Bonjour!
This morning we woke up to the smell of coffee and a plate of carbohydrates. We boarded the bus to begin our tour of the Western Front, to learn of the booby traps set by the Germans resulting in the annihilation of Bapaume’s town hall, consequently many Australian’s were buried alive. We were astounded to learn that this battle began the use of improvised explosive devices (IED).
It was then time for a moving service at Beaulen Court British Cemetery in remembrance of Mr. Calton’s grandfather. The cemetery was very serene and peaceful in respecting our fallen men. Following this, we made our way up to the High Wood Longueval Cemetery, which was very restricted as it still held 8000 lost soldiers. This intrigued us and naturally made us curious for wanting to explore these sacred woods. At High Wood we held a service in remembering a fallen soldier for a family back home in Collie.
We were thrown into the deep end by visiting the biggest war cemetery where 7000 men lay, this being the Serre Road Cemetery. Here lay an ancestor of Lachlan’s. We then drove through the pristine country side of northern France to Pozieres. Here we had lunch and later commemorated the First Division Memorial and looked in awe at the preserved German underground bunker. As astonishing and moving as these were, we were absolutely overwhelmed by “The Windmill”, this was the place where the most amount of Australian men died in a single area.
Driving in the bus towards Thiepval, we were amazed by the magnitude of this memorial, which is the largest war memorial in the world. Standing underneath looking up at the walls, we are blown away by all the names, 73 000. The Beaumont- Hamel New foundland memorial, was astonishing as we experienced the trenches first hand and saw the battle fields and the after math of the war on the rolling green hills. The Beucourt- Hindeberg line runs for 90 miles.
We were all starting to get very exhausted and made a few short stops before heading back to the hotel. Collin, the tour guide, hunted on request for frog’s legs in the surrounding restaurants. Most of us braved the delicacy and were shocked at the similarity of them. We went for a final walk to the local Cathedral to see it magnificently glow in the night.
See you all soon,
Jane and Georgia J
