+ 44 (0)1438 989129
+ 44 (0)1438 989129
+ 44 (0)1438 989129
Tour Dates: 21 June - 24 June 2024

Price Per Person: £750:00 
Single Supplement: £110:00  
Hotel: Hotel Ibis Soissons, 3 nights

 

WFA National Tour
Marne to the Aisne 1914

                                                     

WFA National Tour - From Retreat to the Aisne  

This tour in open to the general public and is run in association with the Western Front Association, non-members would be encouraged to join the WFA
Our initial 2023 tour is planned to study the battlefields of Ainse 1914.

Dr Jack Sheldon will again be joining Clive Harris as in previous years and the pair will consider the early phases of the Great War through a number of key locations from both a British and German perspective. This year these include Villers Cotteret, Nery, Fismes, Le Ferte-sous-Joarre Memorial and the excellent Meaux Museum as we consider the retreat to the Marne.
This is followed by a full day will look at the Battle of the Aisne in September 1914 including the actions at Soupir, Pont-Arcy, Vendresse and Cerny Crossroads. A visit to the Soissons Memorial completes our study of the area.  
As in previous WFA tours the initial day to day plan is for WFA members with a connection to the Arras Battlefields so we can formulate a personlised itinerary for the group.

Our WFA National tours sell out quickly and are restricted to just 25 participants to ensure quality, these national tours not only provide a comprehensive study of the campaign, but they also offer an informal, social, weekend on the 'old front line' for WFA members and the chance to remember over a century on.     



The tour will start with apick up at Watford Gap Services before heading south to Ebbsfleet International Station offering superb convenient links from London rail hubs and in addition provides secure parking at a reasonable rate.

Transport is via an executive standard coach and return channel crossings are also included throughout. The tour is limited to 25 spaces to ensure quality and make this tour feel like a personal pilgrimage as opposed to a large coach group. Personal visits to relatives or people of interest to you are positively encouraged and will be incorporated into the tour itinerary whilst these will be reflected as the group fills up a preliminary itinerary is planned as follows:

Tour Itinerary

Day 1

Departing from a early afternoon Dover crossing to Calais, on route to our hotel we will visit Villers Cotteret as we pick up the retreat of the BEF 110 years on and study a number of actions in and around the forest. As in previous tours, Jack Sheldon will provide some context to the battlefield from a German perspective, Clive Harris will focus on the BEF and French participation and movements. There will be a welcome drink on arrival at the hotel. 

Day 2

A full day studying the end of the retreat, from Nery the scene of 'L' Batterys VC action 1 September 1914, we then visit the French National WW1 Museum at Meaux before the afternoon sees us visit La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and the CWGC Memorial to the Missing. We then visit Fismes an important crossing over the Marne and Bourg-et-Comin as the allies start to advance towards the Aisne  

Day 3 

We continue our study of 1914 with a full day on the Aisne by visiting Soupir and the highground, scene of a vicious Guards action and described so poinantly by John Lucy in 'Theres a Devil in the Drum'. We continue to Pont Arcy, scene of a VC action before Vendresse and the race and battle for Cerny Crossroads complete our day. 

Day 4

Our final morning sees us visit the Soissons Memorial before we head back to Calais and onward travel back to the UK