If you have ever watched television coverage of the Remembrance Sunday ceremony that takes place each year in November at the Cenotaph in London, you will have heard the stirring ‘Nimrod Enigma Variation’ composed by Edward Elgar. Not only is the service itself incredibly moving, but so moving is that orchestral piece it has often been remarked it could have been written specifically for that service. I recently visited the Franco-British Memorial at Thiepval, and while walking around the visitor’s centre, Elgar’s Nimrod ‘struck up’. It was then that I truly experienced a shiver down my spine.

The Franco-British Memorial at Thiepval is an impressive memorial some 45 metres high and visble for miles around. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and commemorates the 73 367 men, known as the Missing of the Somme, who have no known grave. Their names are inscribed on the 16 pillars that form the base of the structure.

The monument is built on a hill that was one of two important positions on the German’s line of defence in the northern sector of the British Front. On 1 July 1916 the British forces lost 58 000 men of whom 20 000 were killed in an offensive on the German line of defence. This was the greatest tragedy in British military history. The battle for Thiepval began on 1 July 1916, and ended on 26 September that same year.

Today the hill is the site for the Franco-British memorial – to honour all those soldiers who do not have a known grave. Inscribed on the arches of the monument: To the French and British Armies, from the grateful British Empire.

Buried adjacent to the monument are a number of British and French soldiers in unmarked graves, just a tiny fraction of the missing of the Somme who fell between July 1915 and March 1918 who have no known grave.

Besides the enormous and impressive monument there is a state-of-the-art study centre that allows visitors to get a good idea about the significance of Thiepval, and the first World War. Computers on-site also enable visitors to search for and find men whose names are inscribed on the monument. The interactive displays are innovative and are aimed at all ages and interest levels – and really do meet the needs of school children and their project/assignment requirements.

And of course there is so much more to the Somme than the monument at Thiepval. It is not just from a historical perspective that I feel the Somme Battlefields are truly one of the best places to visit in Europe. As there are so many monuments and sites to see on the Somme, you can plan to spend a day there, or even a week. I would not only recommend a visit to Thiepval, but would suggest that it is a good place to start. For example, there is also the Lochnagar Crater, the explosion that created this was heard in London.

From here you could then follow the ‘Circuit of Remembrance’, choosing what and how much you visit, at your own place. The ‘Battlefields of the Somme’ website is one of those ‘Europe travel tips’ visitors to this area could not do without. Here, you will find all you need to know about the Somme, the historical context, the various cemeteries and memorials, as well as a all the sites that are available to visit on ‘Circuit of Remembrance’. This circuit guides visitors to the Somme battlefields along a 40 mile route from Peronne to Albert, taking in the major sites between the two towns. And the ‘Circuit’ is also available to download to your MP3.

Heather has written about Battlefield Tours for Remembrance Sunday on the Europe a la Carte Blog.  Have you visited any of the Somme Battlefields or memorials?