A Family's French Love Affair: Remembrance Day in the Somme

Today we went to Pozieres for the Remembrance Day service at 11.00. They had 2 services, the first at the French memorial then all the attendees led by the Mayor, walked the 400-500 metres up a lane to the Australian memorial for a second service and wreath laying. The French in these parts take the Australian contribution to WWI very seriously and it was something to be very proud of. Near the Australian memorial there is a preserved trench site which clearly shows the remains of trenches.

the remains of a trench at Pozieres

Australian Memorial Pozieres

We then moved on to Villers-Brettoneux to visit the war memorial there and the town itself. The memorial is just out of the town and we climbed the 315 concrete steps to the top to look towards the townships which were so badly damaged in the war. It is an interesting area because unlike the rest of France, so many of the houses and buildings are relatively new, having been built post 1920 or even post 1950. Villers-Brettoneux was basically destroyed in WWI and then further damaged in WWII - even the memorial suffered shrapnel damage in WWII.

In the town itself, we visited the museum which is based around the involvement of Australian troops in the war. It is above the school which was built by donations made by Victorian schoolchildren after the war. The town is clearly very appreciative of the Australian troops which liberated it from the Germans.

Visiting the area evoked a strange feeling of pride mixed with incredible sadness at the futility and the sheer scale of it all. Answering the really sensible questions from an 8 and 10 year old about how war happens and why is really difficult and they just have that knack of stating the bleeding obvious and making you feel that all adults are just total idiots!! Driving between towns alongside the flat unforgiving fields makes you wonder how in the hell anyone thought a war could be fought here let alone in these weather conditions!