It’s impossible not to shed a tear when you first enter a Western Front cemetery because no matter how much you think you know, it isn’t until you see all the headstones lined up that you understand the scale of loss. When this cemetery was founded we had already started winning, so I am not looking forward to seeing Flanders tomorrow where the real waste happened.
Today we started at the Villers-Brettoneux cemetery and the Sir John Monash Centre and it was a cracker of a morning. Twenty two degrees and blue skies with puffy clouds made for a perfect morning to spend underground watching extensive (and expensive) multimedia. Now I don’t want to say to much about the videos in case there are people who haven’t already read the book and don’t know the ending. But 3 things are clear from the presentation:
- When there were setbacks, they were British setbacks.
- When there were advances, they were Australian advances.
- Even though the centre is beautifully built and fitted out, Tony Abbott didn’t budget quite enough money for real German actors because zum of zee ak-zents ver pretty bad.
There is evidence that German tourists have made known their displeasure at the poor Germ-lish in the multimedia as there are some bullet holes in the memorial tower. The plaque says they are meant to have been left by German soldiers in the 40’s, but they look way more recent to me.
But having said that, I can’t recommend the experience more highly. The multimedia is a bit technical, in fact I have never seen a system like it. It is truly state of the art and allows you to walk though the whole war at your own pace and is not at all jingoistic. But it does get a bit vivid – I haven’t actually seen an audience come under a simulated gas attack before. They have ‘escapee doors’ for those who find it a bit vivid.
The cemetery and Monash Centre are on the ridge halfway between Villers-Brettoneux (the place where the Australian Army halted the final German offensive of the war on ANZAC day, 1918) and Le Hamel where John Monash invented Combined Arms tactics and used them for the first time in history to defeat the Germans in 90 minutes, on the 4th of July, 1918. All the other Allied Generals went ‘hey, cool battle, can we borrow the plans?’ and the war was over in 100 days. ‘Nuff said.
Here is a view overlooking where the Australians advanced to Le Hamel, forever changing the course of history and beginning the end of the war. It’s a beautiful sea of Poppies, Daisies, Wheat, Barley and Potatoes. In all likelihood it probably wasn’t a lot different 101 yeas ago as the Germans had pushed the Allies way back from the old trench lines. This wasn’t the trench warfare of the previous years.
There were a couple of Cameron’s there and our mission for the day was to follow the course of the Australian advance up the Somme River to find the point where mum’s uncle Bob was wounded.
Now the Somme Valley is spectacularly fertile and at this point the Somme is a lovely little river with an adjacent canal winding away through the plains. A bit like the Loddon River, but a damn site greener.
Now I had done a little research before leaving and we know that Bob’s 37th Battalion had moved upstream with the rest of the Australian Army to a little town called Cléry-sur-Somme. The day Bob was wounded, the Battalion diary says they were attacking some ridges directly to the East of Clery. In such a flat landscape it was no difficulty finding the right ridges so here you are, a photo looking uphill at the place Bob was likely wounded on the 30th of August, 1918. You can see the 2 ridges that needed to be captured as they have a copse of trees on the top of each. The strategic importance was that the ridges overlook the town of Peronne and the whole river valley, so they needed to be taken before the Army could advance and take Peronne.
And here is the view backwards towards the town of Clery (hidden in the trees). You can see one of the Billabongs around the Somme, although I’m not sure they call them that here.
So after our detective work it was back to Villers-Brettoneux for refreshments where we found some early examples of Tourism Marketing (note the name of the cafe).
After a quick beer at the Melbourne Cafe, we adjourned to nearby Amiens. For the history buffs, the Australians were sent to Villers-Brettoneux as shock troops to stop the German advance because Villers-Brettoneux sits on a hilltop overlooking Amiens. Amiens was and is the key railway, canal and road junction in Northern France. If the Germans had of taken Amiens then most historians think they would have driven on to Paris quite quickly.
Now unfortunately Amiens suffered no war damage, so they have no excuse at all for the ugly architecture that makes up most of this small city. But right in the middle they do have a vibrant little CBD that on our visit was jumping with jugglers, tumblers, puppet shows and crowds. They also have the most beautiful cathedral, within which lies an Australians and New Zealand chapel. The design of the Amiens cathedral is very tall and it is propped up by flying buttresses to make Notre Dame envious. But the highlight is the huge windows letting in a lot of light and making for a very airy feeling.
And here is the chapel devoted to Australia and New Zealand and Canada.
And this picture Jo took and made me put in the blog because she thought it was beautiful. I think she is the patron saint of changing the sheets.
