Mémorial national australien de Villers-Bretonneux

The place was in the Franco-Prussian War on 27./28. November 1870 scene of heavy fighting during the Battle of Amiens (1870). During the First World War, on April 24, 1918, there were battles between British and German tank units as part of the German spring offensive. On August 8, 1918, the "black day of the German Army", allied, in particular Australian and Canadian units, broke through the German lines in the vicinity of Amiens. The Australian National Memorial, inaugurated by King George VI on July 22, 1938, as well as several monuments, military cemeteries and the Musée du soldat australien commemorate the war dead.

As a memorial to the endless number of war dead, such a “Cimetiere militaire” – in German they are usually referred to as a “war cemetery” or “soldiers' cemetery” – is still very important today. “Now you, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, as you said...” it says in the so-called “Song of Simeon” (Gospel of Luke chapter 2, verse 29). However, the many people buried here by no means died in peace, but rather became victims of war and an inhumane tyranny.
The most important and at the same time enduring function of military or honorary cemeteries or war cemeteries is to keep the memory of this suffering alive and - every generation anew (!) - to remind us of the lasting preservation of peace.