Visitor's Guide

An illustrated and informative guide to the WWI battlefields south of Arras, France, including some of the most significant battles of 1917. Some of the most famous and frequently visited battlefields on the Western Front are just to the south of the Arras. These sites include Battery Valley and Observation Ridge, Telegraph Hill, Monchy-le-Preux, Wancourt, and Bullecourt. And this clearly written, highly illustrated guide is the ideal introduction to them. Expert guides Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland have devised a series of routes that can be walked, biked or driven, explaining the fighting that occurred at each place in vivid detail. They record what happened, where it happened and why, pointing out the sights that remain for the visitor to see. The featured itineraries allow visitors to trace the course of each battle across the modern landscape, gaining visceral insight into the nature of combat throughout the war.

In their second “Visitor's Guide to the 1916 Battle of the Somme” Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland focus on the series of secondary battles that were key stages in the five-month struggle that followed the start of the offensive on 1 July. They take the visitor—and the reader—across the entire battlefield, covering in graphic detail sites where actions took place that are almost as famous as the Somme itself in the history of the First World War, including Mametz Wood, High Wood, Deville Wood, Guillemont, Ginchy, Pozieres and Flers. They also provide tours of the less-well-known but equally interesting sites which played important parts in the offensive as a whole. In a sequence of routes that can be walked, biked or driven they describe what happened in each place, identify the units involved, highlight the experience and exploits of individual soldiers, and point out the notable sights, monuments and cemeteries. This highly illustrated guidebook is essential reading for visitors who wish to enhance their understanding of the Battle of the Somme and the war on the Western Front.

The First World War battlefields to the north of Arras — including Vimy Ridge — are among the most famous and most visited sites on the Western Front, rivaled only by those around Ypres and the Somme, and this clearly written, highly illustrated guide is the ideal introduction to them. Visitors can trace for themselves the course of each battle across the modern landscape and gain a fascinating insight into the nature of the fighting in the area — and the wider conflict across the Western Front — throughout the war. The book covers the key battles fought in the northern sector of the Arras front, including the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge and battles at Villers au Bois, Oppy Wood and Gavrelle. Expert guides Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland have devised a series of routes that can be walked, biked or driven, explaining the fighting that occurred at each place in vivid detail. They record what happened, where it happened and why, and point out the sights that remain for the visitor to see. Their guidebook is essential reading for visitors who wish to enhance their understanding of the war on the Western Front.