Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Flanders and the Somme

28 August, AirBnB, Amiens, France

Our home for the next week is a fantastic house on Rue Jean Boen in Amiens, a “row house” built just after the First World War. We are within walking distance of the city centre and the fabulous Amiens Cathedral, which miraculously escaped total destruction during two wars in the 20th century. All around us are the sites of major battles on the Somme between 1914 and 1918.

Our flight to Paris on China Southern Airlines, via Guangzhou, was just fine, although a bit of a challenge for us, as we were both in the grip of “le Rhume” or common cold, one of us having the far more severe strain, “le Rhume de l’homme”.


We have travelled China Southern before and shake our heads in wonder at those who, mostly, never having flown with a Chinese airline, are totally convinced that their planes are falling apart, the service is poor, they constantly cancel flights and, worst of all, the staff don’t speak English. In truth the planes are mostly brand new, the Chinese Airports just amazing, the pilots, some of whom are Australian, are professional and highly skilled and the staff indeed speak English.


We have travelled with China Southern before and shake our heads in wonder at those who, mostly not having flown with a Chinese airline, are totally convinced that their planes are falling apart, the service is poor, they constantly cancel flights and, worst of all, the staff don’t speak English. In truth the planes are mostly brand new, the Chinese Airports just amazing, the pilots, some of whom are Australian, are professional and highly skilled and the staff do indeed speak English

Our transit through Charles de Gaulle Airport took about an hour, most of which was travelling from one terminal to another and collecting bags. Driving out of the airport in our hire car was a little more of a challenge. The helpful Hertz counter staff pointed to a towering ramp over their car park in the centre of the airport and said, “Just get up there and take the Autoroute to Lille”. After a lap or two of the airport freeway ramps, we found our way to the correct one and, amid congratulatory honks from fellow motorists, made our leisurely progress out of the airport complex.  

At this early point in our travels, we should issue a word of caution about the accuracy of comments on travel blogs and services. Having read many comments online about the difficulties of paying with credit cards on French autoroutes, we approached our first toll pay point with some trepidation, gingerly inserted our card, which might well be gobbled up by the toll machine and... no problem at all.  We think most of these reported issues may be from Americans, yes them again, whose cards are being rejected because the highly sophisticated US banking system has been so slow in producing cards with the chips that have been common in the rest of the world for almost a decade.




29 August, Hotel Campanile, Lille

It was a long day on the road today as we headed north-west to Etaples on the channel coast and on to Flanders and Fromelles, part of our pilgrimage to battlefields, cemeteries and points of interest linked to relatives. We plotted a course through small towns and villages, avoiding the tolls on the autoroutes, but it was such a miserable rainy day that we could have just as well coughed up for the tolls, because the rural scene was rather dismal.



We were visiting the large Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Etaples to find the grave of Michael English, Paul’s grand-mother’s cousin, who was killed near Pozieres in September 1916. Michael had enlisted under an assumed name to avoid the consequences of fathering a child out of wedlock. Just before he embarked for Europe, he did the right thing and married the young woman, just weeks before the birth of their daughter. Paul had done a lot of research on Michael, his family and his life before the war and as a result of this research, had convinced the War Graves Commission to change the inscription on his tombstone to his real name. It took many months to get them to agree and many more to have the work completed, so it was nice today to see the real Michael recognised on his tombstone.

When William Armstrong, Janita’s great-uncle, first landed in France in 1917, he joined his battalion in Lottinghen, near the Belgian border. Keeping faith with our commitment to trace William’s journey to his death at Mont St Quentin, we detoured to Lottinghen in the hope of getting some feel for what the village might have been like in 1917. Sadly, there was nothing left that William might have seen during his stay near the village.



As we were in the area, we visited Fromelles, a well-known battlefield for Australians. In just a couple of days in July 1916 the Australian 5th Division suffered more than 5500 casualties. Several battalions were all but wiped-out and, in the end, nothing was gained. It was an early taste of what was to come. Just outside modern Fromelles is Pheasant Wood Cemetery where around 250 soldiers, left in no-man’s land, buried after the war in an area known as Pheasant Wood and forgotten, have been reburied. They were found in a mass grave in 2009 and modern DNA technology allowed many to be identified.



Not far away was VC Corner Cemetery, a name given to the area by British and Australian soldiers, because one apparently deserved a VC just to move through the trenches on this part of the front. There are no tombstones in the cemetery because the bodies, killed during the Battle of Fromelles, weren’t exhumed until the early 1920s and by that time it was deemed impossible to identify them. Today, 410 rose bushes mark the graves of those un-identified men and the names of the 1299 officers NCOs and soldiers, killed during the battle, but with no known grave, are recorded on a memorial wall.

Fromelles Memorial Park is located on no-man’s-land, between the Australian and German lines as it was in 1916. It is only a small area on land donated by a local farmer. The centre piece is the “Cobbers” statue, depicting a digger carrying his wounded mate back to the lines.





Tonight we are spending the night away from our rented digs in Amiens in a not-so-classy motel on the outskirts of Lille. Tomorrow we’ll do the rounds of the important battlefield sites in southern Belgium.

30 August, Airbnb, Amiens

We are back in Amiens tonight after a couple of very full days through the Flanders battlefields. We have covered about 500km in this time on a mix of tiny country lanes, highways, motorways and town and city streets that have been so narrow that we have had to hold our breath to get through. Everything we have read has told us that the French toll autoroutes are extremely expensive. We haven’t found them so. Given the time and fuel savings, paying AUD10 -12 to go 100kms isn’t that bad.

While on the topic of roads, we should mention French drivers. On the whole, particularly on the autoroutes, they are very good. Mind you, one slip at 130km/hr in three lanes of heavy traffic, including thousands of trucks and you and several others would probably be toast. Most European drivers would quickly come to grief on Australian motorways where passing on the wrong side (ie the left) is common. In Europe it is never done, although, in slow-moving city and town traffic, a bit of that stereotypical French rudeness comes out, with drivers barging through tight corners and closing-up to prevent access from cross streets in heavy traffic.

An early start this morning saw us in the small Belgian town of Nieppe before 9:00am. Again there was little that William Armstrong would have recognised from his time billeted here. The town was destroyed during WWI and it also lay in the way of the Allies’ invasion of France in WWII.



The town of Nieuwkerke, described as Neuve Eglise a few times in William’s diary, has some recognition of the Australian troops being stationed here, if only in the small Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery attached to the town’s church cemetery. The graves are well kept. On the day we were there a team in a CWGC truck was trimming the edges and mowing the lawns.




Next on our list was Messines. William didn’t mention Messines in his diary, but the battles fought around the town were important ones from the ANZAC perspective. The town itself was finally liberated by the New Zealand Division and an important monument to Kiwi soldiers with no known grave is just outside the town.




In this area of the Front, an unofficial Christmas truce supposedly took place in 1914. There is some question as to whether the soccer game between the Tommies and the Huns actually occurred. Whether it is fact or legend, it made for a very different monument on the side of a boggy farm road where piles of soccer balls have been left to commemorate the event.

The monumental battles that occurred around the Ypres salient were before William’s time at the Front, but we have come to realise that only visiting those places mentioned in William’s diary would miss a lot of important battlefield sites, so we expanded our programme today to include Ypres and Zonnebeke, both of which have significant Australian connections.




The Menin Gate in Ypres commemorates all British Empire troops who died in Belgium, but have no known grave. Fifty-four thousand names line the walls of this triumphant arch, six thousand of them Australians. The town has been rebuilt close to its pre-war grandeur. The church, the spectacular town square and the historic Cloth Hall look just as they did prior to 1914. Much of the reconstruction here was done using materials scavenged from the rubble.


The Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres commemorates all British Empire troops who died in Belgium, but have no known grave. Fifty-four thousand names line the walls of this triumphal arch, six thousand of them Australians. The town has been rebuilt close to its pre-war grandeur. The church, the spectacular town square and the historic Cloth Hall look just as they did prior to 1914. Much of the reconstruction here was done using materials scavenged from the rubble.



None of the museums or monuments we have visited so far has disproportionally represented the role of the USA in these battles. There is no question that the waves of US troops arriving at the front in late 1917 made an enormous difference to the final outcome, but the “Yankie-doodle” winning the war notion is just not true. When the American troops came up to the front, fighting alongside Australian troops, they were described as extremely heroic but reckless and sometimes ill-disciplined. Little wonder that when some US and Australian Battalions were integrated for a short period in mid-1918, the Australian officers argued to limit the co-operation due to concerns about the discipline of their new charges.

31 August 2018, Amiens

Today is the centenary of the death of William John Armstrong. We had a much bigger day than we had intended because we were directed way off course by our Satnav. This was not really “her” fault, because we had set it to avoid tolls. Our toll-free path took us on a route close to a lot of places we had intended to visit on another day so we just went with the flow and roamed over most of the Somme Battlefields, picking up many of the places William’s 24th Btn passed through in the months before his death.

The Australian presence on this, not insignificant part of the front line, was more important than we had imagined. About 400,000 Australians fought in Flanders and on the Somme over the period 1916 to 1918. In that period 60,000 were killed and many tens of thousands more were wounded. In the scale of the carnage of the First World War this is just a drop in the bucket. French losses were well over a million, British just short of that, German and Austrian millions more. What these figures don’t effectively show is the impact on countries like Canada, New Zealand and Australia, whose populations were much smaller than those of the European Allies. France and Britain had populations of around 40 million. Australia’s population was a little less than 4 million - a factor of 10.  On a per capita basis, Australia put 4 million men in the field and lost 600,000. And it should never be forgotten that Australia’s army was all volunteer and that the impact back home was just as devastating as it was for European combatants.  

William’s diary refers to several towns in which he was billeted as the front moved and his battalion was taken in and out of the line. We picked up more of these places today, Pont Noyelles and Millencourt, but again there was little left after the 100 years that have passed since he was here.



Our roundabout route towards Peronne took us to Pozieres, where the 1st Australian Division monument is located and the area where Michael English fought with the 9th Btn in 1916. A couple of important sites around Pozieres, the Windmill and Mouquet Farm, are legendary in Australian Military history and now have Australian Memorials. Michael English fought at both and was fatally injured at Mouquet Farm.

Just outside the small village of Thiepval is the main British Memorial to those with no known graves. It is an enormous arch with more than 50,000 names of the missing. The small museum on the site has an impressive, cartoon-style mural showing British soldiers moving up to the front line, engaging in combat and staggering away in the aftermath.

Today is what this part of our trip is all about. Today, 100 years ago, William John Armstrong was killed in Gottlieb Trench, at the foot of Mont St Quentin. We placed a small laminated biography of William’s life, along with a flag and a collection of remembrance poppies, hand-made by four generations of his descendants. We also placed biography cards and flags on the graves of two other soldiers who we knew had died with William, Charles Doble and William Love.


Grave of William John Armstrong, 31 August, 2018


While we were at the cemetery, we met a couple of Australian soldiers, one a Major attached to the Australian Embassy in Paris, who were arranging a VIP ceremony at the cemetery. Chatting with them, we learned that the official events to be conducted over the next couple of days required registration to guarantee entry and that there would also be a civic reception for the families of those who fought in the battle of Mont St Quentin. We were left with the impression that it was almost impossible to register at this late date. Right, Major Smarty-Pants, we thought, we’ll just see about that. Off to City Hall we marched and after some hassles, caused by language difficulties, or normal Friday afternoon Public Service lethargy, we managed to leave a message for the Council Manager who sorted out registrations for us. So we’ll be off tomorrow to the Civic Reception along with the Mayor and the Major General commanding the 2nd Division Australian Army.

The exact location where William was killed


Our last task for the day was to find the actual location of the trench where William was killed. After a lot of research using Army burial references, Australian and British Army Ordinance Maps and Red Cross data we were very confident that we had the location within 20m. That’s all very well on a computer screen, but standing in an open field it’s not as easy at it might seem. However, using our phone GPS we were 90% sure we were on the trench line and at the exact spot where a German High Explosive shell ended the lives of William and close to a score of his comrades.

1 September 2018, Amiens

We started late today after a couple of hectic, long days. The Australian National Monument at Villers-Bretonneux is a must-do part of any battlefields tour, as is the Franco-Australian Museum in the town itself. We had been to the town museum before so we gave that a miss.



The Australian National Monument is a spectacular sight, built on the battlefield where most of the soldiers buried here were killed. Our visit here was also part of our William Armstrong pilgrimage. The brother of William’s fiancée, Irene Macklan, Albert, was killed here in April 1918 in the battle which finally liberated the village and secured this part of the line. William and Albert were great mates and Albert is often mentioned in William’s diary. We found his grave and left a flag.

The John Monash Centre has recently been opened in an underground complex behind the National Monument. We had to literally run through it as we were running late for our appointment for the Mayor and the civic reception. We will be back tomorrow, because it looks fantastic.

We were a little early for the civic reception, so waited around with a surprisingly large crowd of families whose relatives had taken part in the battle. The reception started with a visit to the City Museum which featured a display on the role of Australia in liberating the town. To our surprise the quote from Percy Smythe’s diary, describing the scene in Gottlieb Trench just after the explosion, was featured. We had come across Percy’s diary in our research and it was an important find, as it confirmed the circumstances of William’s death.

The speeches were a bit long in the sweltering council hall, but very nice things were said about the sacrifices of Australian troops and the gratitude of the local citizens. We had been told that there would be a surprise for the families and there sure was. With great French flair the back doors of the reception hall were flung open onto the town square, revealing the Somme Battlefields Pipe and Drum Band playing a great medley of pipe favourites including Waltzing Matilda. The band was encircled by performers dressed in WWI period costume, soldiers, nurses and even mounted cavalry. We were lucky enough to be standing right at the back of the hall and so were treated to the full dramatic impact of the event.

Well done Peronne!





2 September, Amiens

Three Divisions of the AIF finally liberated the city of Peronne 2 September 1918, after three days of fighting that cost 3000 lives, including that of William John Armstrong. We had VIP access to the official ceremony and a concert preceding it that commenced at 3:00 PM, so we had some spare time to go back to the Australian Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux to spend some more time at the fabulous John Monash Centre. We have visited hundreds of museums of all kinds in many countries but very few would match the quality of this museum. Nobody, Australian on not, who has any interest in military history should miss this brilliantly designed and technically superb museum.





A short drive from the Australian Memorial is the site where the German Ace, (The Red Baron) Baron Manfred von Richtofen’s plane crashed after being shot down by Australian machine gunners. A few hundred metres up the road from the Red Baron site is Le Hamel, the site of what is often lauded as the first action of WWI in which the co-ordinated use of infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft was employed. The Australian Corps commander, Sir John Monash’s meticulously planned attack saw the Australian infantry advance, shielded by tanks, preceded by an advancing artillery barrage, all supported by aircraft. Monash had predicted the operation would take 90 minutes. It took 93 minutes.  

The thick undergrowth around the Australian Monument at Le Hamel still contains some remnants of the old German trenches the Australians occupied once the battle was over. This was also the point from which the Australian machine gunners who shot down the Red Baron were located.






Back in Peronne by 3:00pm, we attended the concert organised for descendant families by the city. An excellent military band belted out French martial tunes and several popular American swing numbers, followed by the mandatory Australian and French National anthems. Then it was off to the 2nd Division Monument on the Rue Des Australiens for the official ceremony.

It has to be said that all this is really a big deal for the city of Peronne and surrounds. The ceremony was very formal and very military as might be expected, but due attention was paid to the families who, after 100 years, had come all this way to commemorate the contribution of their family member. Janita was able to place a tribute on the monument to commemorate William.

Not all that long a drive home to Amiens, but a burning car on the autoroute slowed us up a little, so we are just getting dinner sorted at 9:30pm.

3 September, Amiens

Not totally “battlefielded-out” yet, but close. Just a few boxes left to tick today before we drive back to Paris and fly to the UK.

The small village of Bertangles is almost a suburb of Amiens these days, but in 1918, it was far enough away from the dangers of the front to allow it to host the headquarters of the newly-formed Australian Corps commanded by Lt General John Monash. Surviving video of events of this period are rare, but there is a short segment of a film made in 1918 when King George V knighted Sir John Monash on the steps of Chateau Bertangles. Standing at the gates of the Chateau today, it was very easy to overlay the images of 100 years ago onto the current scene.


A subplot of our travels in the Somme has been the “search for the Red Baron”, a character who is probably best remembered by baby boomers, through the 70s hit song “Snoopy and the Red Baron.” The Baron was of course a real German Ace pilot who was famous for the havoc he and his “Flying Circus” caused among allied pilots. He claimed 80 plus kills and was by far the most feared German fighter pilot.


A subplot of our travels in the Somme has been the “search for the Red Baron”, a character who is probably best remembered by baby boomers, through the 70s hit song “Snoopy and the Red Baron.” The Baron was of course a real German Ace pilot who was famous for the havoc he and his “Flying Circus” caused among Allied pilots. He claimed 80 plus kills and was by far the most feared German fighter pilot.

Our interest in the Baron doesn’t just stem from our love of the Royal Guardsmen, the group who sang the song, but from a close family connection to the Baron’s demise. We are in possession of a small piece of the Red Baron’s plane. In a framed tribute to the Baron on the wall in our study is a piece of the wing fabric of the plane shot down by Australian machine gunners. This souvenir was bought back to Australia by Paul’s great-uncle Lieutenant, later Colonel, Frederick Rosenskjar and was lost among news clippings for close to 100 years until we found it by chance.

We have visited the crash site, the location where the machine gun crew fired from and today, we visited the original grave site where the Australian Army buried the Baron with full military honours. The Manfred was not allowed to remain at rest here however. He was exhumed and moved twice before he finally found peace in a family plot in Westphalia, Germany. Perhaps one day we will find his final resting place.

This afternoon we wandered down to central Amiens and visited the Cathedral which managed to survive the war relatively intact. We noticed that the head of St John the Baptist was located here, and as those who have followed our blogs over the years would know, we are big fans of bits of saints’ bodies. Sadly, today is Monday and the saint’s head is not on view today.




Of more real interest were the many plaques through the cathedral showing the restoration of the building after the city was liberated by Australian and Canadian troops in 1918. Apparently the Australian soldiers had a big impact on the city and citizens of Amiens and also more widely through northern France and Belgium. They played an important part in restoring the Cathedral. One comment on a plaque stated that the Australians were “omnipresent in Amiens”. We wondered if this was some sort of a comment on them being some sort of a problem. Given everything else we know about how the diggers were seen, this doesn’t jell. A couple of things came to mind. First and foremost is the belief that “our boys” were willing to muck in and help. From what we see in photographs of the time and from what we have read this is most likely true. These were mostly country lads who enlisted and served with the mates they went to school with or played sport against. There were no home leave options for Australian troops, so their leave was in London or Paris if they were extremely lucky, or leave was in a city like Amiens, near the front. These were practical men with all sorts of skills that could be meaningfully employed to break the boredom of life behind the lines.  

We leave tomorrow, firmly convinced that the respect and even reverence for the role of Australian diggers here is not just rhetoric, but a genuine expression of gratitude and camaraderie. One hundred years on it is a comfort that the sacrifice of so many Australian lives is so appreciated and that the loss of William John Armstrong and Michael Joseph English and the 60,000 other Australian at peace somewhere in France and Belgium will never be forgotten.

4 September, Ibis Hotel, Paris CDG Airport

A glum morning greeted us as we drove off to Paris this morning. Excellent timing. It has been warm and sunny all week. Other than slightly more difficult driving conditions, we haven’t been overly stressed. CDG is a monster of an airport with an extremely complex road network that we had to negotiate to return our car. Finding the Hire Car return area is such a challenge that some people prefer to return their vehicles to depots in suburban Paris. Meticulous preparation was our key. We followed step by step photographs from Google Maps.

Early start tomorrow for a 10:30 am flight to Heathrow.

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