Western Front to Normandy Tour September 2018

Today we bade farewell to Peronne and to our driver Lee, who, having completed his 'days', handed over to Serge to take us up to Belgium via the central sector of the front around Arras. We will pick Lee up for another 'trams change' on our way to Normandy later in the week.

Having been bamboozled by an entry about one of our group commemorations that had erroneously placed him in the Adelaide Cemetery at Villers-Bretonneux, overnight research by Steve Larkins using the 10^th Battalion war diaries identified that he had died in the vicinity of Louverval, in the Outpost Village campaign, so we made the British cemetery there our first stop to commemorate Robert Glendenning Jemison.

Then it was on to another 'Outposet Village' ths time Noreuil, which exacted a heavy toll among the 50th Battalion junior officers. Noreuil was the objective of an attack on 2 April 1917 by the 13^th Brigade of the 4^th Division, with the 50^th and 51^st Battalions leading and the other two (49^th and 52^nd) in reserve.

Many of the casualties had been 10^th Battalion originals were Gallipoli veterans and had been promoted from the ranks when they moved over to the 'pup' Battalion of the 10^th, the 50^th Infantry Battalion. Included among these men was Lieutenant Wilfrid Oswald Jose, one of a section of men among the first ashore at Gallipoli nearly two years previously. See LINK and Captain Harold Armitage LINK company commander at Noreuil.

The Noreuil 'Australian Cemetery' is largely comprised of the graves of men of the 50^th and 51^st Battalions killed in the attack. It is also notable for 82 headstones along two sides of the cemetery as memorials to men formerly believed to have been buried in the cemetery but whose original graves were lost in subsequent fighting in the area. See this link: https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/cemeteries/38

From there our group headed to Bullecourt to view the Bullecourt Digger statue and the Slouch Hat memorial. We viewed the battlefield over which the attacks of 10-12 April and 3-17 May were conducted.

From Bullecourt we continued our journey north to the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy Ridge which never fails to impress visitors, including ours. The adjacent area, like Beaumont Hamel in the Somme, is well preserved and re-creations of the trench lines amidst the original mine and shell craters is very well done indeed. For the first time since Steve Larkins visited it over 30 years ago this site has at least been eclipsed by the Sir John Monash Centre; but this is still an impressive place.

Most powerful though is the spectacular monument dominating the skyline and commanding wonderful views to the north, making it immediately apparent why possession of it was so important.

Fromelles is now a well-known battle. Steve Larkins pointed out at Rue Petillon Cemetery, the fates of two sets of brothers from Adelaide, the three Choat brothers and the two Knight brothers from adjacent suburbs in Adelaide's inner south. The Knight brothers Alfred and Tom, died three weeks apart prior to the 19/20th July in separate battalions (the 52^nd and 32^nd) in different Divisions (4^th and 5^th) but probably not more than 3-400m apart. They are buried in adjacent rows of the Rue Petillon cemetery. The three Choat brothers had consecutive serial numbers and all were in A Company 32nd Battalion. One can only imagine their grief when the parents received three telegrams advising their three sons were missing or killed. Oldest brother Raymond is named on the wall at VC Corner. Archie is buried at Rue Petillon. The third, Wesley, turned out to have been captured as a PoW but became one the few who successfully escaped from captivity back to the UK after an earlier unsuccessful attempt. On the testimony of his comrades, he was awarded the Military Medal and repatriated back to Australia, one of the few pieces of good news out of the Fromelles saga.

While at Fromelles we met and chatted to the Regional Director for CWGC, Liz Bright.

From Fromelles it was north once again towards our final destination for the day and our accommodation at the Novotel in Ieper.

On the way we called at the London Rifle Brigade Cemetery near Ploegsteert to commemorate Sandra Turner's great uncle John Robinson Turner.

By this stage we were feeling a little weary particularly after some tricky traffic conditions slowed down proceedings. After stashing our gear we had dinner at the nearby "Kazematten" restaurant embedded in the city walls before some headed for the Last Post Ceremony after which some of us opted for an early night and others decided to sample the nightlife of Ieper.

Western Front to Normandy Tour 2018

Steve Larkins
Battlefield History Tours.