Category — France 2009

Queenslander.  Son of Herbert Nelson & Dora Sedgwick.  Younger brother of my grandfather Harry Sedgwick.  Shot down with his entire crew.

The Cemetery is just outside Boulogne and unfortunately you can’t see in this photo – but you can just see the white cliffs of Dover in the background.

Villers Bretonneux is a little village of not much consequence in the north of France about an hour from Paris.  But if you know anything about Anzac history it’s a special place for Australians. 

WWI on the Somme (or the Western Front) in France had been long, cold and muddy for the allied forces.  So many men had fallen that the Germans were determined to make one last mighty push through to the channel.  Allied lines were broken in many places along the Somme and what was left of the Aussie troops were sent in to try and stop them near Villers Bretonneux and so some more Anzac history was made when on 24 April 1918 the Australians finally halted the German offensive. 

The Allied counter-offensive began on 8 August 1918 and became known by the Germans as “the black day”.  Aussies liberated the area from VB to Montbrehain after striking thru the Hindenburg Line with the people of Amiens and also the area near St Quentin.  In November the armistice was signed.

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What a beautiful town Amiens is.  After the hustle and bustle of London and Paris, Amiens is very relaxed.  We walked past the cafes along the Somme and typically when visiting at this time of the year, the voices drifting out were not French but Aussie!

Mind you by this stage to get us here from Paris had involved a fair amount of French – which after a while I found quite tiring.  It’s amazing how much thinking in a foreign language constantly can take out of you.  It was almost a relief to hear G’day a couple of times. 

Two days in Paris – we met up with the girls and grandparents on the Eurostar from London and then practiced our (extremely inadequate) French at a variety of sights and cafes all over Paris.  What more can you say about Paris  – C’est tres belle!

Click on our Flickr link to see more pix of Paris.