France |

Paris

Over three days we’ve walked the cobbled roads of Paris. Along the Seine, Derek’s Fitbit recorded 31000 steps / 24km in one day.

It was nice just to be in Paris. The people are helpful, polite and friendly. We stayed in an Airbnb apartment with creaky floors in Le Marais, an old part of Paris. The views through the full-length windows were wonderful but we didn’t quite get used to the five flights of stairs (no lifts in the old buildings).

The Lonely Planet was a good guide for Paris – I think the writers probably went to these places. Here’s a run-down. We didn’t ascend the very elegant Eiffel Tower but admired it through the wire fencing. The Louvre was interesting and vast. We spent a respectable four hours mostly looking at the masterpieces (including the Mona Lisa, gradually moving to the front despite the beautifully dressed groups in my path taking selfies and then gazing at their phones) and then at the art of the ancient east. I breathed a sigh of relief as we left the dark Cathedral of Notre Dame but could have spent far longer in Sainte-Chapelle, gazing at the breath-taking thirteenth century stained-glass windows depicting the books of the bible. We enjoyed an evening river cruise along the Seine. It was a small boat, it’s quieter on the water, and the other people on the cruise were quiet too.

An unexpected highlight for me was the abundant supply of lovingly produced sans-gluten food. I’ve consumed the best bread Derek has ever had, in addition to flans, pies, croissants, macarons and crepes.

Seats are provided all over Paris with stunning views, and lovely parks. People of all ages mingle in the streets, parks, cafes, and by the river. Paris seems a very liveable city if you have a high threshold for noise, crowds and smells. Parisians probably do, because they enjoy their lovely and interesting city, on foot, bicycle, scooter, and skateboard.

Change of Plans

On the approach to Villers Bretonneux, Derek was panicked (my story), into avoiding an oncoming truck by swerving to the right (my side). Naturally, I showed admirable calm and subsequently admired Derek’s tyre changing skills.

In France, the limit is up to 130km, but crazy drivers go faster. We therefore decided to leave the maimed car in Amiens the next day and get the train to Paris. It was a very relaxed journey.

The War that did not End

The loss of life as the allied soldiers pushed back the Germans is heart-breaking. My great-great uncle Robert Grant (the brother of John Grant) was killed in action at Grandcourt (not too far from Pozieres) in October 1918, posthumously receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. We visited his grave at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Gouy.

George Dalziell (my great uncle) was the only one of three brothers to return from the Western Front and died in 1986. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry, during an operation to take back the town of Le Verguier (close to Prospect Hill) from the Germans in September 1918.

Our WW1 Trail

Derek’s grandfather served on the Western Front in 1918 toward the end of World War One. He had just turned 18 and was one of the few survivors of his battalion. He went to hospital firstly by being wounded in his hands, and then succumbing to dysentery.

Two of my mother’s father’s uncles and three of my father’s uncles served in the Western Front. Only one of the five returned.

Over four days, we followed the Australian Remembrance Trail along the Western Front, staying in Ypres, Doignies, and Villers Bretonneux.

Towns on the front lines in France and Belgium suffered greatly. Armies of both sides lived among the people. When the German armies retreated to form a shorter line across the front, with more defensible concrete bunkers, they burned everything in the towns in their wake, taking boys of the towns as young as 14 as prisoners of war. Many of their own soldiers were conscripts of this age.

Australia had the only major army in the war comprised of volunteers. As the war drew on, this war of attrition was losing men. Conscription was voted on twice in Australia via referendum and rejected. The fortunate soldiers were coming home, and some sense of the carnage was making its way into the Australian consciousness, despite the public relations spin of their governments.

Over 46,000 Australians died on the Western Front, many buried where they fell. In total, over 10,000,000 soldiers and 7,000,000 civilians died. Most Germans believed they were fighting a defensive war and in Germany, there were over 700,000 deaths from starvation.

With a fuller knowledge of the politics and leadership behind this horrific carnage, I now have more understanding of the British and French policy of appeasement which allowed the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

Villers Bretonneux

Australian flags fly high throughout the small town of Villers Bretonneux, where the Australians drove out the Germans in April 1918. The names of Walter Dalziell and Ernest Dalziell (two of my father’s uncles) are inscribed on the Australian National Memorial, two of the thousands of Australians who lie in unmarked graves.

Adjacent to the Australian National Memorial is the excellent Sir John Monash Centre, opened in April 1918, with a grass ‘foreign field’ as a roof. John Monash was born in Melbourne to Polish-Jewish parents. He studied civil engineering and arts and was one of the administrators behind the success of the battle for Villers Bretonneux. A soldier, historian and accomplished pianist, he was highly respected by the British and Australian command, and the Australian troops. The centre is typical of recently created museums with outstanding use of video and interactive exhibits.

I was moved by the older Franco-Australian museum, built by the people of Villers Bretonneux, at the Victorian school. The love behind the exhibits was obvious, including letters and exhibits donated by individual Australians, and projects created by the children of the school. Through the window, we could see the children playing happily.

Australian soldiers helped to rebuild the town of Villers Bretonneux and Victorian school children raised money to build the Victoria School, completed in 1927. After the Victorian bushfires in 2009, the people of Villers Bretonneux raised money to rebuild Strathewere Primary School in Victoria. The Australian soldiers are remembered here every day in signs and flags. At our bed and breakfast accommodation, we stayed in a large house where our hosts, Francois and Francoise, raised ten children, some of whom were still at home and were very friendly. Interestingly, Francoise told us that until they moved into the area and their children attended the Victoria School, they had heard little of the history of the conflict and the sacrifice of Australians in the region.

Bullecourt

Ernest Dalziell, my great uncle, died of wounds in the second battle of Bullecourt in April 1917, at the age of 19. His story was told at the Australian War Memorial in 2017 and is contained at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2278444, including a video of the service. He has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the memorial at Villers Bretonneux.

John Wesley Grant, my great-great uncle died from wounds following the second battle of Bullecourt, at the age of 22. He died in an English hospital.

Tragically, there were over 10,000 Australian casualties in the two battles at Bullecourt with no significant advantage gained. Most soldiers were buried where they lay in unmarked graves. As a result, many Australian (and British) soldiers lost confidence in British command and were bitter about the futile waste of life. General John Monash wrote “Our men are being put into the hottest fighting and are being sacrificed in hair-brained ventures, like Bullecourt and Passchendaele…”

Prior to WW1, Bullecourt was a very pretty town with 396 inhabitants. It was reduced to a pile of brick and timber. Long after the war farmers found many weapons, human bones and other objects. The magnitude of the findings indicated there had been a major battle and yet there was little available information. A local teacher realized the number of dead accounted for in the area did not come close to reported casualties. Over many years, the mayor of Bullecourt, Jean Letaille and his wife Denise collected objects such as weapons and soldiers’ personal belongings found in the fields and surrounding countryside.

Bullecourt 1917 Museum is a local museum created by the town’s people. It has existed in various forms since 1980, when local people investigated the story of Bullecourt and questioned the absence of a memorial in the region. Funding from the Australian government enabled the museum to be constructed in its present form in 2012. Of the museums visited, we found Bullecourt 1917 Museum the most moving. Compact, the museum’s power comes from the humanity, and love with which it has been put together. It contains the donated collection of Jean and Denise Letaille, and tributes and personal belongings from families in Australia.

Unexploded bombs are still found by farmers today. Just last year, a bomb was found by an Australian tourist (and then thrown away in terror….)

The Australian Memorial Park was opened in 1993, just outside Bullecourt amidst tranquil farmland. There’s a bronze statue of an Australian Digger, with the inscription, Sacred to the memory of 10,000 members of the Australian Imperial Force who were killed or wounded in the two battles of Bullecourt, April – May 1917, and to the Australians and their comrades in arms, who lie forever in the soil of France. Lest We Forget.

The region is full of war cemeteries and memorials. There is now no possibility of forgetting here.

Pozieres

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.

Dunkerque / Dunkirk

The story of the heroic rescues at Dunkirk has long fascinated me. I haven’t seen the movie (It sounds too harrowing). Our plan is to follow part of the WWI trail in France but we both wanted to see the Dunkirk beach. Derek drove from Calais to Dunkerque (no mishaps on the right side of the road) and we visited the Dunkerque 1940s Museum.

Over 330,000 allied soldiers were evacuated during Operation Dynamo, including 120,000 French soldiers. The French army held the road so that the British soldiers could make it to the beach at Dunkirk. Although the mission started as a secret, the arrival of thousands of soldiers onto English soil meant the secret was out well before the evacuation was complete. Sadly, within days most of the rescued French soldiers were returned to France where they were killed or captured when France surrendered to the Germans.

Later, we enjoyed a few hours walking along the beautiful beach, thinking about events which occurred in WWII, and adjusting to being in France. They have nice ice-cream here.