28 August 2013

The Somme Battlefields France

Travelled: 62km
Stay: Sailly Laurette- free parking along the Somme Canal N49°54.4572' E2°36.7410' / 49.90766, 2.61217 

Busy day visiting more WW1 sights in which the Australians where involved. Firstly we stopped of at the Heath Cemetery containing 985 Australian Graves of soldiers who fell in the surrounding battlefields in August 1918.




We then visited Villers Bretonneux which the Australians successfully captured on the 25 April 1918 after several months of trench warfare. Here there is the Australian War Museum and the school hall built by Victorians. 






Next was the Adelaide Cemetery from which the Unknown Soldier was exhumed and now rests in Canberra.



Our next stop was the very impressive Australian National Memorial where the names of 10,797 Australian soldiers whose graves are unknown are engraved on the walls. A very moving sight. 






From here we went to the Le Hamel Australian Corps Memorial Park. It was here that General Monash planned and directed his first attack on 4 July 1918. This battle was such a success that his methods were sent to all divisions explaining the lessons that had to be learned.




As there are no Aires in the area we decided to head towards the Somme Canal and were able to find a lovely spot.




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