Walter Dalziell – my great uncle, died in the Battle of Pozieres in August 1916, aged 21. He has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the memorial at Villers Bretonneux. 6,800 Australians died at Pozieres in 42 days, to gain just a small, devasted area. 17,000 Australians were wounded or taken prisoner.
At Fromelles, near Pozieres, 5500 Australians and 2000 British were killed or wounded within a 24-hour period in July 1916.
The Windmill site, an Australian memorial to unidentified soldiers in Pozières marks “a ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.”
We left a cross here, containing the names of our relatives who did not return from the Somme.