Day 11 Villers-Bretonneux to Arras 27 April 2018

Today we had our visit to the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux to go through this brand new centre. It was very crowded (three buses arrived at the same time) but the immersion theatre was a highlight. They make extensive use of technology but it did create bottlenecks.

Our seats were about 2/3 of the way up in the middle section.

The view from the rear of the centre allows you to see where the Red Baron was shot down.

Near the tower.

There were many floral wreaths laid.

We had a two course meal in our Mercedes car, as we were off to see the Amiens Cathedral which is the largest church in France. Inside there are memorial plates to the different allied forces who defended France during WW1.

Next stop was the Wellington caves at Arras, of which the tunnels still exist under the city.

On our return to Arras we rushed off to see the Napoleon exhibition from Versailles that was in town at the local museum. They did not want to let us in 30 minutes before closing time but eventually relented once they knew we were Australians. We whizzed through taking photos of many paintings that I certainly had not seen before.

Tonight we joined our tour buddies for a lovely Chinese meal.

Day 10 Somme, Northern France 26 April 2018

The Ulster Tower was built as a replica of a tower in Ireland as a tribute to the 36^th Ulster Division for their part of the 1 July 1916 attack on the Somme where the British lost 60,000 casualties. 

Frequently there are small piles of unexploded ordnance by the side of the road awaiting collection. They have to be taken away and not destroyed in-situ as they may be gas shells. 

The Beamont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park is a testament to the country of Newfoundland (later it joined Canada), they lost 500 out of 800 men in a single morning. It was a very attractive memorial, which has some of the original trenches still in place.

The Thiepval memorial and museum for the missing British and South Africans, the 72, 000 names are a sobering thought.

For lunch we stopped at the Blighty Café which provided us with excellent food of homemade vegetable soup and savoyard (toasted bread with bacon and cheese).

Lochnagar Crater which was a mine detonated on 1 July 1916 as part of the opening of the Somme Offensive.  One of the poor British fellows was discovered about 10 years ago and re interred at a nearby cemetery on the anniversary of the battle. It was one of 19 mines detonated and is 30 metres deep and 100 metres across.

We drove past the 1^st Divisional Memorial in which Elizabeth’s great uncle served in as part of the 9^th Battalion and stopped at the Pozieres British Cemetery which is mainly, but not exclusively Australian.

The remains of Pozieres windmill and is “is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place in the world,” and tank memorial. This was a terrible 1916 battle that crippled the Australian divisions as they were shelled from three sides. It is arguable the heaviest bombardment that they ever had to endure.

There is also a new memorial to animals killed in war.

We finished the day with a visit to the Somme 1916 Museum in the small town of Albert which has created using the underground tunnels used by the French during WW1. It was an excellent use of space and very well done.

We had dinner at one of the many restaurants on the squares with some of our tour buddies.  I asked for a large beer but didn’t realise exactly how large a large beer was. Amongst the many French cuisine items we were intrigued to find a Corn Dog which in the French translates as Corn Dog.

Day 9 ANZAC Day 25 April 2018

We were collected about midnight and taken to the security processing at the railway station at Clissy (outside of Amiens).  It was a large event 8,000 people and security was tight but it was quite efficient.  We then boarded the shuttle buses and arrived about 2.30 PM. The cemetery was quite atmospheric. 

Overall it was excellently organised, the pre-ceremony program was very good and made the time go very quickly, the stands had very comfortable seats and there was excellent visibility from where ever you sat. 

The French Prime Minister was at the service as was Prince Charles HRH, Malcolm Turnball, Marise Payne, Tony Abbot and Derryn Hinch, of all people.

The only down side was for the people going back to Clissy on the buses as they had a 2.5 hour wait.  For us we walked the one kilometre to Villers-Brettenoux which took us 15 minutes. Our itinerary diverged from what was advertised and we were in VB for the wreath laying for their that but we did get to see Malcolm Turnball up close and two of our group, another couple from Brisbane got to shake his hand.

Afterwards we went to the Victoria School in the town that was rebuilt by the children of Victoria.  They have a big sign “Never Forget Australia”. Having missed breakfast we were taken by bus to a winery in the town of Albert. One of our tour group, Helen has their birthday on the 25 April, so the tour company organised champagne and a chocolate brownie birthday cake with fresh strawberries and cream on top.

After lunch we went to our third ANZAC Day service at Bullecourt and then yet another one at the Digger Memorial, just outside of the town.

Day 8 Bayeux-Honfleur-Peronne-Arras 24 April 2018

It was an early start but before we left the town, we visited the Bayeux Cathedral.  It was here that William of Normandy (The Conqueror) had forced Harold to give allegiance to him.  It was an impressive church and one stained glass window was devoted to the liberation in 1944.  The town had escaped largely unscathed from the invasion.

Honfleur is an attractive seaside town located at the end of the Seine River, opposite the port of Le Harve where the river meets the English Channel.

Before we left Australia, Elizabeth and I researched one of her great uncles who had been “lost in France”.  We did well as we didn’t even have a first name. Norman Jones had served in the Light Horse on Gallipoli, convalesced in Cairo, returned briefly to Australia on sick leave and returned to serve on the Western Front in the Queensland 9^th Battalion.  He served until the last engagement of his unit of the war when he received multiple gun-shot wounds on September and died two days later.  His unit was withdrawn from the front line the next day and never saw combat again.  He served for so long, only to fall at the last hurdle.

He is buried at the La Chapalette British-Indian Cemetery just south of Peronne, under the shade of a spreading Chestnut tree. We thought we knew his location in the cemetery but the cemetery was divided into two, non-Christians on one side and Christians on the other. Elizabeth placed a woven poppy on his grave, donated by Sue in our group. We had a little service where we all recited the Ode. It was quite moving.

Peronne Museum and lunch. The exhibition was a little more complete since we had been there but it was one of our better museums that we had visited and had invested in technology.  A couple of our party spoke to the Defence Minister Marise Payne and her entourage whom we later ran into at the 2^nd Australian Division monument at Mont St. Quentin where she laid a wreath.

We arrive in Arras for our hotel for the next few nights at Trois Luppars (Three Leopards), which is right on the Great Market Square.  The weather has remained overcast but with no showers so we have been extremely lucky up too this point in time.

Day 7 Normandy Beaches-Bayeux 23 April 2018

Today we visited the Bayeux Tapestry. We have seen it before but it’s very interesting despite the 1960s narration.  Perhaps if they used Jeremy Irons or my favourite, Brian Blessed - it might have been more engaging. Here is our little group heading off to see it. Like virtually all towns here it is quite an attractive place.

We then headed off to the Omaha Beach Cemetery. Since the film Saving Private Ryan was made in 1998, visitor numbers have skyrocketed and they the authorities have had to provide much more parking and improve the road system. The area is surrounded by forest which means there are lots of pretty bird calls which gives it a different atmosphere to the Commonwealth cemeteries.

They also had a new museum.

On Omaha Beach itself, it is clear that it was difficult place to attack up these steep slopes would be quite exhausting…I assume.

 We also visited a little to the north, the Pointe du Hoc where Rangers had to scale 30 plus metre cliffs to destroy gun batteries, of which half were dummy guns. More than half of the US attacking force became casualties. It had been left as a moonscape after aerial bombing and unless the US Army Corps of Engineers intervened the battlefield would have eroded into the sea.

This was one of the French guns to be installed in the battery but they ran out of time.
Many German soldiers are still buried there from the bombardment and assault.  Thy have never been recovered.

Rod also showed us the field of Brecort Manor which featured in episode 2 of the cable TV series of Band of Brothers. The hedgerow obscured a decent photograph.

At Utah Beach there is quite a large complex/museum to visit.  

 This Sherman tank is French showing that they arrived a month later.

On our return journey, we visited one of the few German cemeteries. Here is buried the celebrated German tank commander Michael Wittman and his Tiger Tank crew, killed during the Normandy tank battles with the British.

The grass is worn away from the number of visitors to his grave.  These small markers indicate that there a 5 men interred here.

German cemeteries are simple affairs and there is a bell that relatives can use to let their loved ones know that they were there.  We found two fallen Germans with the surname Pfaff, one a corporal and the other a Squadron leader. Here Elizabeth is ringing the bell.