Last Day

Our last day in the footsteps of the Anzacs. We went back to the Somme battlefields starting with Newfoundland Memorial Park a Canadian memorial with very good remaining trench systems which showed the close proximity to the German lines. The troops were nearly wiped out on the first day when the commanding officer ordered the troops out of the trenches as they were full of bodies and impeding the advance and to move forward in the open. Less than 5% survived.


We then drove past the Ulster Tower before arriving at the Thiepval Memorial where the name of 72,000 British men missing from the Somme Region are recorded. It is the British equivalent of the Australian Villers-Bretonneux memorial.

We then moved on to Moquet Farm, scene of a costly advance by Australian troops in 1916. It is amazing to see the small advances made – only a few hundred metres after months of fighting with huge losses.

We then returned to Villers-Bretonneux to visit the Adelaide cemetery the place where Australia’s Unknown Soldier lay for 75 years before being returned to Australia in 1993. They chose him because he was the least likely to be identified in the future. It seems sad that he was lying in rest for so long with his comrades and then dug up and moved away – I guess on the other hand he has been honored to represent all Australian who died and had no known grave on the Western Front.

We then visited the Victoria School, home to a wonderful small Australian museum and where the sign in the playground entreats that the students “Do not forget Australia”. We gave the children some small koalas we had taken with us and they were very excited. The money for the school building was a gift of the school children of Victoria as good will towards France and to honor their fathers and brothers who gave their lives in the recapture of the town on the 24th April 1918 and are buried nearby.

We then went back to the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux to spend some peaceful time exploring the memorial. We looked up 8 relatives who are commemorated here. 7 were on the memorial walls (their bodies were never identified) and 1 grave of Claude Castree where we found another visitor had left a rose over the past few days. Our historian Mat McLachlan had brought a bottle of rum and we all toasted the soldiers who had lost their lives in the region.

If anyone is considering doing this trip I would not attempt it without a historian. Mat bought so much passion and details of the background of the battles and how it fitted into the overall picture that without him you would just be visiting historic sites. I would really recommend this tour.


Unfortunately it was then back to Paris for our farewell dinner at Montmarte. Getting there was an experience as the area is a low socio-economic area. You really have to watch your wallets and bags and we saw a man and a woman having a fight and spitting at each other. It seems she had stolen something from a shop and the man may have been security. The shops are all discount shops with clothes just in piles instead of hung up etc. Unfortunately it is the area you have to visit to see Sacre Coeur or Moulin Rouge
 

Then we were escorted on an illuminations tour of Paris – seeing the famous landmarks bathed in light. We were also on time to see the hourly light show at the Eiffel Tower. It was another very late night

After breakfast this morning we took a taxi across to our hotel for the next five days – The Brighton Hotel. Our room is beautiful and spacious with views over the Tuilleries Gardens, The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

We will have a rest day today then off to the landing beaches of Normandy tomorrow.