Each year all pupils from Form 3 take part in a moving trip to the World War 1 battlefields of northern France. Read our daily updates from the trip.
Click here for the Flickr album to see all the photos from the trip.
Day 1 – Sunday 4th February
The first group of 51 Form 3 pupils departed Oakham this morning heading to northern France. Upon arrival in France, the pupils watched My Boy Jack, the story of Rudyard Kipling’s son who fought and fell at the Battle of Loos. The first visit was, fittingly, Dud Corner Cemetery at Loos, where Jack’s name is carved amongst 20,000 others whose bodies were lost in no man’s land.
Our Oakhamians laid a wreath at the bottom of the Leicestershire Regiment panel. One School Master and two Old Oakhamians’ names are carved on this monument after dying at the Battle of Loos on 13 November 1915.
Edward Langdale MC was a Maths teacher and Officer of the O.T.C. before the war broke out. Sergeant Edward Franks was a Day Boy from 1905 to 1910. Second Lieutenant Basil Mogridge was a boarder in School House from 1910 to 1914. Two other Old Boys fought and died at Loos, on the same day – Lieutenant Gordon Sanderson and Captain William Johnson.
The second visit of the day was to the Wellington Quarry. Form 3 learned about the New Zealander tunnellers who dug tunnels in Arras’s medieval quarry to prepare for the Battle of Arras – a diversion created to relieve the French Army at the Chemin des Dames in April 1917.
The visit took our pupils 20 metres underground and walking in the tunnel system. They heard the story of the soldiers who lived seven days in the quarry before going over the top, in very harsh conditions. In the end, half of the 24,000 British soldiers were killed.
As is tradition, pupils spent the first evening in France at the bowling alley. An enjoyable end to a long and busy day, and the chance to bond with their peers!
Day 2 – Monday 5th February
On the second day, our Oakhamians visited several memorials and cemeteries at the Somme, following the front line from Beaumont-Hamel to Mametz, learning about the bloodiest battle of the British army. The visit of Lochnagar crater always amazes pupils. The crater was caused by 20 tons of explosives, which were detonated by the British under the German trench in hope to breach the remarkable German defence.
At the Newfoundland Memorial Park, pupils learnt about the British attack on 1 July 1916. The Inniskillings and South Wales Borders went over the top on the first day of the Somme. Most were killed almost immediately by two German machine guns, as they funnelled in a gap in the barbed wire. However, poor communication with the reserve trenches, meant that the second wave of soldiers, from Newfoundland, were nonetheless sent into battle. The pupils walked from the British front line into no man’s land themselves and observed the terrain to understand the strategic position of the German army, compared to the exposed line of the British army. They kept walking across no man’s land and reached the German trench – a formidable defensive network. There they were told of the Highlanders who captured this position in November 1916. A memorial statue in honour of those brave Scots was erected to commemorate their success.
The pupils experienced ‘going’ over the top at Sunken Lane, as filmed on 1 July 1916. The Lancashire Fusiliers were sent to attack, ten minutes after a mine detonated. The regiment was decimated – only 68 answered their name at roll call later that day.
One of the most memorable visits for Oakhamians is the Ancre Cemetery where is buried O.O. Jack Dewar (1915). The School Chaplain, Father Tim, led a poignant memorial service at Jack’s grave. We were grateful to Taran, James, Maddie and Serafina for laying the wreaths, and to Evie and Marcus for reading. Form 3 heard about Jack’s life and achievements at School, and how his death must have affected his peers, friends and family (who also lost their elder son Sonny in the war).
The next visit on the itinerary was at the Devonshire Cemetery. A small cemetery was built in a trench captured by the 8th and 9th Devonshire Regiment on 1 July 1916. They were killed going over the top towards Fricourt. On 4 July 1916, their bodies were brought uphill inside the trench they had died to defend. Pupils identified the head stone of the Commanding officer, Captain Duncan Martin, and of war-poet Lieutenant William Hodgson.
At the end of the day, pupils went to Thiepval Memorial. The French-British memorial was erected in memory of over 70,000 soldiers whose bodies were never found. Form 3 were tasked to find six Old Oakhamians remembered on the panels: Lieutenant George Vidler, Second Lieutenant John Pickering-Clarke, Second Lieutenant Basil Wood, Second Lieutenant Alfred English, Private William Dewhirst and Private John Paul Bromhead.
For their last evening in France, pupils competing in the traditional quiz, demonstrating their knowledge of the First World War. Well done to the Hambleton girls and Chapmans boys in Father Tim’s group, who were this year’s winners.
Day 3 – Tuesday 6th February
On the last day, Form 3 visited two of the most memorable places of the trip.
First, they visited the German cemetery of Neuville St Vaast. They walked in their small groups, and were encouraged to ask questions, to observe, to compare this cemetery with the British and Commonwealth cemeteries. In short, to use their Historian skills. They could not contain their surprise and shock at the sight of 4,000 black crosses, carrying up to four names. They noticed the absence of enclosure, and the absence of flowers – features they had got used to seeing in visits on the previous day.
The final visit for our Oakhamians was at Vimy Ridge. They learnt about the incredible strategy and bravery of the Canadian Army in April 1917 when they forced the Germans back into their reserve trench and attacked from the captured German trench just a few dozen yards away.
Pupils enjoyed walking into the trenches, and looking out to see shell craters all around. The battle of Vimy Ridge was a decisive moment in the birth of the Canadian nation, and it also has a link to Oakham School. Major Malcolm Neilson, Old Oakhamian, had been in Ontario at Agricultural College when the war broke out. He enlisted and landed in France to fight alongside the volunteers from Canada. Malcolm was killed on the first day on the battle.
Before departing for home, pupils went up to the Vimy Memorial – two high white columns representing France and Canada, and honouring the fallen Canadian soldiers.
