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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent companion
Review: I have just returned from a 5 day visit to the Somme (May 2003), and found his book an indispensible guide if you are doing it on your own.You need to sit down and study the key to the accompanying map quite carefully. Once you have got the hang of it, and the references in the book, your journey will be much smoother. There are so MANY memorials, graves and sites of remembrance in this area, that it would be virtually impossible to visit everything. Many people (like me) will have a personal reason for visiting - a relative who fought, maybe was killed there. My advice is to do as much research as possible first, and you can do worse that start by reading the introduction to this book. Stroll through the book and become familiar with some of the places it describes. I had a particular interest in Australian-oriented memorials. In the latest edition these are paid quite close attention. However, you need to piece together your own "Australian tour" (the Franco-Australian museum in Villers-Brettoneux can help too). Still, it was quite easy with this guide - one read through and I compiled my own list from it. The more generalist visitor I would recommend starting with the Historial in Peronne, which is well described in the book...but not as a starting point. The book is oriented towards Britons with a car coming from across the channel, which is no doubt the promary audience, but the "approaches" section cannot be followed if one is arriving, for example from the direction od Paris. Nevertheless, with a bit of flicking back and forth and some sticky-paper notes, this is an excellent resource from which to plan an independent tour. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed Guide to Memorials of the Somme
Review: This text has plenty of photos (b&w and color), nice maps, helpful hints for tourists, and insightful vingettes of the soldiers and incidents of all sides. There is also a section at the back of the book listing and giving brief histories on commemorative groups and war graves commissions of various nations. The United Kingdom and British Commonwealth are well represented. I would strongly suggest this book for those going to the Somme, as it would be good for quick information on various monuments which a person might pass on the road.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed Guide to Memorials of the Somme
Review: This text has plenty of photos (b&w and color), nice maps, helpful hints for tourists, and insightful vingettes of the soldiers and incidents of all sides. There is also a section at the back of the book listing and giving brief histories on commemorative groups and war graves commissions of various nations. The United Kingdom and British Commonwealth are well represented. I would strongly suggest this book for those going to the Somme, as it would be good for quick information on various monuments which a person might pass on the road.
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