DLI Beginners Guide to the Western Front
It is intended that this guide will be ‘a work in progress’ to be added to and amended as more places of interest are added.
This edition is centred on the Durham Light Infantry, and starts with some advice on timings, where to start and where to stay.
- First, it takes between 5 & 6 hours to drive from Durham City to Ebbsfleet and le Shuttle or the ferries, including a ‘Comfort Break’.
- Peterborough Services are about half way.
- Using le Shuttle takes 35 minutes, whereas the Ferry (DFDS is much better than P&O. Its Duty Free is cheaper than the Duty Free Shop in the Port of Calais and le Shuttle) – takes 90 minutes.
- Once in France, start with the Ypres Front, as chronologically it was on this Front that The DLI first saw action at Boetleers Farm, Gravenstafal, where some Canadian Troops were dug in, and it was where the first use of poison gas was used by the Germans.
- Make Ypres the first overnight stop as there are plenty of Airbnbs etc. as it is as good a centre to visit the area. Make a reservation beforehand.
- For the Somme stay at Oceanvillas, Auchonvillers – see below.
- Refer to The Fir Tree Aerial Maps of 1) The Ypres Salient and 2) The Somme, both comtempory maps of the landscapes where the main battles took place
The Start.
Using Google Maps or similar first visit Poperinge (Map 1) and visit Toc H / Talbot House, a site of peace and serenity during the War and still is. Also in Poperinge there is the site where 25 British and 2 Canadians were shot.
The road to Ypres (N38) has some interesting little CWGC cemeteries on your right, e.g. Brandhoek Military, New Military & New Military No. 3 where Captain Noel Chavasse VC & Bar is buried in the New Military CWGC,
From there, continue onto Ypres, where, as I have suggest that you will have already arranged B&B/Airbnb accommodation.
From your accommodation, drive into the centre where there a very handy Carpark behind The Cloth Hall and The St Michael’s Cathedral. A must is to visit the Cloth Hall and its Museum and also St Georges Church, a memorial to the British Units that fought on the Ypres Front are well worth a visit. There are plenty of Bistros etc., places to eat close to The Menen/MeninGate for the evening ceremony at 7pm local time.
The following day, drive through the Menen Gate to Hellfire Corner, now a Roundabout and follow the signs to Saint-Juliaan and Langemark [No. 43 and ‘E’ on Map 1), the site of a German cemetery and see the difference compared to CWGCs – see below Tyne Cot. Nearly all the WW1 places are well sign posted.
From Langemark drive back to Vancouver Corner [See on Map 1] you will see another reference to Canada, such as Winnipeg signifying where the Canadians were in the line when the first Gas Attack was staged as shown on Map 1). The Durham 8th Battallion (Bn) were rushed up to support them and fought at Boetleer Farm, Gravenstafel, although there is nothing really there to see, except look to the West/the left towards the Canadian Memorial (The Brooding Soldier) at Vancouver Corner for the direction that the Germans attacked. The 8th Bn were in the area Gravenstafel area and Gravenstafel area “VARLET Farm, north of “Stroombeek.
From there, drive to Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery No 60 & -J on Map 1) and is the largest of all the CWGC Cemeteries. The Cross was, at the suggestion of King George V planted on top of a German Bunker. With the Cross to your backs, look towards Ypres and you can see the commanding views the Germans had. The Bunker may seem to be rather prominent but from a distance it would be seen as below the skyline/ridge so would have been vey difficult to make out.
From there, drive to Zonnebeke and the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 to get a flavour of trenches, dug outs etc.You enter it through a traditional type museum, but you then descend a flight stairs into dug outs etc., emerging 400 metres opposite an American prefab house (The Little House on the Prairie!)
From Zonnebeke either return to ‘Hell Fire Corner’ on the N37, or drive SW to Westhoek (refer to Map 1) where you can see another vista of the Battlefield, and join Hellfire Corner (Roundabout) and up the Menen Road about a mile to Hooge, where there is a Restaurant with a Museum attached, and opposite a CWGC Cemetery.
It’s a handy place for lunch and close to Lt Frederick Youen DLI VC resting place at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground and is near Shrapnel Corner (No. 83 on Map 1). Near by is Bedford House Cemetery No. 80, is worth a visit, as it was the site of a Casualty Clearing Station/Hospital.
From Lt Youen’s grave drive on up through Zillebeke to Hill 60, the site where Lt Youen won the VC. There are examples of German Bunkers and a few memorials including one to the Light Division.
Hill 62 ‘J’ and ‘H’ on Map 1) is also close by and worth a visit for trenches etc, as well as many CWGC cemeteries in the area. In fact the whole area is where one thinks of mud and desolation typifying our perception of WW1 and the area is redolent of the woods and villages that featured so prominently on the Ypres/Ieper/Wipers Front such as Polygon and Sanctuary Woods, Passendaele etc. If you drive to Passendale and along the ridge you can see the advantage the Germans had in holding the high ground.
Referring to Map 1) there are many more areas of interest, such as Yorkshire Trench and Dugout, even a Nepalese Gurkha Monument. So if you the time and inclination, visit them and contribute to this Guide.
Next, The Somme.
From Ypres, set your Google Map (other maps are available) for Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, a mainly Australian cemetery and the newest CWGC cemetery. It has a small modern museum, some German Bunkers and a Statue of an Australian carrying his ‘Digger’ mate.
Then set your map for “Avril Williams Guest House” and follw the directions, M22, N21, etc. You will drive through more place names that have a bearing to WW1 such as Loos-en-Gohelle, the site of the Battle where 15 DLI fought, having been rushed to the Front. You should see the French National Necropolis “Notre Dame de Lorette to your left and Vimy Ridge, the Candian National Memorial – see below.
As mentioned at the beginning, start the Tour at the North end of the The Somme Battlefield, so Oceanvillas/Auchonvillers is ideally placed at the Northern end of The Somme Front [see C, Map 2) and is very close to Bus-les-Artois of significance for 18 (Durham Pals Bn.) as they were stationed there together with the Leeds and Bradford Pals Bns in the weeks leading up to the Battle.
In the village are three ‘Steles’ or Memorial stones: the 18 DLI Bn’s which Durham County Council erected as a tribute to the Bn. and the Village, and the DLI Association have been attending the annual Ceremony held on the 30th June since its dedication, apart from the two Covid years.
Capt M Bryden, Maj (Rtd) C Lawton, Capt R Tough, Madame la Mayor, Maj (Rdt) M van der Gucht, Lt. Col (Rtd) J Heron, J Wetherell, Capt M Foster, S Stokoe
These three Pals Bns marched from the village area to the area of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John Copses (3 – 5 and A, Map 2) opposite Serre there on the Serre Road you will pass a Civilian cemetery on the right, with a small Chapel with spire if I remember right. This was a hiding place used by the French Resistance for hiding shot down RAF aircrew. Behind it is the site of the German Quadrilateral Redoubt, a strongpoint and part of Munich Trench.
Opposite is Serre Road Cemetery No. 2 and a French Cemetery. Just past this on the left is a Farm, and just past this turn left (it is signposted) to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Copses, The Sheffield Memorial. As you drive/walk up the track you might have to put up with a grumpy French Farmer!
Below is a photograph of the track leading up to the Copses and Serre Road No.3 Cemetery.
On the right is a CWGC cemetery, Serre Road No. 3 Cemetery, Puisieux and beyond are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Copses. On the left, the wheat field is the area of Maitland Trench where D Coy “The Durham Pals” 18 Bn were at 07:30 on the 1st July 1916. They were attached to the “1st Bradford Pals” and as they left their trenches, were met with withering German Machine Gun (MG) and artillery fire and were decimated. A Lewis Gun Team of D Coy were observed getting as far into the German lines at Pendant Copse a kilometre beyond their Start Line (SL). Where the wheat field runs to the right towards the Copses and the green fields above is “Dead Ground” where the Light Railway from Railway Hollow Cemetery ran right to left towards “White City”,
Continue into the Copses and visit the various memorials to the Regiments that suffered so terribly: The Accrington Pals Memorial, the outline of a trench in Matthew Copse with the Accrington Pals Memorial in the background
