This moving service will take place at the Australian National Memorial, France at 5.30am on Tuesday 25th April 2023 and this year marks the 105th Anniversary of the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, when Australian Troops finally captured the town after fierce fighting. This action marked the high water mark of the German Spring Offensive in 1918 and it is in this area that the Battle of Amiens took place which started the Allied advances of the last 100 days of the war later in August 1918. The Memorial honours 10,719 Australian casualties who died in France and who have no known grave and provides spectacular views of the surrounding area.
All visitors will be required to Register Here to obtain an attendance pass - without this, and a form of photographic ID, entry will not be permitted.
Please note that access to the Memorial Site on the day will be extremely limited and attendees will be required to go through 'airport style' security screening on arrival. The site will open at 2.30am and a pre-service programme will start at 4am.
Full details of how to get to the site on the day and what will be provided are available through the link on the Australian Government's Department of Veterans' Affairs website - Department of Veterans' Affairs ANZAC Day Villers-Bretonneux
The Sir John Monash Centre can be visited from 8.30am after the commemoration, but bookings must be made beforehand at Sir John Monash Centre Bookings
All Photographs courtesy of the Sir John Monash Centre (@SJMC)