The Australians in VillersBretonneux France during WW 1

The Australians in Villers-Bretonneux, France, during WW 1 By James and Abbie Lye

What happened in Villers-Bretonneux? In 1918 the German Army Force captured lots of beautiful villages and cities in France but when the Germans got to Villers-Bretonneux they took it for a day. During the battle the next day, the Australians freed the village and stopped the Germans. This meant that the Germans couldn’t get through to the important city Amiens.

Where they fought After the horrible battles in Gallipoli in 1915, the Australian Imperial Force fought in 1918 in France, Belgium and particularly in the Somme. They fought for 4 years with everyone dying and every one shooting.

Why did we stay ? We stayed here for a couple of nights so we could learn about what the Australians did in the war. We visited the Musee Franco Australian- museum, The Adelaide cemetery, Australian War Memorial, Villers Bretonneux School and Villers Bretonneux itself.

War Numbers 1914 – Start of WW 1 1918 – End of WW 1 59, 000 – Australians killed in the war 25 – Date in April 1918 when Australians retook Villers Bretonneux 11, 000 – Australian soldiers that died in France without a grave 3, 000 – numbers of soldiers who fought in the Somme 50, 000 – Casualties on 1 st of July 13, 000 – Number of visitors that came to the museum last year

Villers Bretonneux Today Villers Bretonneux today is a beautiful town in North East France. It has 4000 people and the main job is farming. The tourists come here to see their family members who died during the war, if you are Australian or you are just driving through it.

Where we got our information We got our information from the town hall, the Australian war memorial and particularly in the Musee Franco Australian museum.

Interviews with people in the town These are questions that we asked people in the town: 1) What does Australia mean to you? 2) How many Australians come here each year? 3) What signs in the town can you see that are Australian? 4) Would you like to go to Australia or have you already been? Here are the answers: number 9 pharmacy Museum lady

What did we think of Villers-Bretonneux ? James “ It was a devastating thing to see hundreds and hundreds of graves where I could see the ages on the graves of soldiers who were really young when they died. Since seeing all those graves there are still many more soldiers that died in the war without a grave in France, because their bodies were never found. ” Abbie “I was sad for the soldiers that died. We went to some graves and there were lots of grave stones. Some of the people were young and some were old. Villers-Bretonneux is very welcoming to Australians. It is welcoming for Australians because they look after the grave stones. The Australians saved the French from the Germans taking over. There was a museum that was set up especially for Australians. ”