5 things to do in Lille during The Paris 2024 Olympics

Less  than 30 minutes by car from Lille lies a museum recounting the terrible battle of Fromelles between Australian and British divisions against German troops in 1916, when more than 8,500 soldiers were injured or killed in less than 24 hours. Most have never been found and given a proper resting place.

An excavation commissioned by the British and the Australian governments in 2009 uncovered the bodies of 250 British and Australians who had gone missing at Fromelles. DNA samples allowed them to be identified, and in 2010 the Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to give these men a worthy grave. The museum gives insights into this incredible investigation process involving the soldiers’ descendants.

Next to the museum, in the Australian memorial Park is the famous ‘Don’t forget me cobbler’ statue paying tribute to the courage of the Australian soldiers, the likes of Sergeant Fraser (depicted on the statue) who went to pick up their injured comrades in the battlefield, at the cost of their lives. An humbling example of the sense of brotherhood and comradeship of these men.