Third Form History trip follows in the footsteps of Old Reedonians

An early start morning enabled the entire Third Form, with brand new iPads in hand, to arrive on the Somme in France in good time to dedicate the whole day to our study of the Great War. The pupils heard great tales about Commonwealth soldiers and listened spellbound as our guides relayed in minute detail the British plans for their ‘Big Push’ of July 1st 1916. 

Sites visited included the awesome Hawthorn ridge crater, created by a huge mine blown under the German trenches, and the imposing Thiepval Memorial to the missing. The second day sought to educate the boys that the First World War was simply a tale of ‘lions led by donkeys’ as we charted the path of allied victories in 1918, culminating in Haig’s daring attack on the Hindenburg Line in September 1918 which spelled the end for Germany. 

We were also sure to mark the sacrifice of the 114 Old Reedonians who fell in the conflict with Andrew Moore laying a wreath at the memorial to Reginald Wilkins who died, aged 19, of tuberculosis while serving in the Australian Imperial Force. The tour finished on a particularly poignant note with Ollie Hewitt hauntingly playing the Last Post during a service held by Reverend Winter in a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. All the boys were given a poppy at the end of the service which they were encouraged to lay on an individual grave in a personal act of remembrance. 

Adam Waller, Head of History

The reflections of some of the boys below do a great job of capturing the essence of this momentous trip:

“The Thiepval Memorial was the most memorable place we visited because there are around 72,000 names remembered and it gives you the chance for you to try and find your own surname. It was an awesome view as it is such an imposing feature risen high above the ground at around 6 stories high. This truly symbolises how many bodies were never recovered, so I think this is a great way to commemorate our missing troops.”
Rohan Dhand

“The Devonshire cemetery was particularly memorable because it is one of the only cemeteries that contained a single regiment of soldiers. Also there are lots of great stories from it, for instance, Captain Martin who found out the Germans had a machine gun in a nearby French cemetery but still had to go and fight. Moreover, the words on the memorial stone were very powerful and moving. It was a small victory for the British as they were able to capture the machine gun from the surrendering Germans; one of the minuscule number of victories by the British in the attack on the Somme on July 1st 1916.”
Ben Godfrey