ANZACs day...Battle of Villers-Bretonneux

[twosteam]

The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux came during the period of the battle of Lys, 24–27 April 1918, but

was launched against the British lines in front of Amiens. It is the first tank-versus-tank battle.

The Germans only developed a small number of tanks, and used them in this offensive. Thirteen of their

A7V tanks supported the advance, making it one of the biggest uses of German tanks in World War I (the

Germans only built 21 tanks in total during the war).

Source Wikipedia.

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Battle of Villers- Bretonneux (my words now)
France.....
British, Canadians but a LOT of ANZACs (Australia/New Zealand Army Corps)
Very heavy casualties, Australia chose this date for their national "Day of Remembrance"

ANZAE DAY(April 25th.)

Hey Aussies- ANZACS not forgotten (Even by us callous Canadian Lot.)
Villers- Bretonnex (second Battle) April 24-27/1918.

German tanks (A7V) had 57 mm gun,
This is a part of a German tank shell from the battle.

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Next : This stamp was "Borrowed " from the V-B railroad station.

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And now to complete the theme -a Aussie built short Enfield.

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(PS. Love you all guys- not forgotten.)
Janice.

 

[smellie]

Good post!

I'll bet the French railroad is still looking for that stamp: losing money, haven't sold a ticket at that stop for 94 years! The line-up will be all the way to Arras by now!
.

 

[AdrianM]

Very interesting post!

What's the band around the buttstock signify on that Lithgow Janice?

 

[Brno8x57]

I had the pleasure of being in Cairns Australia on Anzac day last year. Similar to our Remembrance Day (Nov 11), the Aussies and Kiwis commemorate Anzac Day to mark the day they entered WW 1 and the invasion at Gallipoli.

The ceremony I attended was held at dawn in Cairns and there were literally thousands of people on the esplanade at the War Memorial. There were no cars. Everyone walked several blocks to get there. The only sounds were a few waking birds in the trees and feet striding on the sidewalks. I saw young families, elderly folks, bikers, infants in mother's arms, veterans and many in uniform on active service.

A few hours after the ceremony I went for a bike ride a few miles north and while cycling through the small community of Red Lynch I heard the Australian National Anthem being played. Another Anzac Day ceremony in another community, attended by hundreds of citizens.

I was both impressed and very moved by the Australian dedication and reverence to their fallen soldiers.

My wife and I spent 2 weeks in New Zealand at the beginning of our trip and we also noticed how every tiny community we visited had a Cenotaph with many names inscribed, most dating from 1914 to 1918. Some of these communities were very small. Just a couple hundred people. And yet there would be a dozen or more names on the Cenotaph. Many of the surnames were the same indicating several members of a family lost.

One of the highlights of our stay in New Zealand was a trip to the National Museum and War Memorial in Auckland. Every name of every fallen soldier from every conflict that this nation has been involved with is inscribed in stone on the walls of the war memorial. On the outside of the building, I noticed the names of major battles of WW1 inscribed on the stone walls. Some of the names of battles were familiar to me from my reading about Canadian actions in WWI. I wasn't aware that our Canadian boys were fighting along side the Anzac troops in those battles. They were in good company.

 

[Capt.Canuck]

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting.