history

Feel the vibrations of a bagpipe! Located at the top of the Australian National Memorial tower, a bagpiper performs famous and moving tunes to pay tribute to the ANZAC soldiers who fought on our territory.

Dates: April 26, 27, and 28 at 6:00 PM
Duration: About 30 minutes
Free!
In partnership with the Sir John Monash Centre
Meet at the base of the memorial tower.

On the occasion of the ANZAC Day Dawn Service to be held on April 25th at the Australian National Memorial of Villers-Bretonneux located in Fouilloy, the Val de Somme Tourist Office dedicates the month of April to Memory. Thus, find all the activities that the team has prepared for you to (re)immerse yourself in these pages of history that have shaped our territory, and to whom we pay tribute through guided tours and other events.

Discover the Memories in Perspective circuit

Put on your helmets, adjust your pedals, and join us for a memorable day discovering the Memories in Perspective circuit! Accompanied by the tourist office guides, you will discover the 4 anamorphoses that make up this route, as well as different key sites of the First World War. All this, accompanied, at the start and finish, by a well-deserved snack!

Date: Saturday, April 6th starting at 9 am
Duration: full day / about 35km
Ages: 10 and up
Prices: €10 (14 and over) / Free for under 14s
Bring your picnic and water bottle

Guided Tour - Australian National Memorial

Preceded by a large Commonwealth cemetery containing more than 2000 graves, this memorial pays tribute to the 11,000 Australian soldiers lost during the Great War. This guided tour is an emotional and informative experience that will enable you to decipher a military tomb, better understand the stakes of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux, and the role played by Australia in the Great War.

Date: Saturday, April 20th at 3 pm
Duration: 1 hour
Free

ANZAC Day and Flash Comments "Deciphering a Tomb"

As every year, on April 25th, the ANZAC Day ceremony will take place at the Australian National Memorial located between Fouilloy and Villers-Bretonneux. This ceremony celebrates the memory of Australian and New Zealand soldiers (ANZAC) who fought in the First World War.

Why in Villers-Bretonneux?

On April 25th, 1915, Australian armed forces entered the war and landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, suffering a terrible defeat with heavy losses. This defeat would forever mark these very young nations. On April 25th, 1918, three years to the day after this tragic defeat, the Australians launched a victorious and heroic attack on Villers-Bretonneux, managing to repel the enemy, thus preventing the capture of Amiens by the German army. In 1921, the Australian government decided to commemorate this major sacrifice by establishing April 25th as a national day.

Thursday, April 25th, 2024
4 am: start of the pre-program / 5:30 am: start of the ceremony / 6:30 am: end of the ceremony / 8:30 am: ceremony at the war memorial in Villers-Bretonneux

It's a historic moment! 

On September 20, 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) listed 139 French and Belgian First World War memorial sites as World Heritage Sites. 

In the Somme, there are now 11 listed sites, including the Australian National Memorial and the Villers-Bretonneux Commonwealth Cemetery, both in the town of Fouilloy and individually listed.

The Val de Somme now has two listed sites. This recognition highlights both our region as a land of history, and the work of those involved in remembrance tourism, who work daily to promote the destination as an organic testimony to our collective memory.
 

Postcards to Remember 

Since the beginning of 2023, Val de Somme Tourist Office joins with Somme Tourism to support the initiative Somme Battlefields for Peace, a monetary fund which aims to make Remembrance Tourism an ethical and responsible form of tourism, with all profits from visits to cemeteries and memorials going to NGOs working in the humanitarian field or specializing in reconstruction on the soil of war-torn countries.

To this end, the Val de Somme Tourist Office has already donated funds raised during last July's "Bagpipes' march", and more recently during the Architecture National Days (Journées Nationales de l'Architecture), during which 3 guided tours of churches in Fouilloy, Corbie and Vaire-sous-Corbie raised over a hundred euros.

Since November 1st 2023, a new initiative has been in place. You can now find a collection of five "Remember to Act" postcards featuring various sites of the Remembrance trail, including the Villers-Bretonneux Australian Memorial, recently classified as a World Heritage Site, in the Tourist Office store. All cards are free of charge. Any donation in exchange for a card will be donated to Somme Battlefields for Peace !