Adventures on the Wargames Table

As you will surely know it's 100 years since the Battle of the Somme began. Lutyens monument - Inscribed with names of 72,246 men with no known grave Let's take a moment to pause and remember those of all nations who fell on that day... and the many days that followed. If you have the opportunity then I highly recommend a visit to this extraordinary and moving memorial. There is also a visitors centre that is worth seeing. If you'd like a little more information then the BBC have a couple of interesting videos here and here . Lest we forget.

The family summer holiday this year was to the Aisne in Picardy, specifically to a gite in the tiny village of Vendresse a few km’s south of the Chemin des Dames. Now, since we have the not-so-little ones with us the amount of Great War sites we could visit was rather limited. However, we did a few things so I thought I’d post up some notes and pictures of our visit to this very beautiful part of France. Chemin des Dames This is a very prominent and picturesque limestone ridge between the Aisne and Ailette rivers. Also the site of much fierce fighting during WW1. Rather than repeat a lot of information here, follow these links if you'd like to know more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemin_des_Dames http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_chemin.htm Vendresse http://www.webmatters.net/cwgc/vendresse.htm In the very early part of the war, Sept 1914, the forces arrayed to hold the ridge included a number of British battalions. Therefore there are a few British cemeteries in the...