The Self-Drive guides produced by Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd comprises two parts. The first part is used to navigate yourself around the battlefield. The second part is divided in to eight main sections, covering the most poignant and significant parts of the Somme battlefield.

Part I
This part of the guide is used in conjunction with the guide map to navigate around the roads and lanes that criss-cross the battlefield. It also includes comment on matters of interest one passes en-route to the eight main sites listed in the second part of the guide. It is written in ‘clear English', (as opposed to the half-hearted 'computer-speak' directions one sometimes encounters).

Part II
This is the heart of the guide. It is divided up in to eight main sections (below), together with an introductory overview of the Somme battle and other matters of interest. Each section starts with an overview map, usually comprising a modern day large scale map (similar to the OS 25,000 series), together with a colour copy of the relevant 1916 military trench map (original). Significant features of both maps are then cross-referenced, thus making a ‘then and now’ comparison quite easy. This part of the guide is essential, as anyone not armed with such maps will find great difficulty in converting what appears to be just another part of rural France back in their mind’s eye to how the terrain looked in 1916. Some of the sections are also supported by panoramic photographs which, in conjunction with the supportive narrative, tell you exactly where to position yourself so that the panorama in front of you all falls in to place. Sample pages of the guide can be seen by clicking the examples above.

The eight main sections cover the following areas:

Section A (Serre and Sheffield Park)
It was here that many of the ‘Pals’ battalions from towns such as Accrington, Barnsley and Chorley went ‘over the top’ at 0730 hrs on Saturday 1st July 1916. Some of the many accounts of those who were there is included in the 'The Battlefields' section (Somme) of the main menu to the left.

Section B (Newfoundland Park)
This ‘park’ is in fact an area of front line left almost exactly as it was after the battle, with no attempt having been made to artificially reconstruct trenches etc. To stand in the very trenches of 1st July 1916, and to then walk across the exposed killing fields of ‘No Man’s Land’, is a very moving experience indeed.

Nearby is the massive Hawthorn Ridge mine crater where, at ten minutes before zero hour on the first day of the Battle, more than eighteen tons of explosive was detonated beneath the German trenches, footage of which is so often seen on television. Your guide will direct you to the exact spot where the film was taken from so that you may compare the picture of the mine exploding 'then' to the scene today, a very easy comparison as the terrain looks pretty much the same today as all those years ago.

Section C (Thiepval)
Thiepval was the scene of particularly savage fighting as British troops battled throughout July, August and September of 1916 to take the ridge that dominated the battlefield. It was here that the 36th Ulster Division famously achieved such success on the opening day (but at a terrible cost). It was on this ridge that the massive Memorial to the Missing of the 1916 and 1917 battles was erected in 1932, which today bears the names of nearly 73,000 British and South African soldiers who have no known grave.

Section D (La Boisselle)
This section includes the tragic attack across ‘Mash Valley’, the attack on La Boisselle and Ovillers La Boisselle, as well as a visit to the huge ‘Lochnagar Crater’, the largest mine crater still to be found on the Western Front today. Using the maps supplied you will be able to convert the valley today to how it would have looked in July, a task the is almost impossible if one does not have the appropriate maps/diagrams etc to hand.

Section E (Fricourt)
This latest addition to the guide takes you to Mansel Copse and the Devonshire Trench where the inscription at the cemetery entrance simply says:

The Devonshires held this trench.
The Devonshires hold it still.

This section (like all the other sections) includes an original trench map of the battle to take Fricourt and Mametz, as well as diagrams and present day maps. Your 'guide' for this area also includes the famous 'Tambour Mines' (three mines detonated beneath the German trenches at the start of the Somme offensive on 1st July 1916).


Section F (Mametz Wood)
The battles for Fricourt and Mametz saw varying degrees of success on 1st July, but once again at a high cost. Fricourt includes a visit to the Tambour Mine Craters and the famous ‘Devonshire Trench’ where the 8th Devons were cut down by machine gun fire as they left their trench at Mansel Copse. Many were buried in the trench they had left that fateful morning, the trench now being a small cemetery.

Section G (Delville Wood)
Delville Wood became a cauldron of almost unimaginable suffering as South African, followed by British and Commonwealth troops met the German defenders head-on. The battle for the wood lasted from 15th July through to mid - September, as the battle raged one way then the other. The wood, and those who occupied it from both sides, were ground to fragments, a haunting fact which seems to permeate the wood today, which has been left as it was at the end of the battle.
(see specimen page from the guide above this insert box).

Section H (Pozieres) (for picture see ‘Images of the Somme’ page - or click here)

It was here that over 22,000 Australian soldiers were lost in the taking and holding of this small village in July/August of 1916. Such was the intensity of the bombardment of the Australian ‘positions’ at Pozieres that hardly a single brick remained in tact at the end of the battle. The Windmill Memorial, which stood at the furthest edge of the village, was the scene of particularly bitter fighting. The Memorial simply says:

“This spot was the centre of the struggle in this area and was captured by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war”

Please note!
We have also recently completed an extension to our Somme 1916 self-drive guide for those wishing to visit the 1918 battlefields of Villers Bretonneux and Hamel (of particular interest to our Australian visitors). Please ask for details.