First day of the trip, early start, on the road at 05:30 I put in almost 1 hour before I stop on the M25 at Clacket Lane service station for a cooked breakfast.
En route I take a slight detour to see some of the cemeteries from the First World War. This one is know as Cabaret Rouge. All know the history of the "Great War" and the massive numbers of casualties, but to see the thousands of headstones and the names, regiment and ages of the fallen brings it home and I left there deeply moved.
There were many headstones of unknown dead simply inscribed; "A soldier from the Great War know unto God"
To put the number of casualties into some sort of perspective, the memorial wall in Washington, USA contains the names of 58,000 Americans who died in the Vietnam war. On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British army suffered 60,000 dead and wounded. Over the course of the following four months the total number of British casualties was 419,000.
There were many headstones of unknown dead simply inscribed; "A soldier from the Great War know unto God"
To put the number of casualties into some sort of perspective, the memorial wall in Washington, USA contains the names of 58,000 Americans who died in the Vietnam war. On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British army suffered 60,000 dead and wounded. Over the course of the following four months the total number of British casualties was 419,000.
The memorial cemetery at Thiepval
I head further South and arrive at my hotel in Basel, North Switzerland
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