Day 3
The Cavalry's Last Hurrah
Day Three!
Today we marched further into the Somme area and rode to the Thiepval Somme Memorial - Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The memorial holds the casualties of 72,000 British and South African men lost and never found.
We rode up to the memorial and a wreath representing the British Army regiments such as the Royal Flying Corp, The Royal Engineers, Jersey and Guernsey Islands militias and the Commonwealth forces. If only I had a wreath for the Yeomanry!
The most amazing thing is that I managed to find a couple of soldiers from the Duke Of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry (picture attached)
Riding up there really brought the reality of how France was in 1914 and the realization of how many perished fighting for such a short area of land.
Most notably after moving onto the 2nd Australian Division War Memorial, this was a real sombre moment as the realisation that 7 thousand men perished for a mound of land, not 100 ft wide (picture attached). This was to allow more battalions to march on through to take further German positions.
Finally, tomorrow is a rest day in Perronne, whereby we look at the devastation caused during the war, most notably the castle that was completely destroyed.
