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Lochnagar Crater
10 May 2008 by Robyn Van Dyk.
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Battlefield Tours,News, Western Front
When walking the battlefields of the Somme it is evident that most of the visible signs of destruction caused by the First World War have disappeared. The enormous Lochnagar Crater is one of the few surviving scars left on the terrain in this region. A monument to the devastation of war, this crater was caused by a 60,000 lbs mine and is 100 metres in diameter and 30 metres deep. It is hard to capture its sheer size in a photograph.
The land containing the crater was purchased privately in 1978 for preservation as a Memorial to those whose lives that were lost in the crater as well as on the Somme.
Touring the Somme 1916
08 May 2008 by Robyn Van Dyk.
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Battlefield Tours,News, Western Front
The major battles of 1916 took place on the Somme. The offensive began on the 1st July 1916 and would become one of the most costly episodes of the war. Between July and mid November the losses reached a total of 1,300,000 men.
On the 23 July, not long after the Battle of the Somme commenced, the Australians took over and captured the main German line at Pozieres. The Australian 1st Division Memorial at Pozieres stands over this line. At the cost of 23,000 casualties the Australians captured most of the main ridge. The tour viewed the German blockhouse ‘Gibraltar’ which became one of the only features on the razed landscape of Pozieres. From this point the Anzacs (and the tour) moved towards the windmill site and then advanced to Mouquet Farm.
D Day
06 May 2008 by Robyn Van Dyk.
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Battlefield Tours,News, Western Front
The battle field tour, following a strategic withdrawal from Gallipoli, is now touring the battlefields of France. Reinforced with fresh recruits from Australia we travelled to Normandy and viewed the Bayeux Tapestry and then on to the site of the Second World War D Day landings.
Battlefield Tour 2008: The First Post
11 April 2008 by Robyn Van Dyk.
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Battlefield Tours,News, Gallipoli, Western Front
The Memorial’s annual battlefield tour commences this Sunday with several members of the Memorial preparing to set off for the trip. Ashley Ekins, Head of the Military History Section will lead our Gallipoli tour and Nick Fletcher, Senior Curator in Heraldry and Technology will lead the Western Front tour. We will be walking many of the historic battle sites and commemorating Anzac Day with the Dawn Service at Gallipoli and the Australian National Ceremony at Lone Pine. This year is the 90th anniversary of many major battles fought in 1918. The tour will visit Villers-Bretonneux for example, where on the 25 April 1918, a major battle was fought. This year is also the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day.
Ninety years on these battlefield sites still live on in our hearts and memories and those Australians who lost their lives there are not forgotten. I have two poppies to place on this tour one on behalf of an elderly relative the other for a friend.
Throughout the tour I hope to make regular posts about our progress. This is my first battlefield tour but not my first venture into blogging for the Memorial. As the assistant curator of the exhibition Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, I regularly posted articles and biographies for the exhibition blog. I will be taking my laptop and camera to Gallipoli and the Western Front and hope to post regular updates, photographs and stories from the tour. I am also hoping to post some small biographies for those on the tour who have a family history connection to the First World War.
