WW1 Australians in the Somme -Villers Bretonneux, Le Hamel - Day trip from Paris

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is the main memorial to Australian military personnel killed on the Western Front during World War I. It is located on the Route Villiers-Bretonneux (D 23), in the Somme département, France. The memorial lists 10,773 names of soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916, when Australian forces arrived in France and Belgium, and the end of the war. The location was chosen to commemorate the role played by Australian soldiers in the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (24–27 April 1918). Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the memorial consists of a tower within the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, which also includes a Cross of Sacrifice. The tower is surrounded by walls and panels on which the names of the missing dead are listed. The main inscription is in both French and English, on either side of the entrance to the tower. The memorial and cemetery are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

This commemorates and interprets the battle of Le Hamel which took place on 4 July 1918, when, with the support of the Americans, General Monash launched a hugely victorious attack by combining for the first time infantry, artillery, air forces and tanks, thus heralding the tactics of modern warfare. This memorial park was created in the village of Le Hamel by the Australian state and inaugurated on 7 August 1998. The site’s panoramic displays and explanatory panels help visitors to understand the strategic challenge which it represented during the battle. Several trenches have been preserved.

The Lochnagar mine south of the village of La Boisselle in the Somme département was an underground explosive charge, secretly planted by the British during the First World War, ready for 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme. The mine was dug by the Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers under a German field fortification known as Schwabenhöhe (Swabian Height). The British named the mine after Lochnagar Street, the British trench from which the gallery was driven. The charge at Lochnagar was one of 19 mines that were placed beneath the German lines on the British section of the Somme front, to assist the infantry advance at the start of the battle. The mine was sprung at 7:28 a.m. on 1 July 1916 and left a crater 98 ft (30 m) deep and 330 ft (100 m) wide, which was captured and held by British troops. The attack on either flank was defeated by German small-arms and artillery fire, except on the extreme right flank and just south of La Boisselle, north of the Lochnagar Crater. The crater has been preserved as a memorial and a religious service is held each 1 July.

The Windmill site at Pozières was established as an Australian memorial in the 1930s at the suggestion of Australia's official war historian, Charles Bean, because, 'The Windmill site marks a ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth'. Over seven weeks in 1916, at the Battle of the Somme, the Australian Imperial Force suffered 23 000 casualties, more than 6700 of whom died, in the countryside around the Windmill. On 11 November 1993 soil from the Windmill site was cast over the coffin of Australia's Unknown Soldier during his funeral at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Mont Saint-Quentin Australian war memorial, located in Mont Saint-Quentin region of Picardy, is an Australian First World War memorial. The Australian Second Division has a war memorial on the road from Bapaume to Péronne. It is the only one of the five Australian division memorials initiated by members of the division. The base was erected in 1925. It has bronze bas-reliefs by May Butler-George of men hauling and pushing a gun and of men advancing with bayoneted rifles and hand-grenades. It had on its top an Australian soldier thrusting his bayonet through a German eagle. The sculptor was Charles Web Gilbert. However, in 1940, German soldiers smashed the memorial. A replacement statue by Stanley Hammond of a thoughtful Australian soldier looking down was erected in 1971

After lunch and to end that very moving day, you will get a free access to explore the «Great War Historial and museum" in Péronne. A 13th century medieval castle house the WW1 museum which display a a large exhibits of uniforms and weapons all worn, designed and used by the soldiers during the conflict. The historial of peronne museum also offers a permanent collection of Trench Artists such as « Otto Dix » who did testimony of the atrocities of the war with sketching some very graphic etchings.