Time has come for us to depart Paris for now, and begin our journey around France in search of the Holy Cup. We have again enjoyed Paris, it is a magic city. The next part of our journey begins in Northern France, in the area known as The Somme, in Picardy.
The Somme is of course significant to Australian history, as it is here that our country lost more soldiers than all the other wars put together. It was on the Western Front from 1915 to 1918 that the AIF lost over 51,150 men, while at Gallipoli we lost over 8140 men. We lost over 5000 men in a single day at Messines in Belgium in 1917. It has long been on my bucket list to visit here, knowing that my grandfather fought here and lost so many of his mates here. Good friend Bob McKinnon’s grandfather was in the same Battalion, and lucky for us, our grandfathers returned following the war, despite the 65% death/injury statistic.
But enough of the statistics, we left Paris on Friday 10 April and headed to Charles De Gaulle Airport where we collected our lease vehicle. Quite nice to hop into a brand new Peugeot 308, 2014 Europe Car of the Year, with only 2 kms on the clock. Like “ducks to water” we drove out onto the wrong side of the road and headed for the nearest service station to fill up. We then headed north from Paris for the 100+ kms drive to our overnight stay in the village of Heilly, about 19 kms east of Amiens.
We drove much of the way via back-roads, and hopefully we will do more of the same throughout our stay in country France. The countryside is as green as, mixed with the browns of freshly ploughed fields, the patchwork is wonderful. The early budding on the trees and the occasional burst of flowers from a magnolia tree, or a spattering of daffodils in the gardens. The day was warm and sunny, but we were told to beware, that could all change. We drove towards Villers-Brettoneux via Creil, Chantilly, Clement and Montdidier, and I was so pleased to finally reach the village of Villers-Brettoneux by mid afternoon. As we drew nearer to the Somme area, we began to see the occasional cemetery with the unmistakable white headstones of the War Graves. From the Somme to the Belgium border, approximately 300 kms, they say there is over 1000 similar cemeteries, where the fallen, from both sides, are buried. Every one of them is tended to with care by the CWGC and the French people, and they are immaculate.
The Victoria School in Villers-Brettoneux flies the Australian flag every day, as does the school in Le Hamel. The Anglo-French Museum is in the Villers-Brettoneux school and has a small collection of Australian WW1 memorabilia. Lorraine the attendant, greeted us and remembered my emails to her so she was very helpful.
Our stay will be in the village of Heilly (pronounced – ay-ee), which is about 5 kms north of Corbie, along the Somme River, on the road to Albert. The village is about 7 kilometres from Villers-Brettoneux, and as we drove towards Heilly via Corbie we passed the Australian Memorial to the right, high on what was known as “Hill 104” during the war. We would return the next day to pay our respects.
Corbie is a larger village/town now, having become joined with the village of Fouilloy, and is a mix of both the old and the new. All the villages of the Somme seem to be very quiet, mainly farming villages, where the farmers live in the village but tend their fields out of town. Heilly is a remarkable village, its history dates back to medieval times, with the “chateau” long since gone, but still the remnants remain impressive. One part of the old estate would make a wonderful cricket or rugby ground.
My further research of my grandfathers times here during WW1, reveals that he spent some nights in Heilly in March 1918 on his way from Ypres in Belgium. His battalion then moved to Bonnay not 2 kms down the road, then to south of Villers-Brettoneux at a place called Cachy, where his battalion was forced to withdraw a number of times to the woods nearby, under shell-fire from the enemy. During the following 6 weeks until the end of April 1918, they would join the fighting for the protection of Villers-Brettoneux in major battles on the 4th April, and again on 24th and 25th April, before his decimated battalion was disbanded and the remaining men distributed between the 33rd, 34th and 35th Battalions. Aiding the disbanding decision, was the fact that they lost their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Milne with 6 other officers on the 17th April 1918, under shell-fire when his command post was directly hit.
Our accommodation was at a place called L’Auberge Fleurie, a wonderful little Restaurant/Motel in the town. We cannot recommend it highly enough. Fabrice and Marie are wonderful hosts and take every opportunity to speak to us in English, they are Australian-French, not French-Australian if you get my drift. They adorn the place with Australian flags for Anzac Day, and have on permanent display the Aussie Flag, kangaroo road signs, emu signs and koala signs. The rooms are basic but comfortable and clean, the food, Fabrice is a fine chef, prepares is wonderful, complemented by wonderful wines from all over France. Marie-Anjolique is an absolute delight, this is a gem of a place for anybody who wants to visit the Somme.. 
On Saturday, the weather dawned cold, windy and wet, the previous day was wonderful and warm. We had struck the tri-fecta. So we decided to start with a visit to the nearby cemetery of Heilly Station, established as a place to inter those who had died while in medical care at Heilly. It looks like a small cemetery, but holds 2460 fallen, including over 500 Australians. 
We then headed back to the Australian Memorial on “Hill 104”. The first photo is the view to the east from the tower, Amiens is on the horizon to the right. 
The next is the view to Villers-Brettoneux on the rise to the south. 
The next is the view to the north to Corbie on the River Somme, Le Hamel to the very right, Bonnay and Heilly on the horizon. The hills are really no more than brows on the landscape. Maybe 30 meters high, but were obviously much sought after tactically. It is hard to imagine the devastation of the time, none of this picturesque landscape existed during the 4 years of the war, just dirt and mud and destruction
. 
But amongst the great sense of sadness we were feeling, young Rahni from Oatley Public School in Sydney has been here to remember a fallen soldier who he/she is not even related to. It does make you very proud to be an Aussie when you see simple gestures such as this, but a lot of effort made to make that gesture.
Second Lieutenant V C Stevenson (Military Medal) died on 14 July 1918 aged 26, was from the 34th Battalion. The 34th travelled to the Front on the same ship as the 36th Battalion. We left this place of remembrance and drove via Le Hamel to visit the memorial of the Battle of Le Hamel, the greatest victory of the war, designed and lead by the Australian AIF under General Monash on 4th July 1918. A decisive battle against the enemy, all over in 93 minutes. It would go on to be used as the model that would ultimately be used to end the war on the Western Front from August to November 1918. A memorial that is a “must see”.
Next we went on to “Le Grande Mine”, known as “Lochnagar Mine”. This was exploded under the enemy lines on 1 July 1916 as part of the lead into the Battle of the Somme, in which Great Britain lost 56,000 men in one day. 
It is a memorial today, it is 93 metres across and 60 metres deep. The size of it is obvious compared to the village. 60,000 pounds of ammonia went up in one hellova bang. The enemy line was right over the top of the explosion. Despite the losses by the enemy, they regrouped and defeated the British Army in the battle, retaking the area around the crater.. We then headed on to the Canadian Memorial, which is an area of some 600 acres of well preserved trenching from both sides.
It was from these very trenches that a Battalion from Newfoundland went over the top in 1916. 710 men from that battalion were killed in the next few hours. Only 68 remained. It was very solemn to walk those duckboards. The Great Britain Memorial was as chilling as the rest. There are 16 columns holding the memorial high. 76,000 names are inscribed on the columns, each name belonging to a soldier who has no known grave. Yes, that is right, 76,000 men still unaccounted for under the Fields of Flanders and the Somme. That takes your breath away.
Saturday evening, while we had another delightful meal prepared by Fabrice, Mira and I recounted our feelings and observations to each other, to try to come to terms with the absurdity of what we had seen. The numbers of people who died in that war is staggering beyond belief. Russia, 4.5Million. Germany 3Million, Great Britain, 1Million soldiers alone. My god. It places a whole new meaning on “Lest We Forget”. Sunday, we ventured over to Albert to see The Somme War Museum. It is directly below the Cathedral, housed in a 250 metre long tunnel. Interesting artefacts and themes. We then headed into Amiens, parked by the lake, and then walked into town. We saw a side of Amiens that we missed last time, the river Somme and tributaries flow through the city via canals, and the city has developed some lovely areas with eateries etc beside the canals.
So, our tour of the Somme is at an end. One more night in L’Aubegine Fleuri and then on to Rouen.
Keep safe everyone, until next time.
Laurie & Mira.
Laurie and Mira's Search For The Holy Grail - 2015 