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Jo’s Monday Walk
Week-39
Australian Memorial-1
Le Hamel, France
Back in the Somme Battlefields this week.
There is a Sunday radio program which is
giving this area quite a bit of publicity as
100 year commemorations pass by.
Hence my return to The Western Front
I am not exactly sure which way we turned here, however,
I suspect it was left as we had already visited
Villers Bretonneux.
On we drove until we came upon…
the small village of…
Le Hamel.
A right turn here had us heading through…
more peaceful farm land, until we arrived…
at Le Hamel’s
Australia Corps Memorial Park.
Officially rededicated in 2008,
the parking area is…
several hundred metres from the memorial.
However, it is a slow walk as there is
plenty of information to be gleaned along the way.
I have included this photo for three reasons.
First, I was based in Arras for the duration of my visit.
Second, I had no idea these towns were all so close.
Third, my Grandfather was always associaated with:
Villers-Bretonneux, Amiens, Pozieres, Bullecourt,
Paschendale and Menin Road
General Sir John Monash was spoken of
with a great deal of reverence by our guide.
Our guide claimed it was his tactics which
won the First Wold War.
During my lifetime I have often heard
how soldiers of both sides could hear
conversations in the opposition trenches.
This image shows the
Australian/British trench in blue while
the German trenches are in red.
Note how close they near the words Villers-Bretonneux.
Now, note the scale of this map.
The trenches would have been
barely 150 meres apart at their closest points.
Still we were to visit trenches
which were much closer.
And all among what is now peaceful farming land.
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Jo’s Monday Walk
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