Hey everyone!
Last night a few of us went out for dinner at a Chinese place in Arras (first Thai in Belgium, now Chinese in France!). It was quite nice :) Troy stayed and had a beer with some of the others. I took some photos of the town of Arras.
I had my first uninterrupted night of sleep in a while so I woke up feeling very refreshed!
This morning our first stop was to Bullecourt to the Diggers memorial, and then on to a small town I can't remember the name of to the Slouch Hat memorial. All the memorials we saw today had heaps of flowers and wreaths on them, the officials had definitely done the rounds yesterday! In the small town we went to a cafe called 'Le Canberra' where we ran into the mayor. He shouted us all a coffee because we were Aussies - aw!
Rod showed us an app on his phone whilst on the bus. It showed a map of where all the cemeteries are around here. There are so many! He said there are 959 cemeteries in France and Flanders, and 2700 in total in Northern Europe.
Next up was the Mont St Quentin memorial. Originally post WWI this was a sculpture of an Aussie soldier stabbing a German eagle, but in 1940 the Germans destroyed it. The street it was on was called 'Rue de Kanga' - why did they not call it 'Kanga Rue'?!? Haha. On the 31st August 1918 when the Aussies liberated this town, their numbers were less than the occupying Germans. They were told to "yell like a lot of bushrangers" to hide their deficiency in numbers. The memorial here also gave a stat I thought worth noting - Australia had a population of 4.2 million during WWI. 313,000 members of that population volunteered and 65% of these were casualties.
We then went to the St Quentin canal created by napoleon to transport arms and food. We also saw a bridge where a famous photo with Monash and a few others was taken.
We then drove up the muddy and windy road to the fourth battalion monument. I liked a quote here too by a captured German general - "your men are so brave and have so much dash that they're impossible to stop".
We then went to a German cemetery which was marginally less depressing and unkempt than the one the other day. Very high concentration of bodies again, 33,478 in quite a small area. There were a few Jewish headstones in here too, but the weird thing was they only had one name on. Every other cross had four names on.
Then we stopped at a truck stop for lunch. Carol and I sat and ate our bread, biscuits and apples. Budget life - haha!
We then went to Heath Cemetery to look for Ken's friend's grandpa's grave which we found! It's really special finding a grave you're looking for. We left a cross and a flag.
We then went to Villers Bretonneux and the war memorial. It was initially going to be our first stop of the day but it was closed this morning because Tony Abbot was visiting.
The town of Villers Bretonneux was 80% destroyed during the war. We went to the Franco-Australie Museum first of all. Yesterday I said I felt the furthest away from home I have all year. Today I felt the closest to home I have all year! The school was built by funds raised by Victorian primary school children post war using timber imported from near Daylesford, Victoria! Then when Black Saturday ravaged Victoria, school kids here raised money to help rebuild our schools! The school courtyard had a "Do not forget Australia" sign. Apparently everyone in the town goes to school there and they're told while they grow up about how heroic our Aussie troops were when they helped liberate the town on April 25, 1918. Apparently a lot of them then stayed in VB until the end of the war so the local people developed a great rapport with them. Rod said that all the kids here grow up wanting to visit Australia, and they all know our national anthem and 'Waltzing Mathilda'.
The museum inside had various artefacts and photos. My favourite were the ones hanging on the walls of Victoria. Closest I've been to Melbourne in a verrrry long time! I also bought a pin for my hat (getting a collection now!!) and a sticker that said VB is a twin town with Robinvale near Swan Hill at home.
It was a little piece of Aus right in the middle of France, and the closest I think I'll feel to home until I'm there. The buildings reminded me of old primary schools at home, especially in the country. And the school was right near the intersection of 'Rue de Melbourne' and 'Rue de Victoria' :)
We then made a quick stop at Hangar Wood Cemetery before heading to Adelaide Cemetery. Here is where the unknown soldier at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra was exhumed and moved to Canberra in 199. Then we went to the Australian War Memorial where the dawn service was yesterday. It was strange seeing it so empty! I found my wreath sitting right where I left it, surrounded by other beautiful wreaths and flowers. Then I climbed the tower which gave a great view of the cemetery, battlefields and town.
We then went to Daours Cemetery to find Catherine's great uncle's grave, which we did. Again that warm fuzzy feeling of finding it, no one from her family has been here before.
Tonight I'm having a bit of a night in with a cheap dinner to get some things organised for England. Can you believe I head back to London on Friday?! Crazy how quickly it's creeping up. And I don't like to be negative, but I'm being ignored by my so called travel companion to the point that he just left the room without even saying good bye to me. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm still travelling alone. Unsure what has brought this on, but I'm perfectly happy by myself anyway :)
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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