Do Not Forget Australia. These words are emblazoned in large letters above the schoolyard of the Victoria School in the small French town of Villers-Brettoneux.
To reach the school I’ve walked down Melbourne Street (Rue du Melbourne) and on to Rue du Victoria. Many shops and even private houses display paper kangaroos and welcome messages in their windows. There are little reminders of home all over town.
It’s ANZAC Day, 25 April, 2011 and I’ve come to Villers-Brettoneux to discover why Australia is so revered by the people of a little town half a world away.
To understand why, we need to look back to events that took place on another ANZAC Day many years ago.
On 24 April 1918, German troops took the village of Villers-Brettoneux and intended to push on to Amiens. Australian troops were sent to take it back and halt the German advance on Amiens.
That night, on the eve of ANZAC Day, Australian soldiers launched a surprise night attack on the Germans in what would become known as the Second Battle of Villers-Brettoneux. By the morning of ANZAC Day, with the support of British units, the village was virtually surrounded and the Germans trapped. It would take the rest of ANZAC Day and into the 26th to fully secure the town.
This pivotal battle ended the German offensive of the Somme that had begun in March. This victory had come at the terrible cost of some 1200 Australian lives; for which the people of Villers-Brettoneux remain grateful a century later.
While perhaps still taking a distant second place to Gallipoli in the Australian historical psyche, interest in Australia’s participation in the battles of the Western Front has been steadily growing in recent years; perhaps spurred by the discovery of the lost diggers of Fromelles in 2008. More and more Australians are heading to France each year to take part in commemorative services. With the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux having taken place on ANZAC Day, this is the ideal site for staging a traditional Dawn Service dedicated to ANZACS who fought in Europe.
To take part my day began ridiculously early. I was up before 4am and left my room at the aptly named Hotel Central ANZAC to board one of the fleet of buses arranged by the Australian Government to ferry visitors from Amiens Railway Station to Villers-Brettoneux.
Two kilometres from the village lies the Villers-Brettoneux Military Cemetery and the Australian War Memorial, scene of the Dawn Service. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, ‘There are now 2,142 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery with 609 of the burials unidentified’. Within the cemetery is the Australian National Memorial dedicated to all Australians who fought on the Western Front. Over 10,000 Australian servicemen are commemorated here.
The Dawn Service itself is very respectful and calm. After the service presided over by the (then) Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd (who did an admirable job delivering his speech in French), I give up my return bus ride straight back to Amiens and instead join the crowd walking the two kilometres from the memorial into Villers-Brettoneux. A line of people and cars stretches as far as I can see. I was very pleased to join them.
Villers-Brettoneux has put on a very warm welcome. Visitors are treated to a concert in the village hall, a wreath laying ceremony in to town centre and many a friendly welcome.
My last stop before heading back to Amiens on the train is the Musée Franco- Australien situated in the Victoria School. The museum is dedicated to the Australian Imperial Forces who served on the Western Front in World War I. The Victoria School itself was built as a gift to the children of Villers-Brettoneux from the school children of Victoria. The school was open to visitors although the children were on holiday.
With a little time to kill before heading to the station I find a spot in a park where earlier the wreath laying ceremony took place. As I contemplate the floral tributes, a little boy, about 8-years-old approaches me and asks shyly, ‘Êtes-vous Australienne? ‘Are you an Australian?’ When I confirm I am he adds ‘Merci l’Australie!’ Then he runs off to join his friends. The children of Villers-Brettoneux have stayed true to the plaques in their classrooms and have not forgotten. I won’t forget them either.
From the Travels with my Teddy Archive
Re-posted April 2018 for the 100th Anniversary of the Second Battle of Villers-Brettoneux