Day 2 Monday September 13, 2010 Istanbul
Early this morning we arrive into Istanbul, once capital of Turkey and now the largest and most important city in the country. Formerly known as Constantinople, it was once the capital of the Byzantine Empire until taken by the Turks in 1452. After arrival, we will be transferred to the hotel. We will have a relaxing cruise on the Bosphorus, where can see this amazing city from the water.

Day 3 Tuesday September 14, 2010 Istanbul
Today we visit some of the great sights of the historic city of Istanbul. This morning we see Haiga Sophia, the great Christian Basilica built by the Emperor Justinian in 537AD. It was turned into a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. We see the Blue Mosque, built by the Sultan in 1588 and the ancient Hipperdrome. This afternoon we visit the famous Tokapi Palace, home to the Sultans of Turkey for centuries.

Day 4 Wednesday September 15, 2010 Gallipoli
This morning we travel by coach from Istanbul to the Gallipoli Peninsula and to Kabatepe and our hotel. This afternoon we have a familiarisation tour of ANZAC, viewing the whole area from the heights on the Turkish side. We will visit Lone Pine, Courtney’s and Steele’s Posts, Quinn’s Post, the Nek and Baby 700

Day 5 Thursday September 16, 2010 Gallipoli
This morning we will focus on the landings at ANZAC on 25th April 1915, and the progress in the first 48 hours. We will visit the landing sites, and the nearby cemeteries including Beach Cemetery where Pte John Simpson Kirkpatrick, the legendary man with the donkey, is buried, and Shrapnel Valley Cemetery for a brief ceremony at the grave of J D Burns. We will see the Turkish Memorial to the ANZACS, erected in 1934. We will finish the morning with an optional walk up Shrapnel Valley and Monash Valley, the main line of communication from the beach supply base to the front line.In the afternoon we will focus on the August offensive, visiting the associated battle sites at ANZAC, including Lone Pine, the Nek and Chunuk Bair. We will finish the day with another optional walk from Chunuk Bair down to Ocean Beach, from where our bus will return us to our hotel.

Day 6 Friday September 17, 2010 Gallipoli
This morning we visit the Cape Helles area, and some of the landing beaches used by the British forces on 25th April 1915. We will see the Turkish Obelisk and the Cape Helles Memorial to the missing, erected by Britain in 1924. We will visit the site of the disastrous second battle of Krithia on 8th May 1915, where the Australian 2nd Brigade under Brigadier (later Lieutenant General) James McKay lost 1056 men in less than an hour. This was the only time in the war that an Australian brigade was flung into an ordered attack against strong enemy positions across open ground in daylight without warning. Charles Bean the war historian records that “The fire was terrific ... a twig of olive lying beneath the trees was sent spinning into the air as though the bullets were playing tipcat.” In the afternoon we will make a final visit to the battlefields at ANZAC to recapture some of the human experience of everyday life and death at ANZAC.

Day 7 Saturday September 18, 2010 Beersheba
This morning we will depart Gallipoli and travel to Istanbul airport. We will board our early afternoon flight to Tel Aviv. On arrival we will be transferred to our hotel in the city of Beersheba

Day 8 Sunday September 19, 2010 Beersheba
Today we visit the city of Beersheba the site of the famous Australian Light Horse charge, one of the last successful mounted charges in military history that took the wells and the town. The plan to break the Gaza-Beersheba line had been formulated following the failure of the two frontal assaults against Gaza. The Turkish defences were formidable in the vicinity of Gaza but in the east there was a wide gap between the last redoubt and the Beersheba fortifications. The Turks trusted that the lack of reliable water in this region, other than at the wells in Beersheba, would limit operations to mounted raids. It was believed that the lack of water would be easier to overcome than the Gaza fortifications and so a mammoth engineering and supply effort was undertaken to make a forward base in the vicinity of Beersheba from which infantry and mounted troops could stage an assault. The plan, however, depended on the town and water supply being captured swiftly. If the attack was repulsed on the first day, the allies would be forced to retire in search of water. Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel, commanding the Desert Mounted Corps, appreciated by mid afternoon that the situation was getting desperate and that direct action was needed to capture the wells before dark. He ordered the 4th Light Horse Brigade commanded by Brigadier William Grant to capture the town, giving his famous order “Put Grant straight at it”. The light horsemen jumped the front trenches and dismounted behind the line where they turned and engaged the Turks with bayonets. The Turks were in many cases so demoralised that they quickly surrendered. The capture of Beersheba broke the Turkish lines and led to the capture of Gaza. It opened the way to the eventual capture of Jerusalem and Damascus, and the end of the Ottoman Empire in Palestine and Syria. We will see the famous wells including Abraham’s well which is mentioned in Genesis, the Railway Station, the Railway Bridge and other places mentioned in the accounts of the 4th Light Horse. We will also visit the Beersheba war cemetery where 174 Australians are buried, the remains of the Allenby Monument and the Anzac memorial. We will also see Tel Sheva, the key high ground that was captured before the charge, and El Buggar Ridge, the site of a preliminary battle some days prior to the main assault.

Day 9 Monday September 20, 2010 Jerusalem
Today we visit a number of sites of the battles that finally broke the Gaza-Beersheba line and led to the capture of Gaza and then Jerusalem. We visit the site of al-Jammama and Huj which were captured on 7 and 9 November 1917 respectively. We will also see the railway station at Sheria which was captured on 6 November. We visit the ridge of El Maghar and then travel to Jerusalem. After settling into our hotel, we will visit Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity.

Day 10 Tuesday September 21, 2010 Jerusalem
Today we explore Jerusalem. We visit the old town and see the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the afternoon we will visit the Mount of Olives where the war cemetery is located.

Day 11 Wednesday September 22, 2010 Jerusalem
This morning we will visit a number of sites in the Jordan Valley, including Ghoraniye and Jisr ed Damieh, where the bridges across the Jordan were taken by the Australians. We will visit the site of the Battle of Abu Tellul, which was the last deliberate offensive against the British in Palestine, and where German infantry were used as storm troopers. Time permitting, we will visit the Dead Sea, the historical site of Massada, and the city of Jericho captured by Cox’s 1st Light Horse Brigade on 21 February 1918.

Day 12 Thursday September 23, 2010 Sea of Galilee
Today we drive north following the route of the final thrust of September/October 1918 to the Sea of Galilee. We visit Nazaereth which was captured on 21 September 1918, and the major sites of the battle of Megiddo where the Turkish forces were comprehensively defeated and expelled from Palestine, opening up the route to Damascus which is only 120 km away and which was first entered by the Third Australian Light Horse Brigade on 1 October 1918. We will cross the Golan Heights to the east of the Lake, and will visit Semakh where 4th Light Horse Brigade charged and took the railway station before dawn on 25 September 1918. We then travel to our hotel near Tel Aviv Airport.

Day 13 Friday September 24, 2010 Amiens
This morning we transfer to Tel Aviv airport for our flight to Paris. On arrival we will be transferred to the city of Amiens and our hotel.

Day 14 Saturday September 25, 2010 Amiens
Today we explore some of the famous 1916 battlefields of the Somme. These include La Boiselle and Pozieres where Australia’s first major battle on the Western Front occurred on 23 September, 1916. Mouquet Farm was bitterly fought over between September and October 1916 by Australian forces. We then visit Thiepval, and Newfoundland Park. We also visit the 1st Australian Division Memorial and the 1916 Museum.

Day 15 Sunday September 26, 2010 Amiens
Today we will visit the Villers Brettoneux area, visiting some of the 1918 Somme battlefields. We first visit the site of the battle of Hamel. Feel what it was like for the ANZACs, as we are guided by General Gration on the route they took on the first major victory for General Sir John Monash, which led on to further victories and the end of the war. We will see Monash’s HQ at Bertangles. We will celebrate the victory and commemorate those who served. General Gration will guide us on a special visit to the Australian National Memorial and the Australian Corps Memorial at Le Hamel. We visit Villers Brettoneaux, where on the famous night of the counter-attack of 24-25 April 1918, Lieut.-Colonel Norman Marshall took control of the attacking battalions of the 15th Brigade at their forming up position and ‘got the whole brigade straightened up and moving forward on the right lines’. The operation was a brilliant success. He was awarded a Bar to the DSO for his part in the battle. We will visit the 3rd Division museum, the ANZAC Museum and Digger Memorial and the sites of the ‘advance to victory’. This afternoon we will see the site where the Red Baron was shot down. Controversy remains to this day as to who shot the famed aviator down. We see the Musee Franco Australien, the Australian National Memorial, the Villers Bretonneaux cemeteries.

Day 16 Monday September 27, 2010 Amiens
Today General Gration will take us to the Somme winter lines, Flers le Butte de Walncourt and Bapaume. We will follow the outpost villages to the Hindenburg Line and visit the village of Bullecourt where the 6th brigade repelled a fierce attack from both sides on 3 May 1917. We will visit the Museum and the Digger Memorial at Bullecourt. We will find out about Flight Commander R. A. Little (’15), who fought the German airforce in the area in an aircraft decorated in the Scotch colours – Cardinal Gold and Blue. This is the place where he planned his battles and was knighted in person by King George V

Day 17 Tuesday September 28, 2010 Ypres
Today General Gration will take us to Fromelles, where we visit the war museum and the new memorial to those whose remains have recently been discovered. We then visit the Cobbers’ Memorial, a sculpture by Peter Corlett at the Australian Memorial, VC corner, the only all Australian cemetery on the Western Front, and the 1916 battlefield. Fromelles was where General McCay, wanted to lead the first Australians into battle in France, ‘and to get a big splash’. The attack was ordered from above and although it was going to be suicide, McCay did not protest. Thousands died in the disastrous battle. We then travel on to Ypres via Messines, where the 3rd and 4th Divisions carried out an important attack capturing Messines Ridge on 7 September 1917, a campaign in which a number of men were decorated. We also visit Armentieres, where the 3rd Division held a sector of the line. Overnight at Ypres.

Day 18 Wednesday September 29, 2010 Ypres
Today, General Gration will take us to the Ypres Salient battlefields, including Hill 60 and the Australian Tunnellers Memorial and Menin Road. We visit Polygon Wood, where Norman Marshall led his forces on 26 and 27 September 1917 with great success and personally captured 5 pillboxes. He was awarded the DSO for his share of the success, although many thought that a VC would have been more appropriate. We see Broodseinde, the ridge which was captured on 4 October 1917 by three Australian Divisions in line. We visit Passchendaele, and Tyne Cot Cemetery and see the 5th Division Memorial. We then visit the “In Flanders Field” museum. This evening we attend the moving Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate in Ypres that has been played nightly since 1929

Day 19 Thursday September 30, 2010 Cambrai
We visit TocH at Poperinghe. Today, General Gration will take us to visit some of the other memorials in the area. We will travel to Arras, and visit the spectacular Canadian Memorial at Vimy, (where Lieutenant J Sproule won the Military Cross), the French Memorial at Notre Dame de Lorette and the German cemetery at Neville St Vaast.

Day 20 Friday October 1, 2010 Cambrai
Today we drive to Peronne, to visit Mont St Quentin and the 2nd Division Memorial. On 1 September, the Australian corps won, perhaps one its greatest victories, under Monash at Mont St Quentin and Peronne. Three VCs were won taking Mont St Quentin. General Gration will guide us around this important site. We will then visit the Historical de la Grande Guerre, a museum in a former chateaux captured by the Australians on 1 August 1918. In the afternoon, General Gration will take us to the 1918 Hindenburg Line and the St Quentin tunnel, Bony, the 4th Division Memorial and AIFs final battle sites.

Day 21 Saturday October 2, 2010 Paris
This morning we will depart Cambrai and travel to Paris. On arrival we will have a sightseeing tour of the city of Paris. We will see the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysses, the Place de Concorde, the Seine and more. We are then transferred to our hotel. This evening we have a final night dinner to celebrate the tour.

Day 22 Sunday October 3, 2010 Paris
This morning we are transferrred to the airport for the flight back to Australia.

Day 23 Monday October 4, 2010 Arrival in Australia
This evening we land in Australia and the tour concludes.