A distant visitor stands in front of the memorial in the Australian Corps Memorial Park, Le Hamel, Somme, Picardy, France.
The Australian Corps Memorial Park is situated on the brow of a hill east of Le Hamel village to the south of the River Somme. The memorial park commemorates over 100,000 Australians who served with the Australian Corps in France during the First World War. The Australian Corps was formed in 1917. It comprised five Australian Divisions which saw service in Belgium and France from 1916-1918. The memorial is located on the site of the final objective of the Battle of Hamel on 4th July 1918. This was the first attack planned and carried out by General Sir John Monash, commander of the Australian Corps. The land on which the memorial park is to be found was a gift to the Australian people by the Government of France. It was given to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Hamel, which marked the turn of the tide for the Allies after the difficult period in the months of March and April 1918 following the German advances as far as Villers-Bretonneux with their Operation Michael offensive. The memorial is constructed as three blocks of curved granite set in a semi-circle. The Australian Forces badge is in the centre block. A speech by Georges Clémenceau is to be found in English and French on each of the blocks to the left and right of the central block.
Size: 3624px × 2415px
Location: Le Hamel , Somme, Picardy, France.
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1918, australia, australian, battle, battlefield, battlefields, blue, corps, france, front, great, hamel, le, massive, memorial, monument, park, picardie, picardy, remembrance, sky, somme, war, western, world, ww1, wwi
