Commanding the High Ground
During my recent tour of the Somme, it became evident that the catastrophic losses on the first day of the Battle of the Somme was due in...
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pd-allen
Oct 12, 20235 min read
Australia's Worst Day - Battle of Fromelles
The Battle of Formelles was fought by the British 61st Division and the 5th Australian Division on 19 and 20 Jul 1916. The Australians...
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pd-allen
Sep 19, 20233 min read
Liberation - The Final Chapter
Operation Market Garden was Gen Montgomery's bold plan to take the bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem, by dropping the British 1st Para...
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pd-allen
Sep 18, 20235 min read
Battle of the Scheldt
The Canadians were given the task of clearing the Scheldt Estuary, so that the liberated port of Antwerp could be used to supply the...
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pd-allen
Sep 17, 20238 min read
In and Around Ypres
The first stop of the day was at the Canadian Memorial at Sanctuary Woods. The Memorial stands in tribute to the sacrifices and...
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pd-allen
Sep 17, 20238 min read
The Caribou Trail
During our trip, we have been able to hit 4 of the 5 Newfoundland Memorials in France and Belgium that honour Newfoundland's sacrifice in...
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pd-allen
Sep 16, 20234 min read
Canada's Hundred Days
By 1918, the Canadians were known as the Allied Shock troops, so an elaborate deception took place to make the Germans think the...
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pd-allen
Sep 15, 20234 min read
Vimy Memorial
On a glorious morning, we visited the Vimy Memorial atop Hill 145 (145 m above sea level), the highest point on Vimy Ridge. The ridge is...
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pd-allen
Sep 14, 20235 min read
First Day on the Somme
Today's tour switches to the first world war. We started out at the Lochnagar Crater, one of 19 mine craters blown at 0728 on 1 Jul 1916,...
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pd-allen
Sep 13, 20234 min read
Disaster at Dieppe
In 1942 the Allies were under pressure to open up a second front against the Germans. They did not have the resources for a full scale...
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pd-allen
Sep 12, 20232 min read
Mulberry Harbour
There were 2 man-made harbours code named Mulberry Harbours, one on the US sector at Omaha Beach, and on in the British Sector at Gold...
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pd-allen
Sep 11, 20233 min read
Moving in land from the Beaches
Today's tour focused on the battles following the D-Day invasion. Despite the initial successes of D-Day, the Canadians had not met all...
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pd-allen
Sep 10, 20234 min read
Queen's Own Rifles on D-day
Canadians At Juno The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and tanks of the 2nd Armoured Division were selected to attack a 10 km stretch of...
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pd-allen
Sep 10, 20233 min read
Juno Beach
On our first real day of touring we hit Juno beach, and it hit back hard. I had written a Juno Beach story before seeing it in person,...
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pd-allen
Jul 23, 20231 min read
Travel Time
Almost time to embark on the North West Europe Canadian Battlefield Tour presented by Liberation Tours, kicking off on 09 Sep 2023. Key...
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