VILLERS BRETONNEUX
Villers Bretonneux is very significant area for the Australian troops.On April 25 1918 the Australian troops, backed by the Moroccan Division of the French Army, pushed the Germans back to Villers Bretonneux and took 600 prisoners.
April 25 is also known as ANZAC Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) and commemorates their landing in Gallipoli.
In addition, it was in Cachy (south of Villers Bretonneux) that the first battle using tanks was fought.
Therefore, it was in Villers Bretonneux that the Australians decided to build their memorial commemorating their men who fought in France and Belgium.
On its walls are 10,770 names of the missing soldiers who fought in the battles of the Somme, Arras, the German offensive of 1918 and the great surge to end the war at the end of 1918.
The memorial was inaugurated by King George V in 1938. The cemetery has 2,141 graves of which 608 are not identified.