The Sucy-en-Brie Fort forms part of the second fortified belt around Paris. This defensive system was created by Général Séré de Rivières to supplement the one established on the new Eastern frontier after 1871.

Between 1870 and 1871, the Germans made the village of Sucy one of the strong points of their lines of trenches. The High Command had learned lessons from the siege of Paris in 1870, and decided to build a line of eighteen structures to keep any possible assailants at a distance. For the Fort at Sucy, it was a question of having, beneath its artillery fire, lines of penetration, consisting of trunk roads from Paris to Strasbourg (N°4) and Mulhouse (N° 19). In effect, from this position, the Prussians could bombard the St-Maur peninsula. It should also prevent the opening up of the Notre-Dame woods, an extension of the Armainvilliers forest, where the enemy could position itself in case of siege.
Built between 1879 and 1881, it cost almost 20,000 Euros and is constructed in stonework and protected by mounds of earth, that should allow it to be subjected to the impact of gun powder shelling, without suffering any damage. But very quickly, picric acid came to render these defences insufficient and the forts, though barely finished, had to be reinforced with concrete; most of the forts in the east had to do this. The 1911 project allowed for 4,300 Euros of modernisation works. Three concrete rampart shelters, two machine gun turrets and some observation posts were to be established. In 1914, the fort had only 14 cannons on the ramparts and 10 in its caponiers. Because of a lack of funds, the forts in the Ile-de-France were not modernised: In October 1913, it was planned to establish 75 mm anti-aircraft cannons on a base in the fort, but at the end of 1914 a 110 cm projector was installed; two 75 mm anti-aircraft guns were however installed in 1915.
Apart from the installation of heavy D.C.A. cannons around 1935, the Fort at Sucy was little used during the two world wars. Despite the destruction of the barracks' munitions depot on the 22nd August 1944, it has been left in perfect condition with its original features: entrance building, casemates in the trench and shooting galleries etc. Originally, this fort with a central section had a front, two flanks and a gorge in two parts, separated by a two caponiers, a basic one and one with a gorge; the whole thing was surrounded by a trench 9 metres wide. The double gorge caponier had the distinctive feature of being traversed by the entrance and attached to the front of the guard-house. The entrance was closed by a moving bridge and had a strange crenulated chest in front in the counterscarp. However, as the scarp was semi-detached and 4.5 m high, it was poorly protected from enemy shelling, which could graze the top of the counterscarp at a height of just 5 m. The ramparts had 11 cross-sections with shelters. Two cross-sections served as casemates for cannon. The barracks, situated under the central section with a magazine of 67 tonnes of gunpowder, could shelter 372 men and 10 officers, a tank and various magazines. Abandoned by the army and invaded by vegetation, it was bought by the town of Sucy in 1970. Since 1996, a voluntary association has been trying to make the Fort look as it did originally and bring it back to life.
The fort at Sucy-en-Brie allée du général Séré de Rivière 94370 Sucy en Brie "Fort de Sucy" Association 11, rue Lacarrière 94370 Sucy-en-Brie Tel.: 01.45.90.26.48Sucy-en-Brie Town Hall Tel. 01 49 82 24 50 Fax 01 49 82 24 61 Tours Guided tours on the first Sunday of every month at 3 pm. For groups (more than 15 people), booking is required.

Click here to tour Champigny Crypt online. Champigny-sur-Marne was often called Champigny-la-Bataille between 1870-1871 and 1914-1918, in reference to the fiercest battle of the Siege of Paris, which unfurled from 30 November to 2 December 1870.

The victims were given a decent and final funeral in community cemeteries around Champigny once peace was restored. Seine departmental authorities also decided to build a memorial to the memory of the unknown French and German soldiers that had died during that battle, and the French Government built a crypt around it. The several thousand soldiers that had fought each other outside, in other words, rest side by side within. Alfred Rivière, an architect, designed this memorial and supervised the building work.
This strikingly stark monument stands on a 925.75 sq m plot of land. A Lorraine-stone stele with a square base stands 5.75 metres high. A low pyramid stands on four heads, with leaves on the corner encircling the base with a crown. There is a shield protecting a palm leaf on the side facing the street. Bas-relief wreaths adorn the sides and back. There is one stark and concise inscription: Monument élevé par l'Etat à la mémoire des soldats morts pendant le siège de Paris bataille de Champigny (This monument was erected by the State to the memory of the soldiers that lay down their lives during the Siege of Paris, Battle of Champigny). The crypt is a vast rectangular gallery (2.60 metres wide) around the monument. The base at the back runs alongside the street and measures 30.5 metres. The widthways galleries that intersect it are 19.5 metres long each. These underground corridors nestle 31 vaults. Through a wrought-iron gate in the middle, you can see the stone altar of a small oratory. Belgian-granite plaque bear the names and numbers of the corps that took part.
Outside, a heavy iron fence embedded in stone pillars skirts the road and encloses the memorial. Two doors open into the galleries. Le talus of the platform covering the crypt is coated in stone along the galleries. It features two granite staircases which originally led to the garden, which has since become a terrace over the building and around the stele.
The ossuary's front wall has a stone plaque bearing the following inscription in French and German: Des combattants français et allemands inconnus tombés au cours de la bataille de Champigny-sur-Marne pendant le siège de Paris 1870-1871 reposent en cet ossuaire (French and German soldiers fallen during the battle of Champigny during the 1870-1871 siege of Paris rest in this ossuary).
Four period cannons stand on the four corners of the terrace. There are two similar cannons on either side of the front courtyard. There are three deep sloped and shouldered trenches around the building, adjoining the fences. The upper left-hand side has been turned into a grass garden terrace with trees, and there is a retaining wall by the road.
This building dates back to 1873. The crypt was built at a later stage and inaugurated on 2 December 1878. The governments of France and the Federal Republic of Germany agreed to fund necessary restoration work in 1968-1969 to keep alive the memory of their dead.
Champigny Crypt Memorial (Monument commémoratif de la crypte de Champigny) 32 Rue du Monument 94500 Champigny sur Marne

The Espace Aimé Césaire, a new exhibition space open to the public (click here for information)

The Musée de la Résistance Nationale (MRN) is a collective whose purpose is to cater for one essential need: to pass on the history and memory of the Resistance.

The museum space and learning area

This building, with 1 000 m2 of exhibition space on three floors and a 120-seat auditorium, houses the new museum and learning areas, as well as the temporary exhibitions of the new MRN.
The building’s ideal location in the centre of Champigny-sur-Marne makes the MRN more accessible by public transport and closer to its audience.
With its rich collection, the new permanent exhibition presents all the aspects and key issues of the history and remembrance of the Resistance. A cultural programme adds to the content on offer to visitors and individuals keen to gain a better understanding of modern-day issues in the light of that history.
The Espace Aimé Césaire also offers a scientific programme, making the latest advances in research more accessible.

Espace Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac: the research and conservation centre 

The continuing expansion of the collection since 1965 (approximately 250 000 items in 1985; nearly one million today) meant that new storage areas had to be provided for in the new museum buildings.
Therefore, the old site, on Avenue Marx-Dormoy, became a conservation and consultation centre for the collections, as well as the head office of the project’s two mother organisations.
Altogether, the MRN’s collection, which since November 2000 has been dependent on an agreement with the National Archives, was constituted by more than 5 000 donations. It offers an exceptional insight into the history of the French Resistance, its remembrance and the historical works it has inspired. Its scale and diversity present the stories of thousands of Resistance members: men and women; French citizens, immigrants and foreigners; famous and anonymous.

To fly like a bird and get closer to the stars the human dreamed, invented, then constructed any kind of machines : balloons, planes, helicopters, rockets, satellites. This is the history of a dream, which is finally attained and which is told by the air and space museums

The French air and space museum is the most ancient aeronautic museum of the world. It recounts the amazing adventure of the pioneers from the beginning of our century, the beginning of a long journey which will lead 50 years later the man to walk on the moon.
Created after the First World war it will be built in the Brouget airport in 1975. Since the opening of the great gallery where the most ancient machines are exhibited, and the inauguration in April 1995 of the two new halls, the air and space museum shows through a collection of almost 200 machines and 300 artistic objects a complete panorama of the aerospace, starting from the first balloons in 1793 and ending with the Ariane 5. rocket.
Address : Air and space museum (Musée de l'air et de l'espace) Airport Paris - Le Bourget BP 173 93 352 Le Bourget cedex Information : +33 (O)1 49 92 70 00 Home : +33 (O)1 49 92 70 62 E-mail : ecrire@museeairespace.fr Timetable : The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday : 10:00 to 18:00, 1 April to 30 September and from 10:00 to 17:00 from October 1 to March 31. Closed Mondays. Exceptional closing December 25 and January 1 Public Transports : Motorway: from the A1, exit Bourget; from the A3, exit Blanc-Mesnil RER (Train) : line B, stop "gare du Bourget" then take bus number 152. Subway : line 7. Tariffs : Access to permanent collections is free. For entertainment, visit the museum.

Built after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the Fort at Champigny-sur-Marne was intended for the protection of the capital. It forms part of the first defensive network designed by Séré de Rivières. It was built between 1878 and 1880 and has a surface area of 4 hectares. Its position was determined by lessons learned from the war: in December 1870 the Prussians had established two batteries just to the west of this site. Listed as of secondary importance by the legislation of 1874, its role was to block the railway line towards Troyes and to occupy the position of the Prussian batteries of 1870.

This fort with a central section is made up of a front, two flanks and a gorge. The trench, which is edged by a counterscarp and a semi-detached scarp, is separated by two caponiers, a basic one and one with a gorge. The ridge of the rampart is intersected by 13 cross sections, 6 of which have shelters. One of the northern cross sections houses the powder magazine (capacity of 80 tonnes). A passage underneath one of the southern cross sections was built in such a way as to serve as a casemate against indirect fire. The trench is crossed by a wooden bridge, but the entrance hall can be closed off by a retractable bridge and an armour-plated door.
The barracks enclose a cobbled courtyard. Half of it was housed on the ground floor, with men and sub-officers on the first floor, making a total capacity of 388 men, in addition to a cistern and various magazines. The guardhouse at the entrance is attached to the western part of the barracks, where officers were housed. The vaults are built of rough stone. The floors between levels are in brick. The 1911 project allowed 4300 Euros for modernisation works. Three concrete shelters on the ramparts, two machine-gun turrets and observation points were to be established. In 1914, the fort held no more than 10 cannons on the ramparts and 10 in the caponiers.
During the First World War its batteries, armed with ten 12 to 15 cm weapons, fired across the Avron plateau. The quarries were used to shelter troops, provisions and an ambulance. From 1939 to 1940 the fort was occupied by anti-aircraft defence units. There was a fire in the barracks in July 1944. The fort was declassified in 1965 and handed over to the land administration department in 1974. It was registered by ministerial decree on the 16th May 1979 on the Secondary List of Historical Monuments. Since 1984, it has been undergoing restoration.
Fort at Champigny-sur-Marne 140 bis, rue Aristide-Briand 94430 Chennevières-sur-Marne Tel.: 01.45.94.74.74 e-mail: communication@ville-chennevières.fr Bus stop: "Fort de Champigny" Guided tours Saturdays and Sundays 3 pm to 5 pm Free entry

The Fort of the Bull (Fort du Taureau) is a splendid citadel on an island in the Bay of Morlaix, in French Finistère. Its unusual tale spans back over four centuries. Building work began circa 1542 to protect Morlaix and its people from pillaging assailants. Back in 1522, the English had sailed up the Dossen river to the estuary by Morlaix to loot the town. They were finally expelled by the town's people, who decided to fund and build this fort on the estuary's mouth to forestall future attacks, twenty years later. Until Louix XIII's reign, fort governors were ennobled ex-officio (and Morlaix's townsmen understandably vied fiercely for the job). The wall shielding that original fort was 6.50 metres high (the one you see today is twice as high).

In 1661, however, Louis XIV decreed that the fort was to become crown property, turned it into a State prison, and set up a garrison there. However, in those belligerent days, Brittany was in a valuable strategic position (it was near England). Accordingly, Vauban, a military engineer, decided to strengthen the fort in 1680. It was completely rebuilt (except for the Tour Française) into a larger and sturdier stronghold. The building was mostly made of granite from Callot, a neighbouring island. It is practically the same shape and size as the island: it is oblong, 60 long, and 12 metres wide. The walls are 12 metres high and the buildings span 1,450 sq m. There are 11 pillboxes, each of which can house a cannon. The fort also counts soldier and officer quarters, two dungeons, a mess, a kitchen, a chapel and latrines.
However, before rebuilding work was completed - and owing to Morlaix's gradual decline in prominence - this fortress was turned into a prison in 1721. Louis Auguste Blanqui, a well-known communard, was its last inmate until his release in 1871. The fort was disarmed in 1890 and became an historical monument in 1914. The Vilmorin family spent their summer holidays there in the 1930s and it housed a sailing school from the 1960s until 1980.
The fort's state of disrepair prompted local and central-government authorities to start restoration work in 1998. The chateau was transferred to the public realm in 2004.
1542: The first fort was funded and built by the people of Morlaix. 1689: Vauban, France's foremost military engineer in his day, visited the fort for the first time. 1745: Reconstruction work ended. 1871: Communard Louis-Auguste Blanqui, the fort's last prisoner, was released. 1890: The fort was disarmed. 1914: The chateau was listed as an Historical Monument. 1930: Mélanie de Vilmorin rented the chateau for family holidays through 1937. 1982: The sailing school founded in 1960 closed down.
Tourist Offices (enquiries) Carantec: +33 (0) 298.670.043 Booking tickets +33 (0) 298.622.973 Morlaix: +33 (0) 298.621.494 e-mail: Tourisme@morlaix.cci.fr Plougasnou Saint-Jean-du-Doigt Plouezoc'h: +33 (0) 298.673.188

The museum is a collection of souvenirs from a life devoted to medicine, literature and rugby.

While he was studying medicine, in 1899, he became passionate about a sport known as barette, which we now know as rugby.

His love for this sport led to him founding the Pyérénes League and to pen, under the moniker ‘La Sélouze’, a number of columns in the La Dépêche du Midi and the Le Midi Olympique regional newspapers.

He commissioned the Monument to Sport in Toulouse in homage to the victims of war.

Le conflit terminé, il rassemble ses notes dans "Avec la 67ème Division de réserve", grand prix de l'Académie Française.

Auteur de cinquante et un ouvrages, cet humaniste s'est consacré à la neuro-psychiatrie. 

Chef de clinique à Toulouse en 1914, il exerce sur le front en tant que responsable d'une ambulance de campagne.

Son action dans le domaine littéraire le conduit à tenir des rubriques dans le Mercure de France, le Figaro etc.

Il se lie d'amitié avec Paul Léautaud, Paul Valéry, François Mauriac, Francis Carcot, Marie de Saint Exupéry, Camille Mauclair notamment. 

When the war was over, he compiled his notes in the four-volume Avec la 67ème Division de réserve, which won the Grand Prix from the Académie Française.

An author of some 51 works, this humanist dedicated his career to neuropsychiatry.

A clinic manager in Toulouse in 1914, he worked on the front as a manager of a field hospital.

His literary experience saw him write columns in the Mercure de France, Le Figaro and other newspapers.

He forged friendships with writer and theatre critic Paul Léautaud, poet and philosopher Paul Valéry, writer François Mauriac, writer and journalist Francis Carcot, Marie de Saint Exupéry and poet and novelist Camille Mauclair. 

The museum has on display a collection of original documents, manuscripts, photographs, watercolours, sculptures and souvenirs of the Great War, testaments to the life of a man committed to many causes.

Paul Voivenel Museum

09400 Capoulet-et-Junac

Tel: +33 (0)5 61 05 12 57 / 67 79

Email: capoulet.junac@wanadoo.fr

Source: MINDEF/SGA/DMPA

This vast building behind a glass front is nestled in greenery and overlooks the valley below. It towers skyward a stone's throw from Schirmeck. And it casts light on one of history's rambling episodes, and on the suffering and self-sacrifice that episode brought upon thousands of men, women and children. The amazing architecture and setting convey the oft-misconstrued story of an area that jolted from one country to another as the border it skirts shifted. The 3000 sq m museum casts light on this hazy period between 1870 and the aftermath of WWII, which weighs upon this region's identity. And, as efforts to reconcile France and Germany were born from efforts to root peace across Europe, this memorial also showcases the foundations of European construction.

When you leave the glass-walled hall, you get the feeling you are descending into history's depths. At the foot of the sombre steps, you will find a staggering, cathedral-sized room. The 12-metre-high walls on either side bear 148 portraits of men and women from Alsace and Moselle, spanning every generation and every walk of life. They all have names. It might be someone's piercing gaze, engaging hairdo or original dress, but something will no doubt catch your eye. But this room, first and foremost, will put a face on textbook history. The stories this memorial tells, in other words, are not about statistics and remote people in a remote land. They are about children, grandparents, young women. About the children, grandparents and young women in that room. They will speak to you over the audio guide. They speak French, German and Alsatian. They tell you what happened over those 70 dissonant years. They tell you their story.
Hitler's shuddering voice rings out as you step into a rebuilt village station. Posters luring you to tourist destinations hang alongside evacuation orders. You take a seat in a train packed with luggage and personal belongings. A film on the wagon wall shows how 430,000 of Alsace's and Moselle's people were transferred to Southwest France. On the opposite wall, a corridor leads to a fort on the Maginot Line. The white walls strewn with electric wires, floor tracks, dormitories and armoured doors explain are chilling. The instructions aimed at drafted soldiers, speech excerpts and images from the front exude this peculiar war's atmosphere.
After the documents stating the terms of the occupation and de-facto annexation under the Third Reich, you will walk into a circling corridor displaying street name boards. The first ones are in French first, the last ones in German. The flags parading overhead surreptitiously transmute from France's red, white and blue to swastikas.
Then you reach a forward-tilting typically Germanic building. The only way forward is through this oppressive, half-prison, half-bureaucratic universe. Desks on either side show the population brought to heel and enlisted by force. Struthof Camp bodes ill at a distance.
The barbed wire, army camps, pale lights and watchtowers in the next room will give you a glimpse of what concentration camps felt like. Photos, papers and audiovisual documents in this bleak universe also speak of the resistance and of escaping into France.
You walk across this vast room on a 3.5-metre-high footbridge. The Vosges forest pines underfoot are a reminder that people crossing the border over the neighbouring heights were doing so illicitly. The scenery is scarred by war. Bombs have disfigured the land. Everything is littered with disfigured bicycles and car wrecks, strewn petrol drums, and such like debris. Bombers tear through the sky. A house crumbles. And images on the wall speak of the German retreat and the Landings. Liberation nears.
The next room is much more soothing. The floor is even. Towering columns mirror the return of justice and truth. This room tells the story of the Oradour massacre trials in Bordeaux. The red walls seem lined with drawers holding the hundreds of files under review. A well of images shows the process and purge.
The room before last is white and bathed in light. It is a breath of fresh air. Lit blocks show French- German reconciliation and European construction. This soothing and cheerful room leads to a projection room screening a film by Alain Jérôme. Then, you walk back into the vast transparent hall and esplanade, whence you can look out onto stunning views over the Vosges massif. And, across the valley, see Struthof camp and the European Centre on Resistance and Deportation (Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté).
Opening hours The Alsace Moselle Memorial is open from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm in winter and from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm in summer. Tickets are on sale until one hour before closing time. Admission Full fare: €10 Reduced fare: €8 Families (two adults and children): €23 Tours with audio guides Disabled-visitor access Shop Bar / Tearoom Educational Office - Workshops The Educational Office caters for school groups (with an educational director and assigned professor).

Stretched out over a surface of 26 hectares, southwards from the city of Lorient, the ancient submarine base Kéroman is established in the middle of the roadstead, in front of the Port-Luois citadel and the Island of Saint-Michel

From the summer of 1940 and the German victory in the west, the Kriegesmarine fits out bases in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. The Lorient arsenal is chosen by Admiral Karl Dönitz to accommodate one of the five huge bases installed on the French coasts of the Atlantic to protect the U-Boote. From June 21st 1940, the first day the city was occupied, work commenced to free the docks, in order to allow the submarines to enter the Lorient port on July 7th. In spite of the reinforcement of the site from the Kriegesmarine, the German headquarter quickly realised, that these installations are not suitable enough for the conduct of the Atlantic war and thus decides to build a concrete unit constituting a real underwater base, more suited to resist the violence of the allied shelling. Under fire from the planes of the Royal Air Force, 15 000 workers build between February 1941 and January 1943 three huge concreted blocks, with amazing dimensions: the flank measures 130m and 18.5 m high for the blocks Kéroman I (KI) znd Kéroman II (K II), with roofs measuring 3.5 m thickness; the Kéroman III (KIII) block is 170m long, 122 m large and has a roof thickness of 7,5,m. The new Kéroman underwater base can resist to the classic shells, then the most powerful of that period, and is able to shelter more the 25 submarines thanks to installations exposed directly to the sea. It has the capacity to hoist the most impressive submarines, in protected cells thanks to a slipway. The presence of this base considered indestructible is the reason that Lorient suffered massive bombardments from the allies' aviation, which transformed the city into a vast field of ruins. Since the concrete protection was never really damaged during the war, the French national navy has used the Kéroman site since 1945. They installed a fleet of submarines, an annexation of the Lorient arsenal (DCN), as well as a zone, where the submariners can live.
July 6th 1946 the Kéroman bases were baptised with this name by Jacques Stosskopf, section chief of the new constructions in the Lorient arsenal. He will later on be deported and executed by the Nazis, accusing him to have transmitted precious information about the strategic activity of the base to the resistance network, during the entire occupation period. In 1995, the ministry of defence announces, in the framework of its reorganization plan, the abandonment of the site that will become effective in February 1997, with the departure from Kéroman of the last submarine "La Sirène".
The visit of the Kéromann III block Now days only Kéroman III block is open to the public to visit. The other sectors of the base are inactive or occupied by factories. A guided path of approximately an hour and a half gives to the visitor the chance to discover the greatest buildings built in Lorient, measuring 24000 m2 . They can also climb the roof constituting a splendid view-point dominating the roadstead of Lorient and its harbours. In the south east of the base, the block contains seven cells, who's most important is 103 m long and 22,5 m large and offers two sites. In 1944 its construction remained unfinished, since the block was under continuous bombardment during the whole time of its construction. Individuals can visit the site during the school holidays, and groups may visit the site during the whole year on reservation. The opening dates are available at the tourist office of Lorient.
Flanking the walls of the base, the Davis Tower was built in 1942 for the submarines training. In 1953 the national navy restores it back into service. From 1999 it resurfaces thanks to a museographic space dedicated to the immersed inheritance of Lorient. Equipped with a decompression chamber simulating the living conditions of the crews, the museum gives to the visitor the chance to plunge back into the past and discover the wrecks of this region. Open every Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. During July and August, open every day from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Count approximately an hour of visit.
Recently purchaser of this site, having at its disposal more than 1200 m of cost line, the community of agglomeration of Lorrient, controls a conversion project of the base centred on the major topic: "The man and the sea during the XXI century". The installation of several companies in the old concrete blocks, that sheltered the submarines, contributed to the development of a strong activity in the water sports sector. In the long term, the opening of a company-village, based on the maritime, advanced technology industry is envisaged. By the year 2005 the inauguration of the Tabarly Academy will take place. This area pays tribute to the memory of the missing sailors, with a media library, by organising exhibitions and by giving information on the topics of the oceanic races. The opening to the public of the "Flora" submarine, that was in service from 1964 until its disarmament in 1989 in Kéroman is forecasted. A first phase of works is considered, in order to repair the submarine, the boat ramp which supports it and the transporter bridge between the K I block and the K II block. After the renovation is completed, footbridges will make it possible to reach a museographic space, dedicated to the submarine base of Kéroman and exhibiting the every day life on board of the submarines.
Base Submarine Peninsula Keroman 56100 Lorient Phone: 02 97 02 23 29 Rate : Full price: 6 €, reduced 3 €, free for children under 12 years Hours : [list] Outside school holidays: Every Sunday at 15 pm [list] School holidays: daily at 15 am on Saturday. [list] Closed December 25 and 31 and the entire month of January Tourist office of Lorient email :contact@lorient-tourisme.com

The village of Pozières was the site of the first large-scale operation led by the Australian troops (memorials to the 1^st and 2^nd Australian divisions). The remains of a bunker named the "Gibraltar" can still be seen today. Pozières is also where you can see the monument to tanks decorated with four small tank models.

This village was the obstacle to be overcome to reach first Mouquet Farm and then Thiepval Hill.

This obstacle was largely entrusted to the troops from Australia the majority of which had just returned from Gallipoli. The village was situated on a ridge traversed by a double network of trenches forming the second German line and flanked by two bunkers/observatories overlooking the entire battlefield (Albert side, "Gibraltar" – Bapaume side, "the Windmill").

After arriving on 23 July 1916 and seizing Pozières, the Australian troops, exhausted by constant artillery counter-attacks, were relieved on 5 September by the Canadians at Mouquet Farm. Three of their divisions had passed through the sector of Pozières and suffered losses of more than one-third of the soldiers engaged. The village was completely razed. The name Pozières has such a reputation in the Australian memory that it was bestowed, after the war, on a small village in Queensland (Australia). On 15 September 1916, tanks made their first appearance on a battlefield. Of the 32 British Mark I tanks deployed on the Courcelette-Longueval line, only nine made their targets. Nevertheless, this date marked the start of a more balanced British advancement.

The Battle of Pozières is one of the many Battles of the Somme, an important part of the allied strategy of coordinated attacks: Russia launched the Brusilov Offensive on 4 June and the Italians attacked in Trentini. During the course of 1916, the Front line was situated between the Ancre Valley in Thiepval and Pozières. The British launched the offensive on 1 July 1916; opposite, the German army, forging solidly ahead on the village of Pozières and its windmill, resisted: 60,000 men killed or wounded on the first day of fighting. The Australian forces (1st Division, 22nd Division, 4th Division) took over and succeeded in seizing the position on 23 July. Replaced in September, the Australians lost some 23,000 men.

Somme Tourism Committee

21 rue Ernest-Cauvin 80000 Amiens

Tel: +33 (0) 322 71 22 71

Fax: +33 (0) 322 71 22 69

Email: accueil@somme-tourisme.com

The Somme Tourism Committee is on hand to give you all the information you need on the Somme battlefield and the Circuit du Souvenir visitor's trail: commemorations, getting around, transport, guided tours for individuals or groups, helicopter flights, accommodation and more. The Tourism Committee also publishes a range of brochures on Remembrance Tourism.

La Somme 14-18