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3 Days History tour itinerary for Arras, Lille & Ypres: Commemorate The British Indian Army's Efforts In WWI

Arras, Lille, Ypres

Battlefield
Battlefield Tour
Education
Education Tour
History
History Tour
Personalised Pilgrimages to the Western Front
Commemorate the British Indian Army

Neuve-Chapelle Memorial commemorates more than 4,700 Indian soldiers and labourers who lost their lives

Lille-France

Join this tour to explore the heritage of the soldiers of the British Indian Army on the Western Front. Many thousands of men from what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal served in France and Belgium in the Great War.  Many of them did not go back and are buried or commemorated in Britain, Belgium and France.

DAY 01

Lille- Ieper

In Flanders Fields

  • Flanders Fields Museum. Orientation to the Western front

  • The story of the Indian Army in the 1st Battle of Ypres in 1914. Stories of Indian soldiers who distinguished themselves including Khudadad Khan VC and Subedar Thakur Singh MC

  • Preserved Trenches on Messines Ridge, close to where the young Adolf Hitler served.

  • Bedford House cemetery with the Indian Army graves

  • The Indian army at the 2nd Battle of Ypres and the first use of poison gas. Story of Mir Dast VC

  • Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate and opportunity to lay a wreath at this ceremony

DAY 02

Ieper -Arras

  • Depart Ieper with your Europe tour guide.

  • Visit the battlefield of Neuve Chapelle

  • The Battle of Loos and the role of the Indian Corps. 

  • The story of Kulbir Thapa VC

  • Zelobes Indian Cemetery

  • Indian Army memorial and memorial to the Missing Neuve Chapelle

  • The story of Indra Lal Roy buried in  Estevelles Communal Cemetery

Overnight Arras

DAY 03

Arras-Lille

Visit:

  • Technology and the Great War

  • The Historial Museum of the Great War Peronne.

  • Thiepval memorial

  • The Indian Cavalry on the Somme, the Deccan Horse versus machine guns.

  • The battle of Arras

  • Cambrai - The Indian Cavalry and Army and Tanks

  • 1200 GBP Per Adult
  • Europe tour guide services.

  • Research into personal stories. This is what is special about these tours. A battlefield historian will carry out some research to find the locations relevant to individuals of interest to you. For example, the guide will explain what the service record means and cross-reference the war diaries and history books to find places where that person's unit served and even where they became a casualty. 

  • Maps and other supporting material handout.

  • Accommodation: Can recommend hotels and hostels to suit your preferred standards and the itinerary.

  • Meals: Can recommend restaurants to suit your taste and the size of your group. For large groups, menus can be recommended. Can picnic in good weather. Budget around 10-15 Euros for lunch and 25-50 euros for an evening meal.

  • Guide accommodation and subsistence: If you want the guide to provide an informed company during the evening, book them into the same hotel. Otherwise, they will stay in budget accommodation.

  • Transportation: This will depend on the size of your group. Can advise and book suitable transport and drive or share the driving.

  • Museum entrances

  • This is more than a guided tour. This is an offer of a personalised visit to the battlefields of the western front with an itinerary that is tailored to your interests. Can adjust the itinerary to include locations and topics that are specific to you. If you want to visit the graves of a soldier or the places where they served, the guide will do our best to find out the background to what happened and why.

  • Cover the main sites of interest to the Australian visitor, but the historian will do it, as far as possible through the experiences of the people of most interest to the guests.

  • You are charged for the guide’s time. Everything else is charged at cost, to keep the cost down for you, the guests.

  • Happy to adjust this tour around commemorations for Armistice day.

  • Neuve-Chapelle Memorial: It commemorates more than 4,700 Indian soldiers and labourers who lost their lives on the Western Front during the First World War and have no known grave.

Arras, Lille, Ypres

Battlefield
Battlefield Tour
Education
Education Tour
History
History Tour
frank-london-tour-guide

Contributed By

Frank Baldwin

starting from

hi

GBP 1200
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