France
Albert

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    • Day 32

      Albert - a must-visit town.

      August 22, 2019 in France ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Pronounced more like Albere rather than Uncle Albert, the brochure at the tourist information office claimed this to be a must visit town. I can only assume that the only tourists they where expecting were from nearby farms.

      We opted for a short day trip for our final day in Amiens. I have learned that you don't have to have a good reason to go to somewhere when travelling, just go there and enjoy the adventure. We chose Albert, a short train ride from Amiens. There weren't a lot of trains, the options for our return trip were 2pm or 4pm.

      The gardens were interesting with its streams and waterfalls interspersed with chook pens, geese and pigs. We found a lovely patisserie with superb eclairs.

      Of course they have their own Notre Dame- Basilique Notre-Dame de Brebières. This makes a great photo stop, party due to the Aussie flag flying at the attached War Museum but mostly because there wasn't much else to take pictures of.

      We were and truly all done in time for the 2pm train back to Amiens.
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    • Day 11

      Day Ten

      July 23, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      This morning we headed towards Villers Bretonneux. We visited the Victoria School and had photos taken under the famous 'Don't Forget Australia' sign in the playground of the school. We also wandered through the museum dedicated to the Aussies who fought to save the town. We followed this with our visit to the Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery. This is a magnificent structure. The size of the cemetery is hard to describe. As you walk in past the alter bearing the inscription 'Their name liveth for evermore' it is a confronting sight to see rows and rows of headstones for a far as you can see up the hill. As you go up the hill in the distance is the bell tower and the wall carrying all the names of the missing. It is quite impressive. We had several pilgrimages to honour reletives of people on the tour. One of the fallen soldiers in the cemetery was honoured by five generations of family, this was quite special to witness.

      After lunch at Tommy's in Pozieres, a pub quite well known by Aussie diggers in 1916, we went to the Le Hamel Memorial. This was to honour the Aussies in the battle for the town of Le Hamel. The memorial is situated on the trenches that the Germans held until July 4th 1918. This battle was the making of Sir John Monash as Commander of the Australian Corps. His meticulous planning resulted in a famous victory.

      Other places we visited were:
      - Lochnagar Crater Memorial
      - 3rd Australian Division Memorial
      - Mouquet Farm, a German held area that the Aussies attack and after five weeks of fighting capture the farm from the Germans. The Aussies refer to it as 'Moo Cow Farm'.

      Our final stop for today was at the Thiepval Memorial and French-Anglo Cemetery. After seeing the massive memorial at Vimy Ridge yesterday I didn't think they could get any bigger but I was wrong, so wrong! The structure that is Thiepval is a sight to be hold. It is a giant in all aspects of the word. It looks like a giant wedding cake! This is a memorial for all men who fought the various battles along The Somme. In all 72,000 men died on The Somme and have no known grave. This is their memorial. These names are inscribed along the walls of the monument along with each battle that made up the fighting along The Somme. Numerous times today we crossed over the river Somme, where bloodiest of battles gets its name.
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    • Day 10

      Day Nine

      July 22, 2016 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

      Today we said good bye to Ypres and the battlefields of the Ypres Salient and we have made our way south, back into France and to the area they call 'The Somme'. We returned to Fromelles for a closer look at Pheasant Wood Cemetery and Australia Memorial Park or VC Corner. Our historian, Mike, took us out into a paddock of wheat to fully explain the botched battle that was Fromelles. From our vantage point we could clearly see the Auber Ridge and the Sugarloaf (a bulge in the German front line). The first wave of Australian forces have 200m of no-man's land to cover to try and take the German trenches. The British on their flank have 400m of no-man's land to cover. But the British decide not to go as they dont think they can make a success of it, but fail to fully conmunicate this to the Aussies. Not enough Aussie soldiers from this first wave make it to fully take over the German trenches, so by the time the second and third waves come they are mowed down by German machine gun fire. The same thing happens again the next day as the British pull out due to dwindling numbers. The 58th Batallion loses 400 Victorian soldiers. This campaign was doomed from the start and results in over 5500 casualties and 1299 killed in a 24 hour period.

      We spent some time at VC Corner - Australian Memorial Park. This is where the famous 'Cobber' sculpture is. To make it even more spectacular the grass areas surrounding the statue were covered in handmade knitted poppies. This was a display created for last year's Gallipoli Centenery and displayed in Federation Square. From here they were taken to the Chelsea Flower Show and then thanks to an anoyomous donation the display was brought to the Western Front for the Fromelles Centenery. It was amazing and gave the area that special spark.

      We then went for a more intimate look at Pheasant Wood Cemetery in Fromelles, the site for Tuesday's Centenery service. This is the newest cemetery on the Western Front. It was created in 2009 after a mass grave of Australian soldiers was found in a farmer's paddock adjacent to the Fromelles village. Each soldier was laid to rest in the cemetery with a heastone 'Unknown soldier of the Great War' in 2010. After each soldier is identified by DNA their headstone is replaced with a new one depicting their name, rank, date of death, rising sun and a message from their family. A beautiful memorial.
      After lunch we visted 'Vimy Ridge' the Canadian memorial to the fallen. It is massive, it is hard to describe its size or depict it properly in photos. This memorial represents the 66,000 Canadian troops killed on the Western Front and has the names of all the soldiers missing that do not have a known grave. The monument stands tall with two pillars side by side, this represents the two countries, France & Canada. The space between the pillars represents the ocean between these countries. The figure on top represents 'peace' and the shared values of faith, hope, courage and knowledge. The lone statue in front, which looks like the Virgin Mary is Mother Canada, looking out over the tomb and keeping a careful and loving watch over the fallen soldiers.

      Finally we visited Bullecourt and had a beer in the 'Le Canberra' pub, just like the Diggers in 1917. We will learn more of the Battle of Bullecourt in the coming days.
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    • Day 19

      The Somme 1916 Museum

      August 5, 2013 in France ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

      While travelling around Amiens area we came to the town of Albert. Here there is The Somme 1916 Museum. Albert is at the heart of the Somme battlefields. Built in an underground 13th-century section restored to function as an air-raid shelter in 1938, the museum extends along a 250-metre-long gallery 10 metres underground.
      It’s the only museum entirely dedicated to the Battle of the Somme. This international battle brought together over three million soldiers from some twenty countries from the 1st of July to the 18th of November 1916.
      The collections of the Somme 1916 Museum are exceptionally abundant. They’re presented across fifteen recreated scenes, offering a very moving and realistic depiction of the lives of soldiers in the trenches during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Albert, Αλμπέρ, البرت، سام, Ալբեր, Inke, Альбер, 阿尔贝

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