Albert
Beaumont-Hamel
Newfoundland Memorial Park
The village of Beaumont-Hamel was one of the fortress villages located just behind the German lines on the 1st of July 1916.
This position commanded the valley over which the attacking troops had to cross. The British attack on this part of the line was undertaken on that day by the 29th Division, part of VIII Corps, and there is a great deal more to see in the nearby Newfoundland Memorial Park, which has another page on this website devoted to it and which can be found to the south-west of the village. The first objective on the 1st of July was a line just beyond the village, with the third objective an ambitious further mile and three-quarters beyond that.
A view of the battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel
This park, located near Beaumont-Hamel, is one of only a few sites on the Western Front where the ground remains largely untouched from when the First World War ended. The main entrance to the Newfoundland Memorial Park can be found on the D73 road between Hamel and Auchonvillers. During my last visit, in autumn 2005, improvements were being made to this road, but it was still passable. The road was known during the Great War as St. John's Road.