Trip to Flanders Fields and Normandy

We headed off early on the morning of April 25, ANZAC Day! And our first stop was the ANZAC day ceremonies in Ieper. It was good to see so many other Australians and New Zealanders also at the ceremonies. And I have to say that the ceremonies were conducted with great respect. The ceremonies are held beneath the Menin Gate. Menin Gate is a memorial to those fallen in the war and every evening of the year, the last post will be played at the gate. We naturally went back to see this done in the evening. Inscribed around the memorial is the names of 54,900 missing sodiers from around Ieper during the First World War.

Ieper is surrounded by so much war history. Every place you look or turn there is a monument, memorial, war cemetery, museum, or even a stark reminder of what happened there. Such as these hospital bunkers set into the hill just around the corner from the house we stayed in. Or these other couple of sites we encountered while just driving around the countryside surrounding Ieper. The house we stayed in was surrounded by farming fields and everytime I looked out the window I would wonder what went on in those fields all those years ago. How many young men died painful deaths in those fields. To say it was a sobering experience is an understatement.

We visited several museums in Ieper. We were there a few days but just could not fit them all in. We also visited different memorials, preserved areas such as "The Yorkshire Trench", and the Tyne Cot Cemetery. Tyne Cot Cemetery commemorates a total of nearly 35,000 men who died. This is a small description I found of Tyne Cot.....

"After the Armistice, the battlefields were cleared and the bodies found during the clearances, together with those from several nearby smaller cemeteries were concentrated in the Tyne Cot Cemetery. This cemetery is now the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the world, with almost 12,000 graves."

It found it so emotional that the occupants of most of the graves are unknown. Many are known to be soldiers of particular armies by their uniforms and just their names are unknown. There are others that are totally unknown.

There are dozens and dozens of small war cemeteries dotting the landscape around Ieper and Flanders Fields. And I must note how pristine and well cared for, all these cemeteries are. They are constantly looked after and the lawns and gardens are well tended. They are definitely treated with the utmost respect and that was a wonderful thing to see.

From Flanders Fields, we also did a couple of day trips. One was to Dunkirk and Calais in the north of France. We stood on the beach at Dunkirk and visited the huge gun sites at Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Griz Nez. Just driving around, you can still see the craters on the landscape from the Second World War. Again, reminders of the past are never far away.

The other day trip was to the Australian Memorial Park in Fromelles, France. Part of the Somme battlefield. Again, I was struck with how well cared for these graves are. And it is so sobering as you wander around.

After leaving Ieper, we headed down to Normandy in France. It was quite a drive and we drove through the Somme which was another major battle area of the First World War. Here there were numerous more sites to see but as we didnt have a lot of time, we only visited a few of them. These included the new Australian Memorial Park at le Hamel, the Lochnagar Crater, and a few memorial statues.

The Australian Memorial Park at le Hamel is new and was only opened in 1998 and is at the site of a significant battle which was fought and won there in 1918. The memorial park also contains information about the Red Baron who was shot down near the site.

The Lochnagar Crater was definitely something to see. The crater was caused by an explosion that sent debris 4000ft into the air. The soldiers dug tunnels underground, right to under the enemy line. Here they planted charges, with the case of Lochnagar Crater, it was two charges of ammonal of 24,000lb and 30,000lb. The charges were then blown. Human remains have been found quite recently. This mine crater is around 100m in diameter and 30m deep. It is still the largest man made crater to be created in anger.

We continued our journey to Normandy. We had booked into a hotel in Caen and our drive took us through the centre of Rouen. Now there is a city that I would like to explore but we did not have time to stop, it was already late afternoon. There is just so much history to explore in Normandy and we only had 2 full days which we used to discover the history of the D-Day landings. But Normandy has so much to offer and I hope that one day I can get back there and spend more time discovering it's rich history. For example, there is Rouen. Victor Hugo called Rouen the city of a hundred spires. Claude Monet immortalized its Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame. And it is also the city where both Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and William the Conqueror died. Rouen is one of France's most ancient and historic cities. Apart from Rouen there is also the abbey of Mont-St-Michel. It sits on a high rocky islet and connected to the mainland by only a very narrow and long causeway. It dates back to 709 and was unconquered during the Hundred Years' War. It is surrounded by over half a mile of massive defensive walls. It is also known for the tides, the higest on the continent, that rush in at enormous speed and swept the enemy away without warning. Today there is a permanent road to the islet for the tourists. Like I said, Normandy is so full of amazing history and I would love so bad to get back there and explore more. But now, back to what we did see :)

We did get to see a number of museums and sites between Sword Beach and Omaha Beach. Unfortunately time ran out before we got to Utah Beach or the town of St Mere Eglise. We saw each of the beaches, Sword, Juno, Gold, and Omaha. The first stop was at Pegasus Bridge where the British parachuted in from gliders. There is also a museum right there at the bridge. And nearby is the Merville Gun Battery museum that we also took a look at.

We also visited the American War Cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer, above Omaha Beach. The marble crosses and Stars of David stretch as far as the eye can seeand is a very sobering experience. Unfortunately, I only have have video footage of the cemetery.

Not far from the American War Cemetery is La Pointe du Hoc. It lies between the Omaha and Utah beaches and to this day, remains unchanged from when the American Army Rangers scaled its sheer cliffs. You can see from the photos, the huge craters that were the result of the naval bombardment that preceded the Rangers invasion. Most of the German bunkers also remain.

We also visited Arromanches, a seaside town at Gold Beach. You can find one of the best D-Day museums here as well as the Arromanches 360 film. My mum and I went into the film and it was quite an experience. You stand in the centre and the film is projected onto 9 screens in a circular 360degree cinema. The film alternates between present day pictures and unreleased footage from the archives of war correspondents taken on D-Day. It was quite an emotional and unforgettable experience. There are scenes that will remain with me forever. Looking out to sea at Gold Beach you are again struck with reminders of the past as the coast is littered with remnants from D-Day.

Another site that we visited was the German gun batteries at Longues-Sur-Mer. This site is wonderfully preserved and shows the incredible fire power that the Allies faced on the Normandy beaches. 3 of the guns remain in their concrete bunkers.

Apart from these amazing sites, 4 of the 5 beaches, and several museums, we did get to take a quick look at the cities of Caen and Bayeux. Bayeux was liberated during the Battle of Normandy and its buildings remained virtually undamaged as the German troops were pulled away to help defend Caen. It is famous for its tapestry that was made to commemorate the Norman conquest of England in 1066. It's large Romanesque Cathedral dates back to 1077.

Caen, where we were based, is famous on two counts. First for its very historical buildings that were built during the reign of William the Conquerer, who is buried there, and secondly for the Battle for Caen during the D-Day invasion. We paid the castle there a visit and it is quite a site. It was built by William the Conquerer around 1060 and it is one of the largest medieval fortresses of Western Europe.

All to soon, our trip came to an end and it was time to come home. We dropped mum and Noel at the train station in Caen so that they could catch the train to Paris. They spent the night in Paris and climbed the Eiffel Tower before catching the fast train back to Antwerp. A friend of theirs picked them up at the station in Antwerp and they spent a few days with him before coming back here. For Hans and I, it was a very long and hot drive back home. Along the way, we drove through the Somme again and stopped for photos at a couple more sites at Bullecourt. One of these was the bronzed slouch hat memorial which is probably the only war memorial in the world which focuses on an item of the uniform.

The other stop was at the Bullecourt Memorial Park. There were some 10,000 Australians killed or wounded in 2 battles at Bullecourt in 1917. The Memorial Park overlooks that battlefield. It contains the bronze statue of the "Bullecourt Digger".

We arrived home late in the afternoon and the site as we pulled into the driveway had me in fits of laughter. We were greeted home by 14 fluffy little babies running around the yard...lol. That was the first of our baby chicks :)