Authuille - Vimy - Iepers (Ypres)

Authuille – Vimy – Iepers

5^th of October 2011

We woke to another day on the Western Front battlefields. Sadly the weather had not improved and it seemed we were in for the full Somme experience – wet, windy and chilly. We left early from our campsite and headed to nearby Thiepvale – the site of the Franco–British Memorial and Cemetery with French crosses on one side and the Commonwealth grave headstones we had become familiar with on the other. Once again the walls of the monuments pillars bear the alarming number of Somme missing – 73 637 men.

Walls of the Somme MIA

The monument can be seen for Kilometers around

Thiepvale - The Franco-British Cemetery

French Crosses on the left...

Commonwealth Grave markers on the right. So many just have "A soldier of the great war, Known unto God"

From here we headed further northwards out of the Somme region but still on the Western Front towards the village of Vimy. We drove the whole way across delightful country roads past the corn and potato fields, which seem to be the crop of choice here. Along the way we passed the Ulster Tower – monument to the Northern Irish division.

The Ulster Tower

We arrived 40km later at Vimy Ridge Nations Historic Site Canada. This is an amazing site which has been preserved by reforestation to prevent to prevent the erosion of the shell pocked ground all around. There were also well preserved sections of both the Canadian and German trenches sitting only a mere 25m apart at some points. That 25m through….what a hell it would have been with the deposits of crates creating a mountain either side would have to run up and take the opposition’s trench. 

Amazingly well preserved site. A definite for modern history buffs

Dave checking out the view from the Machine gunners post

The view between trenches - now lush and green but still bearing the signs of intense shelling

What the...?

Oh its Dave manning another gun post/pill box

The Canadians also used a system of subways to more safely bring supplies in from the rear.  You could go under-ground on guided tours, however we missed our opportunity as we weren’t told the tour was close to capacity and didn’t reserve a place – Oh well, time to move on anyway. 

No mans land is still no mans land with unexploded ammunition littering the ground nearly 100years later

Except for these guys... they are the bomb detection experts or guinea pigs.. just depends which way you want to pitch it

But before we did we visited the colossal Memorial to the Canadian’s who dies in WWI. 

Vimy

The Canadian Memorial

The Somme - Wet, Windy & Cold

From France we continued even further North (and a bit east) to cross the border into Belgium. Our destination Ypres (Iepers or ‘wipers’ as the Tommy’s nicknamed it) we had been strongly recommended to visit the “In Flanders Fields” museum located in the town hall in the centre of the town. We certainly weren’t disappointed with what we found.

When we arrived we were each given characters to follow at the start, middle and end of the war. Dave had an Aussie soldier, Ralph Pendleton and I had Marie Curie, a Polish woman who married a Frenchman and moved to North Eastern France. The museum had more great information about Belgian part of the Western Front and combined it with great audio-visual displays which had a very emotive effect on both of us. 

Eerie installation showing the gas and barbed wire of trench warfare

During the war (as some may know) Marie won Nobel prizes for physics, chemistry and pioneered x-ray technology and brought it to the front line hospitals to better diagnose soldiers injuries. She survived the war but died in the 30’s from radiation exposure. Ralph died in the same year he enlisted – 1918 in a shell explosion while stringing barbed wire defences. He is buried in Somer Farm Cemetery South of Ieper. Other amazing stories were that of the Christmas truce of 1914, where soldiers called out from opposing trenches and even crossed no man’s land into the enemy trenches to swap gifts, food and show photos of their loved ones. It nearly brought a halt to the entire war as soldiers began to question why they were fighting one another. But sadly after Boxing Day the war resumed, or in some extremely ‘friendly’ areas the fighting resumed another new years.

Another amazing but tough day we decided, as we were once again in Belgium to end the day and drown our sorrows in banana and chocolate waffles and Grimbergen beers.

And on a happier note: WAFFLES!

The Western Front - Amien, Villers Bretonneux, Le Hamel, Albert and Pozieres

4^th October 2011

After a 2^nd long drive and late camp ground arrival there was to be no rest for us today. With only 3 short full days left before we had to take Mulder back the ‘to do and see’ list was quite daunting. The to do’s for the next three days was to be a self-guided tour of the WWI battlefields of the Western Front. Being in Amiens we naturally started out tour in the Somme. 

The green fields of France

Unintentional artistic shot of the Villers Bretonneux sign with the reflection of our Aussie flag

First at the village famed for its Australian liberation on April 25^th 1918 – Villers Bretonneux. After a short drive east from Amiens we reached Villers Bretenneux and headed for the Victoria school, an infant’s school donated to the children of Villers Breteneux by the children of the state of Victoria on behalf of the 12 000 Victorian soldiers who lost their live recapturing the town.

Inside the school was the Franco – Australian Museum which tells the story of the battle for Villers Bretenneux and the Australian’s on the Western Front. We spent a while here reading and looking at recovered and donated artefacts as well as watching a great DVD which gave us a great overview of the Aussie involvements at various theatres and stages of WWI.

Headed off to school

Trust Dave to finds  Wallabies jersey wherever he goes!

A sample of the wartime photography from Villers Bretenneux

Aussie humour

Fields of graves with flowers laid by the local children

Just outside the village, on a hill overlooking the farmland and small villagers is the Australian National Monument and Military Cemetery. 

Objective: Capture the hill

Australian National Monument and Military Cemetery

We moved through the rows of tombstone, some with moving captions composed by their families (“To our dear son, in a far off grave, a grave we will never see.”) and some simply with, “An Australian soldier of the Great War – Known unto God.” 

Rows and rows of graves

And reached a monument with the names of the 11 000 Aussies who fell in France and whose bodies have never been found. The monument bears the scars from WWII with shell and bullet holes left as a haunting reminder of the futility of war – the war to end of all wars did nothing of the sort.

The monument which hosts the ANZAC day ceremony each year

The bullet holes from battles over the same ground in WWII

After lunch back in the car park with Mulder we moved onto the next part of our Aussie battlefield tour – the village of Le Hammel. Here there was yet another Australian monument – The Australian Memorial Park. 

Dave taking shelter in one of the trenches

Some perspective of the Somme battlefields where the Aussies were involved

This newer monument built in 1998 shortly after the 80^th anniversary of the battle of Le Hammel in 4^th July 1918 where the Australians led by general Monash fought to Victory and revolutionised battle tactics combining infantry, artillery, tanks and aerial support for the first time. The pannels filled with information leading to the monument provided excellent accounts of the story including the demise of the in-famous Red Barron of the nearby fields. There is some contention as to whether he was shot down a Canadian pilot or by 2 Australian machine guns from the ground, but he was found and buried by the Aussies with full military honors.

The field where the Red Baron came down

Dave charging from the trenches

 Hitting the road again we made our way to the slightly larger town of Albert. Here he made our way indoors and underground to the Somme 1916 museum, with more information on the early part of the war and trench warfare. Interestingly the museum is located inside a 230m underground passage that was used by the people of Albert as an air raid shelter in WWII. 

Heading down into the museum

Why shells cause so much damage

...and afterwards you can polish them up and make souveniers 

A whole bunch of stuff

Because the exhibition ended in a different spot to where it started we managed to get ourselves a little lost, taking 20 – 30 mins to relocate Mulder, happily located at the museum entrance.

Getting lost has its benefits. The pretty town of Albert

Just outside Albert is another little village of great importance to WWI and ANZACS – Pozieres. 

Along the ridge along the ridge at Pozieres were two block houses (German strong houses – literally concrete blocks with holes for machine guns) that were taken. The first named ‘Gibraltar’  where all that remains is the foundation of the block house that remain three meters tall and the memorial to the 1st Australian Division and the second ‘The Windmill’ where an old windmill once stood, but now only a plaque memorial for the Australian 2nd division in front of a mound of remains. Battling for ‘The Windmill’ cost the most Australian lives of any battlefield through the war.

Reminders of the Australians everywhere

Mucky or Moo-cow Farm - again the Aussie sense of humour

Right next to Pozieres is another tiny village, La Bolsselle not as pertinent to the Australians but it is the location of the Locknagar Crater a mine hole 100m across and 30m wide made by British troops in an attempt to undermine German defences and break their lines. The mining was successful but overall the plan failed and the battle was a massacre for the British.

Dave in the base of the crater

A very big crater

With quite a bit of history covered we decided to call it a day (it was now 7pm) and we decided and found a campsite at Authuille right near the Pozieres. I spooked myself quite a few times during the night as it was raining and howling with wind as I imagined the countless who had died on the fields around us.