Villiers Bretonneux

We left Normandy and travelled towards Dieppe along the freeway. We crossed over a magnificent bridge near Honfleur which was like going up and over a hill as it had to be high enough to allow ships to travel underneath. After Le Havre we headed towards the coast on a backroad and enjoyed the open spaces of the countryside. The type of housing began to change to include some Tudor style homes. The drive along the coast was very picturesque and we saw tiny little huts on the (rocky) beach and very expensive villas and chateaux.

We had an overnight stop at a lovely caravan park beside a flowing creek. Dieppe was the place on the Atlantic wall that the allies attempted a raid several years before D Day. The attacking force consisted mainly of Canadians and was a disaster, of the 6000 troops nearly 2/3rds were lost being either killed or captured. The next morning after visiting the Canadian Cemetery where there are 950 buried, we set off towards Villiers Bretonneux. It rained on and off all day but we toughed it out and left the windows off the van - vision is restricted once these are on.

There is a wonderfully maintained Australian Cemetery at Villiers Bretonneux dedicated to the Australians (and others) who lost their lives during WWI. There is a register of those who are buried in the graveyard and another register of all those that were killed. Jim found the name of one of his relatives listed in the register.

We then went to the Australian Museum in the town which is dedicated to the Australian Soldiers. There were lots of pictures, war weapons, uniforms and lots more to see. We sat and watched a film provided to the museum by the Australian War Memorial Canberra on the attack organised by Monash in 1918. We were very impressed to think that a small village like this would have a whole museum dedicated just to the Aussies. We were told by a local shop owner that our vehicle parked in the street had a constant stream of photo takers as the kangaroo over the boomerang as our divisional sign would have indicated it was an Australian vehicle.

Our caravan park was in the town of Le Hamel which had also been mentioned in the film at the museum.

The next day we visited the Memorial at Hamel which is built on a hill that was on the battle line and looking in all directions one can see the strategic value of this hill as it is an excellent vantage point. We then travelled through back roads through many villages, the villages are so close that you no sooner end the speed limit of one village and you enter the next one. We then visited a British War Cemetery (one of many in this area) and a large crater left after they tunneled under the enemy's trenches and set off a massive explosion just before an attack.

That night we went to Ypres (Ieper) where the Last Post is played at the Menin Gate each night every day of the year at 8.00pm. It was a very moving experience and there were lots of people there to watch including busloads of schoolchildren. Also present were troops from UK's sixth armoured division (mailed fist) doing marching and salutes.

The buildings in the main square of Ypres are spectacular and apparently have been rebuilt more than once after being damaged during the wars.