WORLD WAR 1 BATTLE FIELDS- Phil & Jill

Today a heatwave in the 30's was expected. Francis, our guide, gave us the good news at dinner last night that a new van was coming over from the UK as the air conditioning on the bus we were to use had blown out. What a welcome sight it was when Steve, our driver, pulled up at the hotel this morning with the brand new vechicle.

Didn't take long to leave the outskirts of Lille behind, but we sure pulled back to let these big fellas go through!!

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Now my history knowledge of WWI is sadly lacking and so I was in for a steep learning curve. So many devisive battles played by the men in the Australian Imperial Forces. I have heard and read so much today that I think it has been one big history lesson. It will be my own battle to recant all the activities so it will probably turn out to be a bit of an overview and photos telling a lot of the story. All I can tell you is that one cannot help but be impressed with the sacrifice, effort and sadness of the Australians starting in 1916 after troops had finished in Gallipoli. The battlefields of the Somme hold an important place in Australian memory and with the help of local authorities the Australian Government has established an Australian Trail along the Western Front to honour the 259,000 Australians who served from 1916-1918. 177,000 Australian men were killed or wounded here.

So here is my report of the day. After driving approximately 70 kms from Lille we first visited the Ulster Memorial Tower which is dedicated to the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 36th (Ulster) Division in the Great War (as the First World War) was originally known. It was erected on the site of the famous advance of the Ulster Division on the 1st July, 1916.

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Francis, our guide gave an excellent commentary whilst we travelled. He expanded on his information with the aid of maps to put all the fighting and different battles into perspective. Pozieres was the key obstacle that had to be overcome in order to capture Mouquet Farm and Thiepval. The Germans were good at bunkering down and holding the high ground. The task of encircling the area was largely assigned to the Austraiians who had recently arrived on the Western front. Heavy casualities by Australian and British forces can be felt when you visit the military cemetery at Pozieres. All graves, irrespective of rank are marked in the same way. A white stone with the fallen's name, number and insignia; a cross if they were known to be Christian and a personal message chosen by the family. Some of these words were very emotional. One Australian who earned a VC medsl is buried here. It was poignant to see two brothers buried side by side and killed on the same day. Some tombs read....believed to be buried here...or... Known to God for someone that they were unsure of or someone not claimed by any family.

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The Mouquet farm as it stands today after being flattened during the war. The Aussie soldiers nicknamed it 'Moo-cow farm'.

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I told you that it would be a challenge to tell something of all the activities we have done today, so I have decided to give you snippets of each place until I catch up. Just to give you an idea I am about one-third through of today's itinerary.

More tomorrow....