Villers-Bretonneux - Version Anglaise

A flourishing town at the beginning of the 20th Century, thanks to its textile industry, Villers-Bretonneux suffered great destruction - 80% - during the First World War, wiping out with it its economy. These events resulted in profound human upheavals and at the same time the disappearance of its historical heritage. The battle of Villers-Bretonneux on April 25, 1918 on its territory, the graves of 1,597 Australian soldiers buried in three cemeteries in the commune, the beginning of the reconstruction of a school in 1923 - thanks to the contribution of citizens and schoolchildren in the state of Victoria, the inauguration in 1938 of the Australian National Memorial, the creation a museum of remembrance in 1975, the twinning with the town of Robinvale in 1984 and the annual ANZAC Day ceremonies attended by thousands, all help to perpetuate the commitment of the residents to the liberating Nation of 1918.
Jean-Pierre Coutiez, deputy Mayor from 1982 to 1994 and collector of postcards and historical documents of the town, and Yves Taté, deputy mayor from 1994 to 2004, also chairman of the "Association Villers-Bretonneux Mémoire" and a director of the Franco-Australian Museum, undertook to offer, throughout this book, the discovery of sights long gone through some 200 postcards, photographs and patiently gathered documents.
This book is certainly not complete, but it can help - by referring to the trades, the men, the events of life in Villers-Bretonneux during the first half of the 20th Century - to restore the memory to these places to transmit to future generations.