Day 23 - Sat, 2nd Oct - The Somme

Today was the Somme. About an one and a half south south west of Ieper into France. Stuart and I shared the trip with two other Australian couples who had just arrived. On introductions at breakfast, we discovered that one of the men went through the airforce with our brother-in-law. Small world.
While in transit, Christian played a couple of historical DVDs on different parts of the war which were very interesting and distracted us from the speed we were driving on the freeways!

We first visited the site of the Windmill where there is a memorial to the 2nd Division.

Charles Bean wrote in the dedication, “The Windmill site – marks a ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other spot on earth”. (Ref: Charles Bean, Anzac to Amiens, Canberra, 1983, p.284). In the fighting at Pozieres, around the Windmill and northwards towards Mouquet (Mow Cow) farm, the A.I.F. suffered more than 23,000 casualties (of which 7,000 were killed, missing or died of their wounds) between 23 July to 5 September, 1916.

I am standing on the site of the original 'Windmill'.

The 'Windmill' site like many others is adorned with Australian flags and poppies by visiting Australians.

These descriptive bronze castings provide much information for the visitor.

We then went to Mouquet Farm which is quite literally ‘a farm’. But on 5th September, 1916, the Battle of Mouquet Farm was to drive a line behind the German strongholds at Thiepval. Unbeknown to the Allies, the farm concealed 2,000 German soldiers. The 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions took part in seven major offences to dislodge the Germans from their deep defences at the farm and surrounding trenches.

This is Mouquet Farm today (above and below).

We visited the water tower at the entrance to Pozieres which is a monument that records the names of the Australians who won a V.C. in the Battle of Pozieres – 5 Australians and 1 English and 1 Canadian.

Water Tower at the entrance to Pozieres.

We next saw the Thiepval Memorial and Museum to the English dead. It is built across the front lines of 1st July, 1916 when the British Army suffered nearly 20,000 men killed and a further 40,000 wounded. The stone panels on the arch record the names of more than 73,000 British missing or those who were found but unidentified and 858 South Africans and one man from the West India Regiment.

Thievpal Memorial to the British and South African dead.

Our guides had researched their maps of the battles of my grandfather, Sgt Edwin Griff and were able to take us to the spot where his 41st Battery was positioned on the day he won his D.C.M. The terrain was slightly undulating and the battery was situated in a slight fall. It was salient to stand there and look out across the quite farm land to imagine how this peacefulness contrasted to the horror, death and devastation that occurred on 5th April, 1918 when the two brigades (10th and 11th) supporting the 4th Division lost 12 officers and 77 others.

This is the position my grandfather's Artillery on the day he won his D.C.M. 

The view the artillery had toward the German line which was where the trees line the horizon.

The Memorial to the 1st Division is known as Gibraltar – where on 22nd July the Australians fought for Pozieres. Just opposite where the 1st Division Memorial now is, was a white reinforced concrete structure some 3 metres tall, with a block tower at its western end, and the barrel of a machine gun protruding from the side. Deeper cellars revealed much enemy equipment and it appeared that this had been a German forward observation post. The strong concrete tower had withstood every British bombardment and even after the complete destruction of Pozieres remained a landmark to the Australians who fought there. Initially, it was christened ‘The Cement House’ but it soon gained the more evocative name ‘Gibraltar’.

The First Division Memorial (above and below).

The Grand Mine – Lochnagar Crater – La Boiselle is an impressive blast hole (100m in diameter and 30m deep), a vestige of the series of explosions on 1st July, 1916 that marked the start of the Battle of the Somme by the British. The area has recently been purchased from the farmer by an Englishmen to preserve the crater for future generations.

The crater of the Grande Mine.

This photo shows the land which has not changed from WWI and the soil which was heaved up after the mine's were exploded (left hand side) in contrast the the natural lay of the land (right hand side).

Albert is a pretty little town which saw so much devastation during both wars. Because it was an important town in my grandfather’s service history I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.

Villers-Bretonneux remembers the Australians who fought for their freedom. The Memorial Cemetery has at its highest point a white tower overlooking the pastures. It was opened by King George VI as a Memorial to the Australian Imperial Force in France and Flanders.

We climbed to the top and had a wonderful 360o view of the surrounding countryside. During the Annual Anzac Day Service a red glows behind the rising star in the turret.  This memorial shows the scars in its white stone of the battle between the Allies and the Germans during WWII with many bullet holes etching the surface.

In Commemorating the Cemetery, King George said:
“On this monument is an inscription telling us and others who will visit this hill in the years to come, that it perpetuates the memory of the Australian Imperial Force in France and Flanders, and of 11,000 of them who fell in France and have no known grave”. King George VI, speech, The Times, London, 23 July 1938

Villers-Bretonneux Memorial and Cemetery.

The Villers-Bretonneux Primary School is famous for its connection with Australia and Victoria in particular. After the German’s captured Villers-Bretonneux on 24th April, 1918, the Australian 4th & 5th Divisions recaptured the town at a cost of over 1200 Australian lives. The people of Villers-Bretonneux remain indebted to Australia for their freedom. The Primary School was rebuilt using money donated by Victorian school children. It is decorated with much Australiana, including: large wall hangings in their Victoria School hall depicting landscapes of Australia. The playground is adorned by an Aboriginal mural depicting the Australian flora and fauna and in large bold print above the playground is a sign that says, ‘DO NOT FORGET AUSTRALIA’.

On 14th July, 1919, the Mayor of Villers-Bretonneux spoke of the Australian troops when he unveilled a memorial in their honour:
"The first inhabitants of Villers-Bretonneux to re-establish themselves in the ruins of what was once a flourishing little town have, by means of donations, shown a desire to thank the valorous Australian Armies, who with the spontaneous enthusiasm and characteristic dash of their race, in a few hours drove out an enemy ten times their number...They offer a memorial tablet, a gift which is but the least expression of their gratitude, compared with the brilliant feat which was accomplished by the sons of Australia...Soldiers of Australia, whose brothers lie here in French soil, be assured that your memory will always be kept alive, and that the burial places of your dead will always be respected and cared for..."

Villers-Bretonneux's Town Hall.

Villers-Bretonneux's School (above and below)

Each Year on 25th April the people of Villers-Bretonneux conduct a service of remembrance for the Australians who lost their lives to achieve the town’s freedom.

After leaving Villers-Bretonneux we travelled to the Australian Corps Memorial Park at Le Hamel. This Park commemorates the Battle of Le Hamel which one of the most successful battles of the Somme, lasting only 93 minutes. It was the first battle that Monash planned. Monash used British planes to bomb the Germans across a front 6.5kms at Le Hamel, strategically to mask the noise of 60 of the latest British Mark IV tanks accompanied by 7,500 A.I.F. and four American companies. The battle plan was to straighten out a bulge in the line defended by the Australian corps between the Somme River and Villers-Bretonnuex.  It was at this site that you can view where the Red Baron was shot down by an Australian as he battled in a dog-fight with two Canadian pilots.

I was very excited to pick up from the side of the road a piece of shrapnel, a small marble of lead which would have been packed inside a bomb. Stuart found an old button from a military uniform.

We saw so much today and gain a better understanding of how the war was fought, we had never known that the fronts were a continual trench system for 700kms each – the Allies one side and the Germans the other. We never knew that the Germans had all the high ground with huge reinforced pillboxes and the Allies mainly fought without camouflage and suffered so much loss through the manner is which the war was planned and fought. The sacrifice of life is shocking and we will never really be able to appreciate how bad the conditions were – but we will never forget their endeavours!

Memorial to the bond between and Australian soldiers and their horses.

We made it back to Ypres from the Somme by 8:00pm, in time for the service at Menin Gate. It was a day that I will never forget.