At Beaumont-Hamel, the Newfoundland Memorial, managed by the Canada government, gives a moving and realistic vision of the battles thanks to the trenches network well preserved.
It’s one of a rare places where it is still possible to see a battlefield of the Great War in its original condition.
Cross the trenches network. Climb to the top of the mound where the proud Caribou stands (symbol of Canada), you will see the ground pockmarked by shell holes, imagine yourself as a soldier who have known life in the trenches, mud, cold, loneliness, rats or lice.
In the middle of the « No Man’s Land » there is the skeleton of the « danger tree », nicknamed by the troops because it was in the area where the enemy fire was particularly intense.
At 9:15am, on July 1st 1916, men of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, barely out of their trenches, found themselves trapped beneath German machine gun fire. Half an hour later, only 68 men were still able to fight. 86% of their force had been wounded, killed or reported missing.
At the edge of the park, there is a statue of a Scottish soldier : the « Gordon Highlander » which pays tribute to the 51th Highland Division.
The Germans nicknamed the Scots « The ladies from hell », because of their strange outfit : the kilt which could be seen in the distance !
Address :
Parc Terre-Neuvien
Rue de l'Église, D73
80300 AUCHONVILLERS