• Europe 2025
    At the entrance to town, near Adelaide War Cemetery
    Adelaide CemeteryCemeteryHe is now in CanberraThis is right on the edge of townSchool in VBNote the yellow signAustralian Memorial at Villers Bretoneaux. Note the bullet marks on the frontYou can climb the tower for a great view.View from the topLooking towards Villers BretoneauxLooking towards the town of CorbieVB againView from towerAgainShows directions and distancesApparently French Resistance fighters were trapped here by the GermansVideo from the top of the VB memorialName panelsVillers Bretoneaux videoI was amazed at how much damage there was. Name panels were fixed but the tower was notAustralian Corps Memorial just outside Le HamelOld German trench linesVillage of Le Hamel. Was completely rebuilt after WW1Le Hamel. The top of the memorial at Villers Bretoneaux is on the left horizonLe HamelBack in LilleMain square at night

    Villers Bretoneaux and Le Hamel

    October 20 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Today was the last full day of our third and final tour of this holiday.

    We started at the Adelaide Cemetery on the outskirts of Villers Bretoneaux. This contains the graves of 411 British, 22 Canadian, and 523 Australian soldiers and airmen. There is always a story attached to these cemeteries and in this one there are a couple of brothers buried next to each other.

    Villers Bretoneaux was a key objective of the German’s spring offensive in 1918 as it was less than 20 kms to the key transport hub of Amiens. This is where their attack was halted by Australian and British troops. The German stormtroopers had taken a lot of ground the allies had fought so hard for but their supply trains had not kept up so by the time they reached Villers Bretoneaux they were exhausted and just about out of ammunition.

    The Germans had taken Villers Bretoneaux but the allies took it back again by a pincer movement around the north and the south of the town. This was really the last roll of the dice for the Germans.

    The main Australian memorial on the western front is at Villers Bretoneaux. It is just out of town and very big. It was damaged during WW2 and while the name plates were repaired there are bullet marks all over the main tower.

    This memorial is also where the new John Monash Centre is located. This was only opened in 2018 and is very impressive with lots of videos showing what it was like in WW1. We spent quite a bit of time here climbing up the tower and going through the John Monash Centre. It was really cold and drizzling so good to stay inside.

    There is a school in Villers Bretoneaux that Australian children in Victoria raised funds to rebuild after the war. It is still a school but has a good museum attached to it. There are also a lot of Australian references around the town in street names and with images of kangaroos around.

    We then went over to the Australian Corps Memorial Park which had a lot of information about Australian troops on the Western Front and this is also where the Red Barron was shot down.

    We then started the drive back to Lille where we are staying tonight before getting the train back to Paris.    Read more