“We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.”
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Growing up, I could never make sense of ANZAC Day.
It seemed to be one endless parade of men, chests emboldened by medals, marching in unison. The purpose of it escaped me.
That is until I attended a dawn service with an uncle who had fought in Borneo. He never talked about his years as a soldier; in fact, he never talked much at all. Yet there he was, standing to attention, tears streaming down his cheeks, clearly moved by the memory of a brutal moment in time that was beyond my comprehension.
Thirty years later, I stepped onto the battlefields of the Western Front, an area that stretched 750 kilometres from the Belgian coast through France to the Swiss border. My pilgrimage focused on Northern France and Belgium, towns like Amiens, Ypres, Passchendale, Villers-Bretonneux, Pozieres, Bullecourt and Fromelles that are imprinted in our nation’s history. More than 295,000 Australians served here. Of those brave lads, 46,000 lost their lives and 132,000 were wounded. An astonishing number of lives when you realise that Australia’s population was less than 5 million at the time.
So why did I come to witness such a reminder of grief and devastating loss?
I came out of sheer curiosity, to try to understand what brought so many Australian men to an untimely death, why this particular war scarred an entire generation. What I found touched me in ways I would never have imagined.
But I didn’t feel doom and gloom. All around me were endless green-gold fields of wheat and pretty forest areas. It was hard to reconcile this quiet beauty with the quagmire of black mud, shell craters, razed wood, burnt out machinery, barbed wire and flattened villages seen in history books. Instead, I marveled at the rebirth of the landscape after such devastation. The message I took away was one of strength, courage and resilience and a sense of awe at people’s ability to rebuild their lives in the wake of such tragedy.
And yes, I learned to spot the imprint of old trenches and heard first hand from local guides shocking stories of battles won and loss, of generals who had no regard for the safety of the men. But I also heard stories of mateship, bravery and tomfoolery, the hardy traits that define the Australian spirit.
Like Sergeant Fraser carrying the wounded over his shoulder during the Battle of Frommelle and Lance Corporal Albert Jacka almost singlehandedly freeing imprisoned Australian soldiers by stepping out into “no-man’s land” and gallantly charging a trench filled with German soldiers.
I was touched by the strength of the bonds formed through adversity as a result of this bloody war, particularly evident as I drove through Villers-Bretonneux, the picturesque village that once was the scene of deadly hand-to-hand combat as Australian troops drove out the Germans on Anzac day 1918. Nearby, two Australian war cemeteries are powerful reminders of the huge loss of life in this theatre of war.
After the war, Victorians raised funds to help the village rebuild its school, cementing Australia’s friendship and connection with the region. Today, the village proudly proclaims itself as “Australia en Picardie”, its main street is called Rue de Melbourne and the kangaroo is its town symbol. As we walked past the school, children raced to the fence to welcome us and other Australian visitors, a beautiful reminder of the everlasting bond created between two nations.
Join in the Centenary Commemorations
If you’re keen on some WWI travel action, the battles will be marked with a series of 100th anniversary events in over the next two to three years.
The memorial theme kicks off on 19 July 2016 with 100th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles, followed soon after by the Battle of Pozieres on 23 July 2016 where the Windmill memorial notes that “more Australian blood was spilled … than anywhere in the world”.
On 26 September 2017, the Butts New British Cemetery in Belgium will be the site of the commemorations of all Australians who served bravely in Belgium during the First World war, particularly in the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres. And in 2018, services will be held to commemorate the Australians on the Western Front in 1918, focusing on Villers-Bretonneux.
Now is the perfect time to consider a trip to this fascinating area, which has formed such a strong part of Australian history.
And When You Tire of Battle
Life’s too short to drink cheap plonk.
And it’s definitely too short not to smell the roses once in a while, even when you’re knee deep in battlefields and heroes and war stories.
When I had grown weary from a day in the trenches, I retreated to our lovely B&B in Frise, a little gem surrounded by blossoming cherry trees.
Each evening, I strolled the banks of the canal with my travel companions, listening to the larks, surrounded by butterflies in light reminiscent of the impressionist’s pallet. At nearby restaurants, the locals welcomed us with fervor and heartfelt appreciation – the gratitude for the Australian soldiers who fought and died there still palpable in their embrace.
Through these idyllic moments, the joy of this kind of travel is in the ‘sweet and savoury’, the contradiction between beauty and pain.
An experience of a lifetime.
To soak up life beyond the battlefields, explore the Western Front, remember our brave soldiers and join in the Commemorations in 2016, 2017 and 2018, contact us for a customized itinerary.
