Aussie HEROICS & A DISASTROUS City Drive – France Van Life – Pt 4

Aussie HEROICS & A DISASTROUS City Drive – France Van Life – Pt 4

We left you in the last episode having spent the night at a free park up next to the canal and unfortunately today Caesar’s having a bit of a stressful time navigating the traffic through our first French city can’t go in oh sh however the first part of the

Day unravels an amazing and unexpected story that links the dedication and a compassionate approach of modern day science to Heroes of the past welcome to the channel that’s Harry on camper van and that’s me Jane and here’s Stu and we love to share with you our van life

Adventures yeah it’s a bit confusing is it cuz we have’t seen now says 90 so so we’re just getting to grits with the national speed limits that cut in when the end of The Village or town signs appear I just don’t understand how you know when it it’s in if there’s no signs

Well we understand the yellow triangle now don’t we the diamond that’s was it I think yeah I think so well after meeting the morning traffic we settle down passing through quaint French towns and Villages and along the way as ever the journey reveals unexpected views and we just love

Educating ourselves no matter what the subject is so we find the basic who and what and this turns out to be a multing National company called Rocket and they produced products from processing maze wheat potato and corn well now you know as much as we do this is our first World War I

Cemetery which unfortunately are plentiful in this part of France over 80 members of the 61st division of the British army are buried here following the Battle of Fel in the first World War now this was the start for us to follow a chain of breadcrumbs of a story that

Unpacked itself over the next 3 hours of the day and this is a great example of the drifting van life that we love simply following what you find right in front of you this is the first world war Australia Memorial Park this lies at the point where the

German lines were situated and it was where bravery friendship and ultimately tragedy occurred it was here on the 19th of July 1916 that the Battle of rals commenced Australian and British troops along this area Advanced towards these German lines and where huge casualties and fatalities occurred this was the Australian’s first

And most disastrous battle on the Western Front and it’s really hard and difficult to visualize that human suffering today there is still some surviving German Battlefield fortifications as well as this fantastic sculpture called cobba which is an Australian term for friend or mate the statue depicts Sergeant Simon

Fraser an example of those who tirelessly helped with the rescuing of their wounded comrades who apparent ly could be heard calling out don’t forget me cobba sadly Sergeant Fraser never made it back to Australia there is a second sculpture in Melbourne and if we’ hadd known about it

While we were there we would have visited it the German front lines were There and the Allies was over this way just down the road is the VC Corner Cemetery and it’s here where the Allies front line existed at that fateful time 410 Australian soldiers graves are buried here all of which could not be identified the memorial however records all the names who lost their life in this area all the war grave land is generously given by the French

People it’s tragic and fitting at the same time that something so beautiful can exist following something that is so sad and somehow it seems fitting in this rural setting that a working stable is next to the cemetery as Horses were used extensively in World War I so to see

Them in a relaxed setting is really peaceful Picking up on the Battle of Fel story it led us to visiting a small Museum in the village of Fel and to the adjacent connected Pheasant Wood Cemetery little did we know that this would Captivate Us based on the reason that the museum is here the small

Well-laid out Museum provides you with a self-guided audio tour that takes you around the displays it gives you an insight into the Battle of Fel and the context of the overall War as well as what life was like in both the German and the Allied trenches so the Germans apparently built

More structured trenches at fromal whereas the Allies uh were more wanted to take uh the ground in advance so they didn’t spend as much time building so there’s more temporary structures it’s quite but that for us is not the story that makes this place so fascinating and

It was built on the back of archaeological Works performed as recently as 2009 where they had found and excavated several Mass burial pits dug by the Germans at the nearby Pheasant Wood the Germans had buried the bodies respectfully after the battle treating them like their own soldiers in

A total 250 British and Australian soldiers were recovered over several painstaking years using modern science and DNA testing this led to the identification of many of the soldiers found and this helped surviving family members come to terms with their loss and the bodies were all reburied in a

Newly formed Cemetery a truly remarkable story of compassion and Science and we highly recommend that you seek out this Museum they have this great digital display room that shows the timeline of the battle along with an audio explanation bringing it to life in our headsets at the start of the battle the

Allies start to cross No Man’s Land towards the German lines taking heavy casualties on the way they reached the German lines and start to take over the trenches the British front lines make advances in their sector but soon start to get push back similarly the Australian sector

Having made similar gains start to get pushed back by the German Counterattack at [Applause] midnight The Trenches were now full of close hand-to-hand combat with rifle buts knives grenades between the Australian and German Bavarian forces you can only imagine how frightening this must have been by Dawn the Australians would now

Surrounded they were ordered to withdraw and this added even more casualties as they withdrew to the Allied lines they came from the coming days and nights Australian soldiers would set out from their trenches at considerable risk to themselves to recover their comrades or cobbers the casualties on all sides show how

Futile trench warfare Was there are lots of personal stories all of which draw you into what a huge loss it was and the museum tells their stories well At the end we walk around the cemetery which for us brings on even more of a connection to these Really Brave 250 soldiers so these are the graves of the 250 Unearthed in the mass grave some of which are known some are unknown it’s amazing to think that they

Only discover these 250 bodies in 2000 I think it was N I think it was 2008 2009 it’s just unbelievable and then the lengths they’ve gone to to find out who they are down to the names taking the DNA it’s just fantastic work and obviously great comfort for the families I

Guess obviously there’s a lot of bodies over in the previous Cemetery we came to at the VC uh corner where they were on no man’s land and they haven’t been able to be identified we’re now a bit delayed but we’re heading towards Lil City Center we

Hope you enjoy our videos and if so please show your appreciation by simply giving us a like and a subscribe as it’s all free 185 for diesel as we enter the very busy City we are on high stress alert with it being the first major city that we’ve

Been to yes we seem to found ourselves in a big place boy pants yeah we got big big boy and girl pants on J just said he is slightly cing it which is not exactly what I want to hear and we simply watch traffic signs and the satav raises the

Tension level you see they’re waiting you see yes so even though they’re waiting so I’m pretty sure there’s a light yeah we are the bit I’m unsure about is when a cyclist comes along cuz in Amsterdam my gut feeling is amam is going to be different yeah we just have

To worry about that when we’re in Amsterdam you’re going to have to go straight up then turn right straight up straight up the place that we want to park up is right in the center as this area looked a fascinating place to visit on Google Maps from

Ruby oh God oh God he’s getting mad oh God he’s getting mad don’t get mad oh there’s a lady there’s a Lady does anyone know what’s going on you can’t get in there is that what I don’t know is this only exit tariffs just just as no can’t go in oh sh what’s the bloody putting the point there right you’ve got someone behind you as well they’re allowing people off the um

Thing that’s bloody stupid oh God okay they going have to turn you tell them no you can’t get into well she’ll tell them she’ll tell them that’s not helping me bloody dress turn right now and then turn right I name of the car park okay so let’s look for signs for a car

Park okay it’s cuz of this Festival that stopping people well they should stop people yeah Christ the size of this town I thought it was a little village no it’s London this is no it’s it’s one down from London it’s one down from Paris did you did you miss

That’s Amber now what does that mean what I that must mean you can go if you can go which he did go if you can go yeah like in the UK so this is all we’ve got to see that is a lot of bricks to get rid

Of so the challenge there was we wanted to go to the center le as it looked like some nice Gardens and attraction there’s a festival weekend um so there’s only a couple of big big car parks around that area we get here and there’s a fair on I

Think it’s it may be I could be wrong but I think it’s the biggest fair or Festival Festival that they have in France yeah and they have it on the first Sunday at the first Sunday of September so they were putting all barriers out and setting up basically I think for

This weekend and the first car park we pull into and I’m not stopping people pulling into that that car par but get up to the barrier and then they’re turning people out so everybody have to do a you know 180° and get out so having done that we’re then trying to find

Another car park over the other side um but again we get around there the problem is when you when you don’t know the area it looked like there was a height barrier and we could work out how you could get out in and out without the H barrier being there so what you’re

Saying is that you know how to get in there well I don’t know if you look on the drive past it looks like you can go up there no you can’t drive you saw you said you saw a barrier there’s the barrier there that is a height barrier but there’s motor homes

You’re right in the background cuz we could see motor homes in the carpo that was a weird thing but we could find frustration thing we could see a load of yeah motor homes in the distance how you just went through that I have no idea because it’s not only that it’s a lot

Busier and there was so much going on for I have got a bit of sense of direction but well we might have to abandon that was Leo some days you just don’t need to fight when things go against you so we make a controlled retreat thing we are pleased about is we

Haven’t been beeped at all today yet yet they’ve will come a time when we are but it’s not today and we head for a free park up south of Lil and with the weather closing in we just hunker down for the night so tonight’s tea was a um halumi

With a Perry Perry mix on it and then there was a salad with a dressing of olive oil salt and pepper lemon juice lemon rind and then boiled potatoes and we’ll see you in the next episode as we continue to head east and discover more local History

#vanlife #campingcar #offgrid #campervan #anzac

Join Getaway Geese as we travel towards Lille, stumbling upon a poignant story at the Fromelles Museum – an emotional tale of the Battle of Fromelles and the discovery of 250 soldiers many of which were Australian Anzac vetrans. Witness the marvels of modern science as we delve into the archaeological journey using DNA to identify the fallen. However, high anxiety strikes in Lille as festival preparations thwart our plans, leading to unexpected twists and a change of course. History, heartache, and a touch of chaos await in our latest camper van adventure! 🚐🌍 #GetawayGeese #HistoricalJourney #CamperVanAdventures

0:00 Intro
2:19 Fromelles Battlefield
5:14 Fromelles Museum
11:14 Lille Stressful Drive

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