Champagne & Northern France - Discover France: Experience the Best of France - page 354

Château de Péronne; adult/child incl audioguide €7.50/3.80; 10am-6pm, closed
mid-Dec-mid-Jan) . Tucked inside Péronne's massively fortified château, this
award-winning museum tells the story of the war chronologically, with equal space
given to the German, French and British perspectives on what happened, how and
why.
Excellent English brochures on the battlefields can be picked up at Péronne's
tourist office (

03 22 84 42 38; www.hautesomme-tourisme.com ; 18 place André

Audinot; 10am-noon & 2-5pm or 6.30pm, closed Sun) , 100m from the museum

entrance.
Péronne (pop 8700) is about 60km east of Amiens.

Somme American Cemetery
In late September 1918, just six weeks before the end of WWI, American units -
flanked by their British, Canadian and Australian allies - launched an assault on the
Germans' heavily fortified Hindenburg Line.
Some of the fiercest fighting took place near the village of Bony, on the sloping
site now occupied by the 1844 Latin crosses and stars of David of the Somme
American Cemetery ( www.abmc.gov ; 9am-5pm) .
The cemetery is 24km northeast of Péronne, mostly along D6, and 18km north of
St-Quentin along D1044.

Thiepval Memorial
Dedicated to 'the Missing of the Somme', this Commonwealth memorial - its dis-
tinctive outline visible for many kilometres in all directions - is the region's most vis-
ited place of pilgrimage. The glass-walled visitors centre (

03 22 74 60 47; ad-

10am-6pm, closed 2 weeks around New Year) is discreetly below

mission free;

ground level.
Thiepval is 7.5km northeast of Albert, partly along D50 and D151.