IN BRUGGE – PART TWO

On day 3 we again used the car to visit Frommelles, in the Somme region of France. Here we visited a couple of the many war cemeteries and memorials which abound this area of the world.

These include VC corner and the..........................

Pheasant Wood cemetery. Pheasant Wood is where the 200 or so bodies of fallen Australian soldiers  were found in a mass grave in 2010 and the War Graves Commission has established a brand new cemetery and memorial.

We also got the chance to see the classic memorial 'Cobbers' and this a magnificent bronze statue; a real sight to behold.The whole area of the Somme region contains numerous cemeteries and memorials to the fallen of all nationalities. I now truly understand the phrase “We will remember them”

On day 5 it was again an organised tour with Nathan from Battlefield Day Tours. The day was cold and started out wet but improved as the day went on. Our destination was again Ypres but this time the battle fields them-selves. 

During the day we visited crater sites and a few of the more intense battle zones of the region. 

As we passed through villages we could see old live ordinance that had been churned up by the farmers. There is still, even today some 95 years on between 250 and 300 TONNES of ordinance recovered EVERY YEAR in the Somme region of France. The figures are mind-blowing. There was somewhere in the region of four and a half BILLION shells fired in the area between 1914 and 1918.

We saw the craters of Hill 60 and Hill 62, old German encampments tunnelled under by the Aussies and blown up with 37 tonnes of high explosive. Evidently the shock wave could be felt and the sound heard as far away as London and Paris!

Got to walk down a preserved trench and visit a few of the many bunkers that still litter the countryside. We then went into the town of Ypres for lunch before visiting the new Flanders Fields Museum just opened in the town square. (Opened at the end of June 2012).This day has been one amazing experience and I really hope you are not bored reading about it. For us it was thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking. I don’t intend to preach and I’ll shut up in a moment but for now I’ll just say “Thanks boys. If not for your sacrifice the likes of us would not be free to roam as we do.  

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. LEST WE FORGET!

Ok, I'm off my hobby-horse now. Off to Dunkirk for the day tomorrow. Then it's off to Paris for a week!