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Fouilloy, France

Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial

Fouilloy, France

Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial
Photo: Markus3 (Marc ROUSSEL) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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The Villers-Bretonneux Australian National Memorial, located between Fouilloy and Villers-Bretonneux in France's Somme département, commemorates Australian military personnel killed on the Western Front during World War I. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1938, the memorial consists of a tower set within the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, accompanied by a Cross of Sacrifice. Surrounding walls and panels bear the names of 10,773 soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave, killed between 1916 and the war's end. The site was specifically chosen to honour the Australian role in the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (24–27 April 1918). The main inscription appears in both French and English flanking the tower entrance. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains the memorial and cemetery, which holds the status of both a French monument historique inscrit and a World Heritage Site.

Architect

Built
Type
tower, Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintained memorial
Heritage
monument historique inscrit, World Heritage Site
Place
Fouilloy, France

This building on

Architecturally similar


Location

49.88701, 2.51291