History
Back to NewsroomThe Australian National Memorial during the Second World War
The signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918 heralded the end of what was known as the war to end all wars. Shortly afterwards, numerous cemeteries and memorials were built on the Western Front in honour and remembrance of the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from all over the world. The Australian National Memorial, inaugurated in 1938 near Villers-Bretonneux, is one of them.
A year later, the Second World War broke out, transforming this place of remembrance into a battlefield once again.
Following the invasion of Poland, France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. It was not until 10 May 1940, though, during the Battle of France, that fighting returned to the former Western Front. These battles were very different the attritional warfare the area had experienced during the First World War.
During the Battle of Amiens in 1940, the German Wehrmacht quickly seized the area around Villers Bretonneux and Fouilloy despite strong resistance from the 4th, 5th and 7th French Colonial Infantry Divisions, which were wiped out on 10 June near Erquinvillers in the Oise department further south.
The intense fighting in the area caused a great deal of damage, particularly to the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and the Australian National Memorial. The latter overlooked the French countryside and was used as an observation post by Allied troops. As a result, it represented a prime target for the Wehrmacht.
The Australian National Memorial in 1945 – ©AWM
After the armistice of 22 June 1940 and despite the occupation, operations involving Allied strikes and French resistance movements led from Great Britain continued. However, it was mainly from the D-Day Landings on 6 June 1944 that Allied operations could resume to drive out the Nazi occupiers. On 31 August 1944, thanks to the efforts of the Allied armies and the French Forces of the Interior, Amiens and the surrounding towns of Corbie, Fouilloy and Villers-Bretonneux were gradually liberated.
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In the final months of the war, many Allied soldiers killed in action were buried in military cemeteries built during the First World War. Such was the case of Squadron Leader Ian George Medwin (service number 41488) and Navigator Arthur John Coe (service number 404530) who served with 487 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Flying a De Havilland DH98 Mosquito, the two airmen took off from Rosières-en-Santerre and hit a pole on take-off, resulting in the crash of the aircraft and the death of both men.
Today, they are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and are also the only identified New Zealand and Second World War servicemen out of the 2,146 men buried here.
After the Second World War, the battle scars on the Memorial tower and in the cemetery were preserved as a reminder of the fighting that had occurred on the site during the war.
It was not the only Australian memorial to be damaged during the war. A few kilometres to the east, on Mont Saint Quentin near Péronne, the memorial to the Second Division of the Australian Imperial Force was destroyed by the German Army. Unlike the Australian National Memorial, this one was deliberately destroyed by the Wehrmacht, pulled by a tank.
The memorial depicted an Australian Digger slaying an eagle, an allegory of the German Empire. When it was restored, the representation of the Digger was changed to appear less bellicose, showing him at rest, pensive, and wearing an iconic slouch hat.
