The best road cycling routes around Capinghem

The battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was a bloody initiation for Australian soldiers to warfare on the Western Front. Soldiers of the newly arrived 5th Australian Division, together with the British 61st Division, were ordered to attack strongly fortified German front line positions near the Aubers Ridge in French Flanders. The attack was intended as a feint to hold German reserves from moving south to the Somme where a large Allied offensive had begun on 1 July. The feint was a disastrous failure. Australian and British soldiers assaulted over open ground in broad daylight and under direct observation and heavy fire from the German lines. Over 5,500 Australians became casualties. Almost 2,000 of them were killed in action or died of wounds and some 400 were captured. This is believed to be the greatest loss by a single division in 24 hours during the entire First World War. Some consider Fromelles the most tragic event in Australia’s history. https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/fromelles

The castle of the Dalle-Dumont family, le Château Blanc, was occupied by the Germans from August 1914 to October 1918 as a German field hospital 'Feldlazarett Nr. 9. Adolf Hitler was treated there during the night of 13 to 14 October 1918 and remained there convalescing until the Armistice. This is where the wounded soldiers of the Heuvelland front between Ypres and the French-Belgian border are cared for. Soldiers who die of their wounds are buried in the park of the castle. https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/140728/Ch%C3%A2teau-Blanc-Wervicq-Sud.htm https://www.wervicq-sud.com/tourisme/le-chateau-et-parc-dalle-dumont/

Easier side of Kemmelberg, but don't start too hard and leave some energy to the last part, which kicks just before the top.

This British cemetery and memorial were built in memory of the Australian soldiers who died during the Battle of Fromelles on 19-20 July 1916. There are 410 Australian soldiers buried here, none of whom have been identified. Although the graves are individual, they are not marked with individual headstones, but the names of some 1,200 missing are recorded on the Memorial, a memorial wall at the rear of the cemetery. Two large concrete crosses have been placed on the grassed area. In front of the memorial wall is the Cross of Sacrifice.

An interesting anecdote concerns the name of the cemetery. It refers to a chalet that stood in the hamlet before the war. This chalet served as a point of reference for the soldiers and gave the cemetery its name.

Lindenhoek Chalet Military Cemetery is a British military cemetery from the First World War, located in the hamlet of Lindenhoek, south of Kemmel. The cemetery was established in March 1915 by medical posts and combat units and remained in use until October 1917. After the war, approximately 130 more graves from the battlefields around Kemmel were added. The cemetery contains the graves of 317 soldiers, 69 of whom are unidentified. The cemetery has a rectangular plan and is slightly raised above street level, surrounded by a brick wall.

Near the front line in 1916, a fierce battle was fought between the British (Australians) and the Germans. To commemorate 'la bataille' and the wounded who were brought back from the battlefield, a monument/statue was erected here.

The Musée de la Bataille de Fromelles is dedicated to the Battle of Fromelles of 19–20 July 1916, which pitted British and Australian troops against a Bavarian division. The museum offers a comprehensive exhibition on the battle, the 2009 archaeological excavations that unearthed the bodies of 250 soldiers, and the identification campaign that followed.