Virtual Tours - 'A Lousy Wood on the Somme' is now available to view

The third of the Virtual Tours that we are running as a substitute for 'real life' visits the battlefields is now available to view.

As detailed previously, these tours are being provided through a partnership with our friends at Battle Guide Virtual Tours. All six of the 'live events' have been are fully subscribed but if you were unable to reserve a place all is not lost as these tours are being made available to members for free to watch after the 'live' event.

The third tour covered the war in 1916 and saw Julian Whippy take us on a virtual tour of a less-visited area of the Somme battlefield - Leuze Wood - known at the time as 'Lousy Wood'.

The full hour long virtual tour entitled 'A Lousy Wood on the Somme' can be seen via the link at the foot of this page (note: this requires a sign on to The Western Front Association 'members only' area of the website) but a short 'clip' of this is available below. (Click the right pointing arrow in the bottom left corner of the image).

Leuze Wood or Lousy Wood as the British inevitably called it, straddles the Guillemont to Combles road on the high ground that features so much in the 2nd Phase of the Battle of the Somme. Itself being flanked by the infamous Falfemont Farm and the crumbled ruins of Guillemont, dominated views to the North and East and stood in the way of the advance by General Rawlinson’s Fourth Army in early September 1916. Successively fought over by a great many units, it was captured, lost, and finally cleared largely by men of the 5th and 56th Divisions whose actions this virtual tour will concentrate on.  Lousy wood may not hold the same notorious reputation or fable as others such as Delville, Mametz or High Wood but nevertheless its story should be told.

The full virtual tour is available to Western Front Association members only and is accessible via the 'members area' on the website.  In order to view this in full, you will need to log in to the website using your personal log in details. Once you have done so, simply click onto 'Virtual Tours' and then to the 1914 tour. Alternatively click on the link here A Lousy Wood on the Somme