Northern France and The front line (WW1)

10th May 2015

We have spent the last couple of days in the north of France, touring with a rental car. Apart from the beautiful countryside, dominated by rye grass and mustard cultivation we did see dairy cattle, in keeping with the cheesy nature of this culture.

We stayed in a lovely B&B in Marois, a converted barn (just like on TV,) with gracious host. We sat at a garden table with our dinner and enjoyed a garden very different to our own.  

The area also has a branch of the Louvre (at Lens) with no ques, and some great items on loan from the Paris Louvre. The building was very futuristic. 

That is a Rembrandt...

And there is a Matisse museum at Le Cateleau-Cabresis. This his actual birthplace. I liked this face. 

But the outstanding feature of this area is the front line of the battles of the Somme, in WW1. Many more Australians were killed here than in Gallipoli. During the 4 years that the front line was here it hardly moved. 180,000 Australian troops arrived here and 60% were killed or wounded. There are memorials to Australians everywhere!

One of the information boards quoted a soldier saying "when I met stretchers with wounded men being taken out many were laughing heartily, joyful at leaving this place! "

(Photo of plaque with numbers killed etc) 

Most of these tombstones of unknown Australian soldiers had an inscription on the bottom  of "Known unto God". One had "Fought for what?" Many of the tombstones were for young men in their twenties, some younger. What a dreadful thing, to be dying so far from home! I'm sure I'm not the first mother to think of her son going off to war like this never to return. The utter carnage, and the devastation of this place, along the 600km of the front-line is astounding! 

It's off to Antwerpen today, to pickup Matilda. We are taking the slow regional train rather than the fast train. It still only takes a couple of hours to get there, and we see the countryside as we go. We will have a day or two in Antwerpen before Matilda arrives, to see the town. I'll let you know all about it soon!