Since we put MoneyPenny into our garage last August she has had a wheel-balance and some new oil in the supercharger and is back on the road driving beautifully from Amiens to Ypres following the ANZAC Remembrance Trail and the journeys of my great uncles who volunteered in WW1 on the Western Front. This blog will be mainly about Remembrance and not the car. MoneyPenny will make cameo appearances only. I have six great uncles who volunteered in WW1 from Australia - two fought in the Middle East and four on the Western Front. Five came home (two seriously wounded) and one was killed in action. Let me introduce you to them (in order of their photos - if available).
William L'Estrange was in the 2nd Light Horse Brigade AIF and fought in Gallipoli then the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
James Hercules Easterbrook was in the Transport Camel Corps in Egypt (left in the photo)
William Ross was in the 54th Battalion, 14th Brigade 5th Division AIF originally in the Middle East then later in France and Belgium (no photo)
Harvey Sharpe was in the 36th Battalion, 9th Brigade 3rd Division AIF (no photo)
Thomas Robert L'Estrange was in the 45th Battalion, 12th Brigade, 4th Division AIF
Keith Tillack was in the 3rd Field Company Engineers 1st Division AIF - Killed in action (standing in photo).
We decided to start the trail in Amiens and drive north to Ypres and would highly recommend doing it in this direction as the Australian Memorial and Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretoneux really gives you a comprehensive overview of the Australian Troops' engagement across the Western Front. We saw the rehearsals for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service which looked amazing. The Commonwealth War Graves are beautifully maintained. The cold wind, grey skies and twittering birds really create a beautiful peaceful atmosphere. Amiens is a nice town as a base and we stayed two nights at the Mercure Hotel in Amiens (along with many Australian Government and Defence Force staff involved in the ceremony). Parking is at a nearby secure public station for a reasonable price.
We returned to the Sir John Monash Centre the next morning to finish going through the exhibition, then on to the Australian War Memorial at Le Hamel. Driving through the fields that were once battlegrounds was sobering and the cold windswept hilltop memorial gave us just a small insight into the grim, cold and bleak conditions under which they fought. We then drove on to Peronne and Mont Saint Quentin where Australian troops, along with other Allied Forces forced back the Germans from the Spring offensive in 1918 until the end of the war. We were amazed and humbled by the number of Australian flags and commemoration services for ANZAC day that continue to remember what happened on that soil over100 years ago. The museum at Peronne presents French, British and German artefacts and perspectives of the Great War which was interesting. One of our favourite experiences was walking the trail at Mont St Quentin that has been put together by the Australian Government. You can use the maps and signposts to really get an understanding of the battle fought to take this hilltop post from the German army.
We drove to see the Lochnagar Crater (created by an enormous man-made explosion in tunnels), to Pozieres and the Windmill site where Uncle Tom fought and the Australians lost many lives. The British Thepval Memorial, cemetery and museum nearby is beautiful and there are just SO many names on the Honor Rolls of men whose bodies have never been found. :( We swung by Bullecourt and then stopped overnight in Arras staying at the Hotel L'Univers. Although this hotel was a bit 'Fawlty Towers' at times, it did have parking and was centrally located. It was a convenient location to the central Somme region and we launched forward to the northern regions the next day.
After our overnight stop in Arras we drove on to Fromelles where we happened upon a local ANZAC Day service. At this site there is a mass grave of Australians and they are slowly being identified by DNA and having their names placed on their tombstones. It was very moving to be at the ceremony and sing the Australian National Anthem after the French National Anthem. We felt very welcome and the Museum at Fromelles was one of our favourites. We then moved on to Hill 60 and you can see how close the Allied and German Fronts were in the photo below - the German line was at the steps on the far end of this photo.
We also visited Plugsteert 'Plug Street', Paschandaele Museum and Tyne Cot Cemetery on the same day. The museum at 'Plug Street' had the best film summary of WW1 we have seen, the Paschendale Museum is quite touristy but we liked it (including the recreated trenches). The Tyne Cot Cemetery is one of the largest for the Allied Forces and was extremely moving. We also attended the Menin Gate Last Post ceremony (being pelted by hail and sleet and it was absolutely freezing). I don't know how those soldiers managed in that cold, wet, muddy and dangerous environment. Preparations for ANZAC Day services the following day were underway everywhere.
On ANZAC Day we drove down to Tincourt (near Peronne) to find the grave of my uncle Keith and pay our respects to him. Tincourt is a tiny village and the cemetery sits in the fields just outside the town. We laid a small tribute to him on behalf of his wife's family (of whom I am a descendant). I sang the National Anthem and we wept through a minute's silence. He was killed in his trench by a high velocity shell just weeks before the war ended. It was very emotional as his great niece to be able to honour him on ANZAC Day.
We stayed two nights in Ypres at the Hotel Ariane which we highly recommend. They have great parking on-site and you can walk to all the main sites in town. The bed was really comfortable and the room we had was quiet and very well appointed.
So as I sign off from this post, we have swapped cars and will be driving PG around Ireland. More car & travel-related posts on our Ireland road trip to come!
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