The Remembrance Trail, the Somme in the Great War

1916: the French are embroiled in an interminable confrontation with the Germans at Verdun, the most famous battle of the First World War, at least in France.

But in other countries, notably the Anglo-Saxon ones, it is another battle, and other places, that have left their mark on people's memories to this day. The Battle of the Somme, whose front stretched from Albert to Péronne in the north-east of what is now the département, was one of the most tragic and deadly episodes of the Great War.

A vast offensive was launched on 1 July by the British command to relieve the French at Verdun. It was a total failure: 20,000 British soldiers were killed and 50,000 wounded in a single day!

Bogged down, the Battle of the Somme lasted until November 1916, in the mud and trenches, with the death toll multiplying with each offensive. In all, there were 1.2 million casualties during this dark period, more than at Verdun.

If the Battle of the Somme is less deeply rooted in national memory than the Battle of Verdun, it is because of the many nationalities involved, 25 in all. Many French troops perished, but even more soldiers fought far from home: English, Irish, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, Canadians... So many countries for whom the Battle of the Somme has a much greater importance today.

That's why most of the sites along the Circuit du Souvenir are dedicated to them, and why so many visitors come from far and wide to pay tribute to the soldiers who fell in this bloody episode of the Great War.

The Circuit du Souvenir is a beautiful itinerary in the north-east of the Somme linking Albert to Péronne, and vice-versa, passing through numerous museums and memorial sites of the Great War. Let's stop off at some of the most memorable of them:

• The Somme 1916 Museum in Albert retraces the daily life of soldiers in the trenches in a 250-metre underground passage.

• The Trou de Mine de La Boisselle, or Lochnagar Crater, is the impressive remains of the explosion that marked the start of the offensive on 1 July 1916.

• The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, the interpretation centre and the Butte du Caribou.

• Thiepval commemorates "The bloodiest day of the British Army ", 1 July 1916, the catastrophic assault on German lines that resulted in 20,000 British casualties in a single day. There is also the British Memorial (the largest Commonwealth memorial in the world) and its museum, and the Ulster Tower (Irish Memorial).

• At Pozières, a strategic site in the Battle of the Somme, a number of sites bear witness to the violence of the confrontations, in which many Australians in particular were killed.

• At Rancourt, the French Remembrance Chapel is a reminder of the presence on the battlefield of French troops who were also involved.

• At Longueval, the South African National Memorial commemorates the battle of Devil's Wood, where more than 3,000 South African soldiers died in the space of a few days.

• In Péronne, the Historial de la Grande Guerre remains the key museum on the Circuit du Souvenir for understanding everything about the Battle of the Somme and the wider context of the Great War. If you have to visit only one, this is it!

On the Circuit du Souvenir, the poppy can be found in the fields as well as on the markers: these bright red petals have become the symbol of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who fell in this region of the Somme. Ideally, you should spend 2 or 3 days in total covering the entire route by car.