Our first visit once we arrived was to the Australian memorial at Pozieres near Flers, where Eric Newbery (another cousin of Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother) died in 1916, though his body was not found. The day was very cold, and the famous chalky mud of the Somme was in evidence every where we went.
As we drove towards Thiepval, Annette pointed out significant sites, including Mouquet Farm, where the Germans had killed their prisoners. It was thought this in revenge for some Germans being killed earlier in a similar way, but more on that later.
Thiepval is a museum and a large Franco-British memorial that lists names of the dead who have no graves.
There were also graves of both French and British below its imposing structure, one of the few areas where both nationalities are buried together. (French crosses on the left, the familiar white British tombstones on the right.)
The site also had a fine museum display, with excellent powerpoint maps of the western front and its battles that Elizabeth in particular appreciated.
After leaving the museum, we went on to Pozières and to another memorial known as the Pozières 1st division memorial, which was made interesting as it also had the remains of a German bunker there.
Some Australian volunteers actually took this bunker (which was not only on raised land but within a small copse) against enormous odds, but unfortunately butchered their German prisoners when they did. This led to the incident at Mouquet Farm, which we mentioned earlier. From the platform erected opposite the monument, we had a view of Ovillers village, where another one of Elizabeth’s relatives was buried, and where we next headed.
The Ovillers cemetery was a little outside of the village, and was unusual in that there were some French also buried there with Australian and British soldiers. Gordon Houston (one of Elizabeth’s paternal grandmother’s cousins) was killed 14 November 1916, but his body was not found until 20 years later.
Once his remains had been identified by initials on his shoulder and by his compass, Gordon was reinterred in Ovillers cemetery.
Elizabeth is in possession of letters he wrote to her great aunt and grandmother, who he was clearly very fond of. She also has letters written by his mother to the army in regard to his disappearance and the subsequent discovery of his body.
As far as we are aware no family member has ever visited Gordon’s grave, so this was an important moment for Elizabeth, who felt she had come to know something of this young man through the letters.
As Gordon had expressed some homesickness for the blue skies and golden beaches of Newcastle, Elizabeth sang him an Australian Blessing that celebrated similar things.
Our next stop was the Crater, an enormous hole in the ground formed by Allied explosions under the German trenches and bunkers. This explosion was one on many, and had the desired effect of driving the Germans out and delivering the territory into Allied hands.
We stopped at Le Kangourou for lunch (this is a very pro-Australian area).
After this, we went on to the France-Australia museum in Villers-Bretonneux This museum really existed as a tribute to the Australians soldiers of the Great War, and from its window we could see an enormous sign hanging over a schoolyard that stated “Never Forget Australia” – an amazing sight after 90 years.
After inspecting the exhibits, Elizabeth found Annette triumphantly photographing the music and words of “Waltzing Matilda”. Earlier, Annette told us that she would be conducting a large Australian tour next year on Anzac Day, and had asked our advice on what might be appropriate for her evening’s entertainment. Elizabeth had explained the significance of 'Waltzing Matilda' to Australians, and suggested that this was one song that the Australian crowd would know and sing.
Though Annette had managed to find the music in this small war museum, Elizabeth still had to sing it to her and explain the slang terms. After all, not everyone is familiar with swags, billabongs and jumbucks! Through this conversation we did discover that the meaning of the Belgium word for ‘billabong’ means ‘a lost meander’, a description we liked very much.
We then left for the huge Australian Memorial dedicated to the lost of the Somme, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. Here, amidst quite a bracing winds and drizzling rain, we found the names of three family members.
Hunter Smith (died 23 June 1918) took part in the battle of Morlancourt in 1918, but was killed a few days later in No Man’s Land at Letlamel. He was cousin to Hunter Sinclair, mentioned in our Flanders post.
Eric James Newbery (died 29 July 1916) had died in the action at Pozieres, probably trying to take what was known as the “Gibraltar Bunkers”. He was a cousin to Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother.
The last was “Henry” (actually Arthur) Liversage, a great uncle of Elizabeth who married her grandfather Raine’s eldest sister. Here is his wedding photo.
After his initial enlistment, Arthur quarreled with his Major, and was told his services were no longer required due to his ‘indifferent’ attitude. 3 days later, Arthur had become Henry (his father’s name) and had enlisted again in another city. Despite his ‘indifferent’ attitude (and a penchant for missing the odd church parade) Henry was amongst the troops who joined the 20th Battalion for action on the Western Front in France on 20 October 1916.
The Battalion had endured sustained German attacks in August and October. In mid-November, the 20th Battalion provided reinforcements for the attack near Flers, in conditions which Charles Bean described as “the worst ever encountered by the AIF”. It was during the battle at Flers that Arthur Liversage was killed in action, on 22 December 1916.
The memorial was quite a walk up a hill, and on our way down Annette humerously berated the garden staff for not providing us with a taxi service, in the back of their little truck!
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