Australian Embassy
France
Embassy address: 4, rue Jean Rey 75724 Paris Cedex 15 - Telephone : 01 40 59 33 00 - Fax : 01 40 59 33 10

Speech by Defence Attaché, Colonel Feliks Skowronski

ANZAC DAY 2007 - 21 APRIL 2007
BULLECOURT DIGGER MEMORIAL


Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests and friends:

It is my honour to welcome you this afternoon to the Digger Memorial at Bullecourt.

Ninety years ago the village of Bullecourt and the place we are standing was part of the German Army’s Hindenburg Line. Bullecourt itself was a strong bastion as part of this line. The German defences were very well prepared with entrenched machine guns, extensive barbed wire entanglements and strong artillery support.

In April and then May 1917, the Australians fought two battles at Bullecourt. On both occasions they attacked and seized part of the Hindenburg Line. During the first attack in April they did the unbelievable in seizing part of the Hindenburg Line without an artillery barrage. Forced to withdraw, they attacked again in May and held their gains. The winning of their impossible position in the Hindenburg Line and the holding of it despite seven general counter attacks and a dozen minor ones, was as the British Commander in Chief wrote “among the great deeds of the war”

Over 10,000 Australians were killed or wounded during these battles.

Today, the French citizens in this area remember these battles and they remember the diggers who fought here. On behalf of all Australians, I thank the French people for remembering those young Australians who fought and fell here.

I conclude today by reciting the words on the plaque at the entrance to this park:
Sacred to the memory of the 10,000 members of the Australian Imperial Force who were killed or wounded in the two battles of Bullecourt, April-May 1917, and to the Australian dead and their comrades-in-arms who lie here forever in the soil of France.

‘Lest we Forget’

Thank you

Disclaimer Privacy An Australian Government website Copyright Commonwealth of Australia