Just a quick one today as we have a 3.00am start for the Anzac Day Service tomorrow. We packed up this morning for our trip to Amiens. We visited the battlefield of Messines which is the other end of the mine tunnels that started under Hill 60. I think Messines is about 10 klm away.        After crossing the border into France, we stopped at the battlefield of Fromelle where Australians lost over 5,500 men during its first action on the Western Front. We stopped in at the Cobbers Memorial which got its name as one soldier went out to rescue his mate and as he passed another wounded soldier he called out “Don’t leave me behind cobber” and he picked him up on the way back.

We then visited VC Corner (the only Australian only VC corner in France). It is a mass grave with one rose planted for every soldier buried. The soldiers are unknown so there is a remembrance wall with the names 12,000 missing soldiers in the area.

We then passed Pheasant Wood where the recent discovery of another Australian mass grave was found. We visited the new cemetery where they are now buried but we couldn’t get close at it is being officially open in July. We then visited a smaller cemetery called Rue Pettlion where we saw the grave of Robert Scott. Apparently he is not the person buried here as he was positively identified by DNA as one of the soldiers in Pheasant Wood.

We then visited the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge. It is a very impressive massive memorial. Just down the road we visited the trench systems and cratered hillside where the Canadians fought.

We then called at the Slouch Hat Memorial that the locals built to honour the Australians. Then on to Bullecourt where Australians lost 10,000 men in 2 battles in 1917. The last call of the day was the Australian Memorial Park on the site of the German Front Line.

Tomorrow -   Anzac Day