The best walks and hikes around Cayeux-En-Santerre

In his address on National Day of Mourning 2015, the then Federal President Joachim Gauck expressed some thoughts that I would like to offer to visitors of this soldiers' cemetery for consideration: + "This ... is our greatest hope: that the memory of the suffering of war does not give birth to revenge, but rather increasingly leads people and nations to seek the way out in a peaceful coexistence of peoples. Just as it succeeded in making European integration the great peace project of our continent. (...) That soldiers' cemeteries, as Albert Schweitzer once said, may finally be the great preachers of peace. Then, as we have experienced, reconciliation over the graves becomes possible. Then peace can be lasting. For this, we bear joint responsibility."

Villers-Bretonneux military cemetery; this cemetery contains the graves of Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen: 1089 British soldiers, 779 Australians, 267 Canadians, 2 New Zealanders and 4 South Africans

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.

The Vendeville park is the main and largest park in the Municipality of Villers-Bretonneux. It borders the city hall as well as the Timmerman stadium.

This must-see offers us a view of the Cross of Sacrifice which adorns all of the Commonwealth's cemeteries.

A place of remembrance of the Great War. If you climb to the top of the tower you will have the right to panorama of the surroundings.

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.