Visiting the Battlefields of the Great War 1914 to 1918

We flew to Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris from Exeter and hired a car.  We headed off towards Dieppe first.

The car we rented - Fiat Panda very small but was OK for our trip.  Shortly after this photo was taken it developed a crack across the windscreen.  Despite the fact that we reported the damage to Avis's call centre and that they directed us to go to an agency that did not hold a stock of cars, when we took it back to their agency desk at Charles de Gaulle Airport, they were singularly unhelpful.  I do not recommend hiring a car from Avis.  Their customer service attitude in France was abysmal.

 Inside one of the tunnels around Paris

The Ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe arriving

A Church above the Ferry Port

To views of the boat harbour

Dieppe was the venue for a famous raid  by the Canadian Army and the Royal Marines which was fairly disastrous but proved vital for the planning of the D Day landings two years later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_Raid

 The Mount Huon Military Cemetry at Le Treport near Dieppe.  This was the site of a large military hospital in 1918.
http://throughtheselines.com.au/research/le-treport
http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/11700/MONT%20HUON%20MILITARY%20CEMETERY,%20LE%20TREPORT

 A friend in Wandin, Australia asked me to see if I could find the grave of her uncle, Private Daniel James Gorey of the 2nd Australian Machine Gun Battalion who died of his wounds at the field hospital on 13 October 1918.  I was not able to find out where he was wounded

Daniel Gorey's Grave

I wasn't the first to visit this year.  Someone visited him the month before

The entry in the Burial Register at the Cemetery.  I have not been able to find out much about the battle in which he was wounded, but his unit was involved in the Battle of Mont St Quentin in September 1918.  The following links give more details of the battle.
http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au:8888/Machine_Gun.html
http://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/mont-st-quentin
http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/1918/battles/mtstquentin.asp
http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/1918/battles/mtstquentin.asp

We stayed at the La Belle Etoile hotel in Arras for three nights. It was very comfortable and the meals were great.  It had an interesting bush in front!
http://www.hotel-belle-etoile-st-nicolas-arras.federal-hotel.com/page_en_1.html

Our first stop was the Arras  Memorial.  This memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was opened in 1932.

There are 2650 graves

and the names of almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918 and for whom there are no known graves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_%281917%29

The names of those who have no known graves are listed on the panels of the memorial

Amongst them is the name of a distant cousin, Private Charles William Lillie of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who died in the Bullecourt area on 15 May 2017 near the end of the battles for Arras

His entry in the Register at the memorial

This link will take you to a website which shows the casualty numbers for the Great War.
Lest We Forget
http://www.1914-1918.net/faq.htm

The war cemetery near the Village of Ecoust St Mein.  It was near this spot that my cousin met his death as far as I can make out

These cemeteries are full of graves like this "A Soldier of the Great War - Known Only to God"

 The Australian Digger Memorial on the Bullecourt Battlefield
http://www.greatwarcollection.nl/Html/Bullecourt.html

The story of the memorial

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/battlefields/804-the-bullecourt-controversy.html

The village of Bullecourt

Could this be the remains of a trench?

The cemetery and memorial to those who fought at the battle of Cambrai in 1917
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/others/cambrai.html

This memorial  is in the village of Louverval, built on the site of the Chateau which was taken by the 56th Australian Infantry Battalion at dawn on 2 April 1917

 It was here that my friend Eve found the name of her grandmother's first husband, Rifleman Charles Mapp, who died in the Cambrai area on 22 November 1917.

 The entrance to the Wellington Quarries in Arras.  These medieval quarries were utilised by British and Commonwealth Troops at the beginning of the Battle for Arras in 1917.  They were adapted by New Zealand Engineers who created exits from the Quarries close to the German Front line to make the assault easier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carri%C3%A8re_Wellington
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/french-flanders-artois/museum-wellington-quarry.htm

My friend Eve attired for the tour of the quarry.  We were required to wear the helmet and the yellow device around the neck provides a translation of the commentary in different languages

Photography was difficult, but this is a photo of one of the exits.

The next day we visited the Somme Battlefields which were fought over in 1916 and 1918.  We started off at Villers Brettoneaux the site of the Australian National Memorial which contains the names of all Australians who have no known grave.

 Villers Brettoneaux from the cemetery
http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/1918/battles/dernancourt/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villers-Bretonneux

Looking over the cemetery

 The Australian Memorial

 The entrance to the tower

 Inside the entrance

The story of the Unknown Australian soldier whose remains now lie in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/keating.asp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGh0HdG9ViA

A tribute from those who participated in the Pembrook College UK Cricket tour this year.

On Anzac Day during Millgrove's annual Dawn Service, I paid a small tribute to one of the names on our War Memorial - Private Arthur Norman Platt, 14th Battalion, AIF.  I wanted to find out a little more on this trip.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Millgrove-Residents-Action-Group/168454523304398

I found his name  on the Villers Brettoneaux Memorial

And in the Memorial Register.
Arthur Platt was born in Blakeville, Victoria in 1893.  In 1914 his father was Postmaster at Millgrove.  He joined up in 7 January 1916 and travelled to France on the Transport HMAT A68 Anchises leaving Melbourne on 14 March 1916, and, after joining the 14th Battalion was killed in action on 28 August 1916

,

Mouquet Farm today with the AIF memorial in the foreground

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mouquet_Farm
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/pozieres-windmill/aif-memorial-mouquet-farm/mouquet-farm.php
http://www.greatwarcollection.nl/Html/pozieres.html

Two views of the Lochnagar Crater near La Boisselle not far from Albert.

 The crater was created by a huge mine.  Royal Engineers dug a tunnel under a German Position and stacked dynamite under it.  It was exploded on the first day of the battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochnagar_mine
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/laboiselle.html

The Theipval Memorial dedicated to those who died in the Battles on the Somme

 Another memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and which dominates the surrounding countryside
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiepval_Memorial
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/thiepval.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme/somme-battles.htm

The Newfoundland Memorial Park near Beaumont Hamel is a memorial the the Canadian Newfoundland Regiment who were stationed here during the Battle of the Somme in 1916

As well as the famous Moose statue, there are trenches still able to be traced

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumont-Hamel_Newfoundland_Memorial
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/newfoundland.html

Some trench reconstruction

The view from the front line towards the German Positions in 1916 across what was once No Mans Land

This post is respectfully dedicated to the memory of those who gave their lives during the Great War and especially to the memory of:

• Private Charles William Lillie, 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Died 15 May 1917.
• Private Arthur Norman Platt, 14th Battalion, AIF, Died 28 August 1916
• Private Daniel James Gorey, 2nd Battalion, Australian Machine Gun Corps, Died 13 October 1918
• Rifleman Charles Mapp, Royal Irish Rifles, Died 22 November 1917
• Lieutenant William Philip Lillie, RN, who died along with the whole crew, when his submarine E34 was lost off the coast of Vlieland, Holland, 20 July 1918

The next day we returned to Paris to catch our evening flight back to Exeter.  We had meant to spend the day in Paris,but, due to poor navigation on my part and difficulties with the return of the hire car

we ended up with only three  hours which was taken up with an open bus tour of the sights!  The photo's weren't great, but here they are.

Notre Dame Cathedral
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris

Statue of Charlemagne in front of Notre Dame
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne

The Seine near Notre Dame

The Arc de Triomphe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe

The Eiffel Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower

The Louvre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre

A gate in front of the Louvre