Military History Tours          On Tour - Western Front Extention Tour 7 May 2015

Today was a much better day weather wise, still cold but not raining and some sun appeared.

Laurie Farrugia was programmed to make a presentation to the Villers-Bretonneux School from the 5^th Field Ambulance. An appointment was made at the Museum with the Master of Ceremonies of the Villers-Bretonneux Commemorative Foundation, Lorraine Al Yakhoub, who would receive his presentation on behalf of the Foundation and Mayor of Villers-Bretonneux.

In the mid afternoon, the presentation was made and well received by the Master of Ceremonies.

Dernancourt was our first visit and John Lee took us through the battle which was most significant in the repulsing of the German 1918 Advance on Amiens.

Le Hamel was another major site that we visited and the importance of Monash's victory here was explained in detail by Ron Lyons. This was again another most significant battle, but not in the repulse of the German advance but in the start of the German long road to defeat. This then led us to the Australian Memorial at Villers- Bretonneux where we saw the dreadful impact of those heroic actions by our men where even though they were winning the campaigns, the toll was horrendous. On the walls at the Memorial are 11,000 names of Australian Soldiers who have no known grave as they fell in the Somme.

Lunch was taken in the Town Square at Villers-Bretonneux before we completed our day at the Adelaide Cemetery where Ashlea Ross explained to us the details associated with the selection of the Unknown Soldier, taken from here to be interred in the Australian War Memorial Canberra.

Tomorrow we head East to the last of the campaigns on the Western Front by the Australian Corps.