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The horror of the First World War can be summed up in two words ‘The Salient’. This small and militarily insignificant Belgian town was to become the eye of the storm that raged around the few square miles of its perimeter.

The Salient was a bulge in the line that stretched to the edge of the low range of hills that surround Ypres. From those hills on a clear day you could see the English Channel and as is so often the case it was gentlemen in England over their copies of the Times and breakfast who decided that Ypres had to be held at all costs.

They weren’t going to have to do the holding, but to the men that did that cost was to be some 250,000 British and Commonwealth dead. Some 90,000 men disappeared into the mud and the names of the men that have no known grave are commemorated on the Menin Gate and at Tyne Cot Cemetery.

A 1-day tour to Ypres is ideal for schools wishing to gain a better understanding of the battlefields of the Western Front and the human cost of the Great War. Alternatively by combining it with a visit to the Somme or Vimy Ridge it can form part of a longer study tour.

Show & Tell Sessions

Each visitor to the battle?elds of France and Flanders tries to make sense of what it must have been like for the men who were actually there. Photographs, maps and testimonials help to build up a picture. To complete it, what could be better than to give your students a chance to get inside the mind of ‘Tommy Atkins’. 

Utilising a range of period equipment and weaponry, including boots, tin hat, tunic, webbing and a Lee Enfield rife, Anglia is able to provide students travelling with us to the Ypres Salient and the Somme, with a unique hands-on experience. This engaging session led by your Anglia guide will include a short brief on the equipment on display as well as the chance for one lucky ‘volunteer’ to don full kit.

Not only does this make for a perfect photo opportunity, it is also ideal for kinaesthetic learners as it helps them get to grips with the history.

If you are interested in adding a 'Show & Tell' session to you Battlefield Tour or would like further information please contact us.

Excellent tour, students were engaged and interested in what was being discussed. Tour guides were outstanding.
— Bryanston School

Specifications/topics supported by these tours:

AQA Specification B > Britain at War

Edexcel Specification A > War and the Transformation of British Society 1903-1928 Key Topic 2 ‘The part played by the British on the Western Front’
> War and the Transformation of British Society 1931-1951
> The impact of War on Britain 1914-1955

Edexcel Specification A and B > Northern Ireland 1968-1999

New ‘A’ level topics: AQA Unit 1 > France in Revolution, 1774-1815

OCR ‘A’, Option B, KS3: > Napoleon, France and Europe, 1795-1815

Living History

A guided tour to the battlefields of the Great War is undeniably the best way for your students to begin to grasp the scale and impact of the conflict.

But there is another means to bring the realities of trench warfare to life, particularly for larger groups or younger students who cannot travel out to France or Flanders.

How about inviting ‘Tommy Atkins’ to visit you at school and having him tell your students about his experience at the front. Each of Anglia’s ‘Living History’ days is led by one of our senior guides wearing fully authentic period uniform and carrying examples of Great War weaponry.

Covering subjects such as ‘Life at the Front’, ‘Trench Routine’ or ‘Going into Action’, your guide will encourage the students to ask questions and give them the chance to handle some of the equipment