeat the offer of assistance I made on your earlier posting. Feel free to contact me via e-mail. I have a fair amount of experience of cadet-based visits. Like the other contributors I feel that the Salient would be eminently feasible-it only takes about an hour with a fair wind from Calais. The retreat to Dunkirk is the obvious alternative. I would have to refresh my memory about Tyke involvement. In 2000 I did a 'Dunkirk' tour which included the evacuation beaches and the defence of the perimeter (Bergues and its canal). The Wormhoudt Massacre site is very evocative, but involved the Warwicks and the Cheshires. You could be there in about half an hour.

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Personally I would look no further than the Salient but just building on Chris' WW2 idea, the Battleground Europe series have guides for both Calais and Dunkirk. Also if you put Calais into the forum search engine I think this was the subject of a similar thread a few months ago.

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