Why a French town will never forget the Anzacs

Walk into any bookshop today and you will find a large number of books on World War 1 and in particular, on the Western Front.

As we go through the process of marking the centenary of these battles, many Australians have a desire to learn more. For a long while, Australians concentrated on Gallipoli, perhaps because of our special commemoration of Anzac Day. Because of the numbers of Australians on the Western Front, no doubt individual families remember the Western Front.

In this book, Victory at Villers-Bretonneux, Peter FitzSimons draws our attention to the battle there, culminating on another Anzac Day, the reason the people of the region will never forget Australia.

Peter Fitzsimons, a popular journalist and former international rugby player, has written a number of biographies and books on different theatres of war, such as ‘Kokoda’ and ‘Fromelles and Pozieres’. This is his 26th book.

Contemporary travellers to the Villers-Bretonneux region would have their own stories about the warm welcome given, simply because they were Australians. The people of these do not forget Australians.

If the village of Villers-Bretonneux had not been held, the Germans would have taken Amiens, a strategic rail centre and the outcome of the war would have been very different.

While the people of Villers-Bretonneux have not forgotten the Australians who held their town and their compatriots, the British leadership at the time downplayed the role of the Australians. Records reveal the truth of their considerable contribution. The tone of FitzSimons book is anti-British, quite understandably.

This book is extremely well researched and Fitzsimons acknowledges many individuals who have contributed to this. There is an extensive bibliography and numerous footnotes. A detailed index enables the reader to find easily items of interest.

There are primary sources from both sides. As well as official German, British and Australian reports and documents, there are extracts from the diaries and letters of the ordinary soldier on both sides. It is saddening to read the cheery letters home of the young men as they hid from friends and family the hellish reality they were enduring.

There are detailed battle maps of the different stages throughout. This means that a reader can take a particular incident, find the map and read the surrounding material.

There are the photographs with which we have become familiar, though one that struck a particular chord, was one of French children tending the wooden crosses marking the graves of the fallen.

I personally found the colloquial language and slang off-putting. Never having been in a rugby union change room, I can’t say if that is a reflection of FitzSimons’ background. The more I read the less It irritated me, and perhaps this style of language is a factor in FitzSimons success.

FitzSimons has deliberately chosen to write in the present tense. For me, this did not always work, but when writing about the young man Turvey, from Wagga Wagga, on page 488, it made for gripping reading.

It is always interesting to see what a book says about an aspect of a topic you do have particular knowledge of. I was interested in the investigation into the downing of The Red Baron and the subsequent treatment of his body over the years.

Several books have been published recently on the leadership of Sir John Monash, and Fitzsimons pays fulsome tribute to him.

We stayed at Corbie, not far from Villers-Bretonneux and it was interesting to read of its role in events, imagining the Somme at that point in those war conditions.

This is a book for anyone interested in Australian military history. If you had a family member taking part in that battle, this would be a guide to what happened there.

Victory at Villers-Bretonneux by Peter FitzSimons is available now from Dymocks. Click here to learn more.