Amiens, Amiens Cathedral

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Amiens Cathedral

Amiens, Amiens Cathedral

Defending Amiens 1918 – The sacrifice of your blood

On 7 November 1920 in Notre Dame d’Amiens Cathedral, the Bishop of Amiens paid tribute to the soldiers of Australia for defending his city in its hour of peril:

As Bishop of Amiens I owe you and your illustrious dead my heartfelt thanks because the land of my diocese has been your field of battle, and you have delivered it by the sacrifice of your blood. During the painful days of the invasion you made a rampart of your breasts, behind which you shielded and saved the last shreds of my territory … the children who in coming centuries will grow up in your homes and schools, will learn through your good deeds the lessons of patriotism. They will not be able to pronounce your name without speaking of the towns, villages, tablelands, ridges and valleys of the Somme.

Amiens Cathedral, west doors or 'portals'. [DVA]

The Bishop of Amiens, c.1918. [AWM H13785]

Plaque in Amiens Cathedral commemorating the Australians who defended the city between March and August 1918, Amiens, France, c.1920. [National Archives of Australia MP1372/1 445809.0001]

With those words the Bishop, in the presence of Andrew Fisher, Australia’s High Commissioner to London, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Allied Supreme Commander in 1918, and a large local congregation unveiled a marble plaque affixed to a pillar in his cathedral. It was dedicated to the men of the AIF who had fought on the Somme between March and August 1918 and defended the city of Amiens from the Germans. As the inscription on the plaque asserts, the AIF had …

valiantly participated in the victorious defence of Amiens.

The two turf graves, symbolising Australian and French soldiers who were killed in France during World War One, which were placed before the high altar of Amiens Cathedral on the occasion of the dedication by the Bishop of Amiens of a plaque commemorating the defence of Amiens by the soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force in 1918. [AWM A01066]

Marshal Ferdinand Foch, supreme commander of Allied forces in France in 1918, and Mr Andrew Fisher, Australian High Commissioner to London, leaving Amiens Cathedral after the dedication of a plaque commemorating the operations of the Australian Imperial Force in the Amiens area in 1918, Amiens, France, 7 November 1920. [AWM A01068]

Amiens Cathedral, Will Longstaff, [watercolour over pencil AWM ART03002]

Plaque commemorating the role of the Australian Imperial Force in the defence of Amiens in 1918, Amiens Cathedral. [DVA]

Amiens, the key of the west, Arthur Streeton, [oil on canvas AWM ART12436]

Amiens, Amiens Cathedral

Defending Amiens 1918 – The sacrifice of your blood

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