All quiet on the Western Front

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We were surprised by the openness and vastness of the Somme region - similar big sky’ feeling that you get in the Australian outback. It gave us a small appreciation of how vulnerable the soldiers must have felt. We visited the major sites plus the towns where A’s grandfather’s division had spent time (according to the war diaries): Franvillers, Corbie, Fouilloy, Villers Bretonneux, Le Hamel, Proyart and Bray-sur-Somme.
The morning as very foggy and meant the view from the Australian Memorial tower (see pic 1) was particularly atmospheric. We had many of the sites to ourselves but saw a couple of mini-vans advertising tours with names like ‘cobber tours’ and ‘true blue digger tours’ which provoked some cynical conversation between us. We ended our tour in Bellenglise at the rarely visited memorial to the 4th Division (see plaque, pic 2) to which A’s grandfather belonged. There were times when it was a bit overwhelming to think about what had happened where we stood but overall we were uplifted by the amazing efforts of the Australian soldiers and very grateful that A’s grandfather survived.

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