australian war memorial

This is a well laid out and tended war memorial area. From the top of the tower you can look in any direction and see many WW1 strategic battle sites. From Amiens to Le Hamel. The flat of the land and how any elevation in the landscape was an advantage to whoever held it. You can also see the damaged by bullets in WW2.

Beautiful and solemn site, beautifully kept. Climb to the top of the tower for some great views not only of the cemetery but also the surrounding countryside.

Something every Australian must try and see in their lifetime. A very humbling experience as you reflect on the sacrifices which were made during WW1. Amazing to see after all this time how the French remain genuinely grateful in this beautiful part of France without all the usual commercialisation.Make sure you also visit nearby memorials such as that on the outskirts of La Hamel where Australian forces fought a decisive battle. The area was also the site where the Red Baron was brought down.

A very beautiful site, as are all of the cemetaries in this region. A climb to the top of the tower also gives you a panoramic view of the Picardy countryside. A recommended stop if you are doing the circuit of World War 1 battlesites and monuments

This is an essential place for Aussie tourists to visit. There are lots of tombstones there and there is a list of names of the fallen soldiers on the wall towards the back of the memorial. You can search for your family name there. The town of Villers-Bretonneux is only a short drive from the memorial. You can grab something to eat at the Victoria Cafe in town, or visit the school where there's a sign that says "Never forget Australia". They obviously love the Australians in this town. Amiens, which is a reasonably large town, is only about a 20 - 30 minute drive away. I stayed in Amiens when I visited. Amiens has plenty of hotels and restaurants etc. Villers-Bretonneux is a very small town.

A visit to this beautifully maintained memorial is a humbling yet strangely uplifting experience. It affords one an opportunity to reflect on the enormous sacrifice made here and at the same time, to recognize the heartfelt appreciation of a grateful French nation.The view from the top of the memorial, looking across the now peaceful battlefields, is a most striking and moving feature.

We visited the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, with its Australian War Memorial, last week. It was the same but different. The weather was wild and windy, with strange light at times ... different to our first sunny/windy visit, a couple of years ago. There has been much improvement at the site and it is not quite finished yet. There was awkward parking two years ago but now the road in front of the site has been diverted further from it and a car park has been created off to one side. There are several blocks of steps that lead you up to a new grassed area in front of the site and there is wheel-chair access direct from the car parking area too. All this has really improved the site and enhanced any visit, as a result.

We have been trying to do this for years, and finally managed to do a day trip from Paris. Really glad we did it. It is a very well maintained cemetery / memorial, and quite emotional to a pair of Aussies. We walked out from B-V (took about 20 minutes, we're slow walkers), after catching a local train from Amiens. Biggest problem with this is the limited train timetable, so check first to see if it suits you.

In the middle of fields in Villers-Bretonnex is the Australian War Memorial which honours those who gave their lives during this important battle. The cemetery is well maintained. Take time to walk to the top of the tower and then wander through reading the headstones. You can record your visit in the visitor register kept on site. For Australians travelling independently to the area I would suggest you stay at Peronne (recommend Som Home) and travel to the various areas from there. The tourist information in Peronne gave us an excellent brochure and map of Villers-Bretonnex which detailed all the key sites in the town which we would not have found without it. As our visit was on a Sunday, the Franco-Australian museum was closed (as was everything else in the small town) We also went to the Adelaide cemetery where the unknown solider was exhumed and repatriated to Australian War Memorial in 1993. Other sites included Crucifix corner cemetery, French War memorial, Villiers-Bretonneux cross and the Tank Monument (very small on the side of the road and easy to miss). Lest we forget.

Beautiful memorial. I visited with a group of Australians, one of the group read a poem, another recited "Lest We Forget" another sang Waltzing Matilda. A very moving experience. They were all so young.

I wish I had all day to spend here and look at every name. This place is beautiful kept. They have done an outstanding job looking after it. The view from the tower is spectacular. This is well worth the visit. I will be coming back again when I can.

As always in these very sad places the grounds were very beautifully kept. It was nice to see a lot of Australians have visited a few had left their own relatives stories

This is the 2nd time I have visited this memorial and it is still a sobering experience.The cemetery is clean and well maintained, has some class. A new car park makes it safer for entering from the road.Looking at the names and dates, seeing some died days apart.In town we saw homes with Australian flags. It seems they still remember.Go if you want to be reminded. Go to see how many young and not so young died.A sobering experience

The layout of the Memorial is beautiful, The view from the tower from the tower down to the entrance is awesome and the vistas from the tower shows how flat the landscape is and one can only imagine the complexities of waging a battle in this terrain.I think that this is almost on a par as a visit to Gallipoli to pay ones respects to our fore fathers sacrifices

The people of Villers-Bretonneux will never forget Australia.Located near Amiens and just south of the River Somme, about 135km from Paris by car, or a 45 minute car ride from the Train station of St Quentin (which is about a 1.5 hour train ride from Gare du Nord station in Paris) you will find a small village trapped in time.Just outside this village is the Australian war memorial. This beautiful little village has not changed much at all from the horrifying images I have seen of the village being destroyed during WWI in 1918.The images you see of never ending mud from WWI news reels & The Somme, completely surround this village & memorial on the drive out, this is all you can see. The same mud our Australian forefathers of the Australian Imperial Force toiled in to fight for "King & Country" and of course this beautiful village of Villers-Bretonneux.In March 1918, the Germans launched a major offensive to take the strategic town of Amiens. As the Germans moved westwards towards their goal, they captured Villers-Bretonneux on 23 April. The British high command feared that if the Germans moved on to take Amiens, the war would be lost. The job of retaking Villers-Bretonneux was assigned to two Australian brigades.The plan was to encircle and trap the Germans. There would be no preliminary bombardment. Instead the Australians would launch a surprise attack at night. Two battalions would begin the assault from the south towards the east of Villers-Bretonneux while three battalions would attack from the north at the same time.The assault began at 10pm on 24 April. It was a do-or-die attack. The diggers took out the German machine guns then fought the enemy in a ferocious house-to-house confrontation. One German officer later wrote that the Australians 'were magnificent, nothing seemed to stop them. When our fire was heaviest, they just disappeared in shell holes and came up as soon as it slackened.'By dawn on 25 April, exactly three years after the Anzacs stormed ashore at Gallipoli, the Australians had broken through the German positions and the French and Australian flags were raised over Villers-Bretonneux. It took the rest of the day and into the next to secure the town. But secure it they did and the Anzacs established a new front line, marking the end of the German offensive on the Somme. A British General called the Anzac attack 'perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war'.But it came at a huge cost for Australia. 1200 died saving the village.The French, though, have never forgotten the sacrifice. The Australian flag still flies over Villers-Bretonneux. A plaque outside the Town Hall tells the story of events in the town in 1918. Kangaroos feature over the entrance to the Town Hall. The main street is named Rue de Melbourne.The children of Villers-Bretonneux are especially indebted to Australia. After the war, it was money donated from schoolchildren in Victoria that paid for the rebuilding of the village school. It was named Victoria School and a plaque recalls the diggers' sacrifice:What a pretty place the memorial is to visit. It is so peaceful.The grounds are superbly maintained, the headstones are millimetre perfect.Be sure to run your hands over these beautiful headstones, the feel, the texture, the quality is outstanding, and remember these are over 95 years old.Take your time, have a good read of some of the names and dates, its very sobering to understand what happened here all those years ago.The sandstone carvings of the Australian flags are truly amazing, and worth your time just to look at them, almost a work of art in themselves.The bullet hole ridden memorial is testament as to what happened here during WWII, when this beautiful village and this monument were nearly lost again.All the inscriptions mean something, so a tour guide id recommended.What amazed me is it looked like construction only ceased a couple of years ago. The surrounding area simply has NOT changed in all these years.This is what makes the memorial so special, it overlooks the same view as it did when all these Australian hero's defended this pretty place on the other side of the world, they had never even heard of, and without fear they did just that."Never forget Australia" is emblazoned on the back wall of the Victoria School. This has been there for over 95 years, and the children of the Victoria School will ensure it stays there for the next 95 years.They will never forget us, nor will we ever forget this amazingly beautiful and peaceful little village every Australian has heard of, Villers-Bretonneux, and its beautiful Australian War Memorial.If you want the WORLDS best coffee, a visit to the "Le Forum" Café at 1 Rue de la République on the corner of Rue du Général Leclerc. Amazing coffee amazing people even though they do not speak English one little bit :-)It is not a problem, they are fantastic and we so much enjoyed the warm surroundings while there.