Year 10 Battlefields Trip

Students from Tavistock college recently went to the First World War battlefields to gain an insight into the realities of warfare and the lives of the soldiers in the trenches from 1914 to 1918 that would benefit them for their History GCSE exams next year. 

After an early start, we headed to Dover to get the ferry to Calais. After the ferry,  we travelled to the towns of Arras and Ypres, which were pivotal locations in The Great War. We visited various memorial sites including Tyne Cot, the Menin Gate and Thiepval which commemorated the Allied soldiers who had fought in the war. It was also really interesting to go to the Langemark German Military Cemetery to look at the differences between the Allied ones and why they were different. 

We also looked into the use of mines by looking at the Lochnagar Crater, Hill 60 and the Wellington Quarry, this was very interesting as they showed strategies that either side used to gain control secretly. As well as the mines, we visited the trenches and investigated what the living conditions would be like for the soldiers and the challenges that would come with living in the trenches including medical challenges and injuries. To consolidate our GCSE knowledge further, we explored medicine in the trenches and the role of the chain of evacuation into helping casualties surviving which will support our upcoming GCSE exams as they give us a visual understanding of how the chain of evacuation worked. It was an inspiring and memorable trip especially as many of our group found the names of relatives on the memorial sites.