CAMBRAI

A three-night guided tour of the Cambrai Battlefield with Dr Jack Sheldon and one of our resident tour guides, Clive Harris.

Tour Dates: 19 – 22 September 2025

Price Per Person: £810:00 (£140:00 Single Supplement)

Hotel: 3 nights Central Arras (on a B&B Basis)

£100 Deposit secures your place

Pick Ups (i) Watford Gap Southbound Services (ii) Ebbsfleet International (iii) Dover Eastern Docks

Key Information

This tour in open to the general public and is run in association with The Western Front Association, non-members will be encouraged to join the WFA.

Our second tour of 2025 with the WFA will study the battlefields of Cambrai in 1917 & 1918. Dr Jack Sheldon will again be joining the team, bringing his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things German Army on the Western Front with him. Our own guide Clive Harris will this year be working with Jack, Clive has strong family connections to the battles in this region, his Great Grandfather Charlie Addams was a Gunner in the 12th Eastern Division who fought in the 1917 battles here, he also had a Great Uncle who served in Hawke Battalion, RND who held the Flesquieres pocket during the 1918 Spring Offensive.

This tour of the Cambrai Battlefield will start with a look at the 1917 battle, where led by tanks, the BEF made significant ground on the opening day. Despite this positive start that led to Church Bells peeling across the UK on the 23rd November, the battle soon became an attritional affair. With Douglas Haig’s strategic reserves already commited to Italy, initial advances could not be consilodated and, in the face of fierce German counter attacks, Bourlon Wood in particular witnessed a bitter costly struggle on both sides of the wire.

We then turn our attention to the final year of the war, with both the German Spring Offensive being launched across this ground in March and the eventual advance to vistory in September, again Bourlon Wood playing a key role in events. These unique tours enable both Jack and Clive to explain and explore the evolving battles from both sides of the wire. Personal connections visits and requests are both welcomed and encouraged.

Our WFA National tours have a history of selling out quickly, they are restricted to just 25 participants to ensure quality, together with the Western Front Association, we feel these national tours not only provide a comprehensive study of the campaign, they also offer an informal, social, weekend on the ‘old front line’ for WFA members and the chance to remember over a century on.

Itinerary

The tour will start with a pickup 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. 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 where possible whilst these will be reflected as the group fills up a preliminary itinerary is planned as follows.

Day 1 - Friday 19 September 2025

Travel to Dover and across to Calais. En route to our Hotel we will stop at the Louverval Memorial and discuss the events of 1917 that lead up to the Cambrai battle, we will also study and explore the works of Charles Sargeant Jagger that adorn the memorial to the missing from the battle.

Day 2 - Saturday 20 September 2025

Today we study the the November 1917 battle around Cambrai, initially a raid in strength to show the capabilities of tanks, the plan soon grew into a significant offensive. Our day will see us follow the 62nd West Riding Division assault from Havrincourt, the 51st Highland Division Assault on Flesquieres and the 12 Eastern Divisions assault on the eastern flank of battlefields towards Bonavis Crossroads and Pam Pam Farm.

We then focus on the struggle for Bourlon Wood by both the Guards Division and 35th Bantam Divisions to end our day.

Day 3 - Sunday 21 September 2025

The day is spent studying the events of September 1918 in the area, focussing on the Allied advance in September, where, led by the Canadian Corps, the road between Cambrai and Arras witnessed a series of significant actions that led to the crossing of the Canal du Nord, capture of Bourlon Wood and eventual occupation of Cambrai with is major railhead.

Day 4 - Monday 22 September 2025

The day allows time for personal visits plus a study of the Vis-en-Artois Memorial commemorating the casualites of the Last 100 Days of the war before our onward travel to the UK.

Day 1

Name: WFA National Tour Cambrai
Start: 2025-09-19T00:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-09-22T23:59:59+01:00
Location: Battle Honours Limited

Scheduled flights from London to Istanbul. Transfer to Gallipoli by coach to the Hotel Grand Anzac in Canakkale.

This is a 4 hour transfer on a fully air-conditioned coach. We will stop off for a short snack/toilet break halfway through the journey.

All our transfer coaches have Wi-Fi and complimentary bottled water on board.

Monday 12 May 2025 – Anzac Day

The best way to study an amphibious landing is by boat. Our morning will be spent studying the Gaba Tepe from the sea before we come ashore to walk from Beach Cemetery, via Shrapnel Valley up to the heights of Plugges Plateau, the first ridge captured by the Anzac’s on 25 April 1915.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we will continue the Anzac advance from the Second Ridge at Lone Pine, to the furthest advance of the Australian and New Zealand troops on that first day of the landing. This walk will take us over Pine Ridge, down into Legge Valley and up onto the Third Ridge (Gun Ridge), the final objective of the covering force, ending the walk at Mustafa Kemal’s command post on the Scrubby Knoll.

Tuesday 13 May 2025 – Helles Day

Beginning the morning on the top of Achi Baba, where we will experience panoramic views of the Helles battlefield, we will descend down to the beaches. Next stop is Erturgal Fort, trenches and the Ottoman memorial to Sgt Yahya, all overlooking V Beach. We will visit V Beach CWGC Cemetery, the spit of rock where the River Clyde came shore, all under the shadow of Seddulbahir Fort. We will then advance up through the village to Doughty-Wylie’s Grave, and then the Helles Memorial.

After lunch at V Beach Café, we will walk from the French artillery battery onto Hunter-Weston Hill and then Lancashire Landing CWGC Cemetery. From there we will visit W Beach to recount the story of the 6 VC’s Before Breakfast before ascending onto Hill 114 to explore the old base-camp of the MEF.

We end the day with visit to the Bengodi/Asmadan Vinyard for a tasting flight (foot passage ferry option for non-winers).

Wednesday 14 May 2025 – Gully Ravine Day

We will spend the whole day exploring Gully Ravine, starting at the Ottoman Nuri Yamut Memorial we will walk across the seaward cliffs to Gurkha Bluff, just above Y Beach. We will continue along Gully Spur, visiting Geoghegan’s Bluff and the football field for lunch. We will then continue to follow the ravine to Gully Beach. Exiting the ravine we will walk along the West Krithia to finish the day at Pink Farm CWGC Cemetery.

Thursday 15 May 2025 – Suvla Day

We will begin the morning on the once hotly contested Scimitar Hill (Hill 70) before following the Ottoman trench lines on to the top of the W Hills where we will get excellent views of both the Suvla and North Anzac battlefield. Walking down to Hetman Chair and Dead Man’s Gully, we will finish at Chocolate and Green Hill.

After a packed lunch at the museum in Buyuk Anafarta, we will walk from the Jandarma Memorial to Kidney Hill, Caribou Hill and then to Azmak CWGC Cemetery, also visiting the new Ottoman cemetery site on Kiretch Tepe. We will finish the day at Suvla Point and General Stopford’s HQ.

Friday 16 May 2025

Return to Istanbul or, Optional extension to the island of Imbros to explore the sites of Sir Ian Hamilton’s GHQ, Kephalos ‘K’ Beach, the Australian Field Bakery site, RNAS airfields and the journalist camp to name but a few.

Saturday 17 May 2025

Return to Istanbul for those who stayed for the optional day to Imbros.

Booking

Deposits can be paid via BACS transfer (IBAN if overseas) both account details are on the bottom of the booking form.

If you wish to pay by credit card, drop us an email and we will send you the relevant link.

Cheques can be made payable to “Battle Honours Ltd”