Now fully revised for 2023, Walking with the Anzacs – an updated guide to the Australian Battlefields of the Western Front, is the essential and comprehensive guide to the Australian battlefields of the Western Front for anyone who wants to walk in the footsteps of the Anzacs. From leading battlefield historian, Mat McLachlan, Walking with the Anzacs provides easy-to-follow information and routes to research, plan their travel and explore the Australian battlefields of the Western Front – which covered a large area stretching from the Belgian coast, through the Somme, to the dèpartment of the Aisne.
WHAT TO SEE
Mat McLachlan’s list of the most essential sites for Australians to visit on the Western Front, as outlined in Walking with the Anzacs, are:
Belgium
- Ypres, including the Menin Gate and the In Flanders Fields Museum
- Polygon Wood and the 5th Division Memorial
- Messines and the nearby Toronto Avenue Cemetery (the only all-Australian cemetery in Belgium)
- Tyne Cot Cemetery and the Passchendaele 1917 Museum in Zonnebeke
- Talbot House in Poperinghe
- Hill 60
French Flanders
- Fromelles, including the Australian Memorial Park, VC Corner Cemetery (the only all-Australian cemetery in France), and Pheasant Wood Cemetery and Museum
The Somme:
- Pozieres, including the 1st Division Memorial, Windmill Memorial and Pozieres British Cemetery
- Near Pozieres: Mouquet Farm, Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Newfoundland Memorial Park (Beaumont-Hamel), Hawthorn Ridge Crater and the Sunken Lane
- 3rd Division Memorial, Sailly-le-Sec
- Villers -Bretonneux, including the Australian National Memorial, the Sir John Monash Centre, Adelaide Cemetery and Victoria School
- Australian Memorial Park, Hamel
- 2nd Division Memorial, Mont St Quentin
- Vignacourt – including the Vignacourt Photographic Collection and the Vignacourt Cemetery
Hindenburg Line:
- Bullecourt, including the Australian Memorial Park, the Cross Memorial and the Slouch Hat Memorial
- Noreuil Australian Cemetery
The Aisne:
- Montbrehein, including Calvaire Cemetery
- 4th Division Memorial, Bellenglise.
If time permits, Mat McLachlan also recommends visiting key behind the lines sites, such as the Underground City of Naours – where soldiers left their marks in graffiti while on leave from the battlefields over a century ago, and their words still remain to be read today.
WESTERN FRONT TRIP PLANNING
Mat McLachlan’s key trip-planning recommendations are:
- Allocate enough time – a minimum of three days is recommended, 5-7 days would allow you to explore most sites, while there is so much to see you can easily spend two weeks.
- Getting around – the only practical way to explore the battlefields is by car. There is limited public transport and taxis will prove expensive for anything more than a short trip. Battlefield tours are also available, such as those offered by Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours, which offer convenient pick-ups and drop-offs in Paris and Lille, as well as comprehensive battlefield touring led by an expert Historian.
- Where to stay – Ieper (Ypres) is a quaint medieval city and provides a central base for touring Flanders Fields and the Ypres Salient, and Amiens or Albert are excellent options for exploring the Somme and Aisne. For a three-day trip, spend one night in Ieper (Ypres) and one in the Somme. For five to seven days, or more, split your time roughly half and half. Accommodation options range from large international hotels to tiny farmstays and B&B’s. Walking with the Anzacs provides specific accommodation recommendations with websites and contact information.
- When to go – the best time to explore is European Summer, between June to August, but Spring and Autumn are also good times to visit. Winter is very cold, o if you are planning to visit the Western Front battlefields between November and February, prepare for wind, mud, rain and even snow. The essential sites are accessible throughout the year.
- How to get there – the Western Front battlefields are easily accessible from Paris, Brussels and London. In Paris or Brussels, the best option is to hire a car – it is less than 2 hours on excellent roads to the battlefields. If coming from London, the best option is to catch the Eurostar fast train to Lille and hire a car there, with Ieper (Ypres) being only a 30-minute drive away.
- What to wear – the weather in Belgium and northern France can be variable. Always prepare for cool weather, even in summer. Rain can also appear out of nowhere so carry a raincoat or umbrella. Wear sturdy boots or hiking shows and take gumboots. A plastic garbage bag is good to have on-hand to store muddy shoes. If you intend to explore off established paths, wear long trousers – even after more than a century, barbed wire can still be found and can cause cuts and scratches on unprotected legs.
- Souvenirs – still today the former battlefields are littered with relics from the Great War. Although it can be tempting to collect souvenirs, this should only be done with great caution and the right attitude – locating the site of a famous action and collecting a couple of shrapnel balls as a memento can be a rewarding experience, but unexploded shells are numerous and dangerous and in no circumstances should these be touched. Expect to see piles of unexploded ordinance in military cemeteries waiting to be collected by bomb disposal units and destroyed.
- Researching an Australian soldier – one of the most rewarding aspects of a trip to the battlefields is tracing the footsteps of an Anzac who fought there. Mat McLachlan’s Living History provides a tutorial video on how to research and Australian soldier, watch here: https://youtu.be/_6svgNMO03Y?si=DlH3upNxt2fQTZww
