Pictures from the past

Back in the Eighties I bought a set of lantern slides that, I was told, were used to illustrate a talk on one woman’s search for the grave of her husband after the end of WW1. With no notes of the talk or labels on the slides, it has taken some detective work to try and place the slides in place and time but I do have some answers, I think.

The slides contain images of the devastation left by the war on buildings and the countryside, maps of the area, photographs of the wife making the search along with her travelling companions and their vehicle, the people they met along the way and, most intriguingly, of a field of memorial crosses. 

The biggest of the clues was a memorial stone dedicated to those who had died in the defence of Villers-Bretonneux 24th to 25th April, 1918. Many images of the field of crosses centre on one specific memorial which, I believe, was that of the husband. 

During my research I came across an online picture of a memorial planted in France to the Officers, NCO’s and Men of the 50th Battalion of Australian Imperial Force who gave their lives during the action of 24th & 25th April 1918. This was moved and is now, I believe part of the War Memorial in Adelaide, Australia. One of my slides has that memorial in it’s original position amongst others for, I think, the 51st Batt. A.I.F and more which I have yet to decipher.