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Villers-Bretonneux, a small town twinned with the city of Melbourne, Australia, is the site of one of the greatest exploits by our Anzac heroes during the First World War.
Close to this town is the Australian War Memorial, built to honour the 11000 Australian soldiers who fell in France and Belgium during the Great War, and a sacred place where 700 Australian heroes are buried.
It was in 1918, on April 23rd, after a near three week stalemate, that the German forces attacked Villers-Bretonneux in an attempt to capture the town which would have given them a strategic advantage over the allies.
By midday of the 24th the German forces had forced back the Australian and allied forces and taken the town. The battle was lost and the Australian forces were forced into retreat.
That evening the Australian forces regathered and attacked the Germans, flanking the entrenched German forces from both the East and the North in a daring evening onslaught.
A few heroes stood out during the battle. Sergeant Charlie Stokes, and Lieutenant Clifford Sadlier, both of Subiaco, Western Australia, after seeing their men were pinned down by German machine gun fire, assaulted the Germans with grenades and, although Sadlier was badly wounded, he and his men destroyed the enemy guns.
By the afternoon, on April 25th (by pure coincidence, the same day the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli three years earlier), the Australian forces had recaptured and liberated Villers-Bretonneux from the enemy forces. Further battles ensued over the next 24hrs until the battle and honours were theirs and a new front line was established to the east of the town.
The Australian forces, outnumbered and outgunned, staring into the jaws of defeat, had defied their enemies and came out the victors.
I’m certainly not going to dishonour the memory of these war heroes by comparing them to an Australian cricket team, but I will use this piece of history to highlight our great Australian spirit and how, when all the odds are against us we have, and can, come back with greater ferocity and determination to come out on top.
This battler spirit was exemplified by our cricketers Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin in Brisbane.
When all were falling before them, these two men stood tall and led the Australian team from the jaws of defeat and into a position where the team could have been in a position of victory. Unfortunately the team did not have the fire power to finish the job off and a stalemate ensued.
In Adelaide, the opposition out gunned, outflanked and out captained the Australians, and the battle was lost from the first English onslaught. There were no Australian heroes, no one stood up to be counted. No spirit.
Now is the time for the Australians to regroup, take stock, and develop a strategic plan on how to defeat their opposition. The English have the upper hand. The firepower of their bowlers is greater, their batsmen are stronger, and their leaders hold the strategic advantage of being one-nil up with three tests to go.
Judging by recent performances, the only thing the Australians have going for them is their home ground advantage. It is time for their generals to seriously look at this benefit and decide the best way to use it to their advantage.
They need to nullify the firepower of the English bowlers, outflank their batsmen with some inspiring field placements and devastating bowling, and strike a demoralizing defeat upon these English invaders.
The Australian spirit is still strong in this team and a burning desire for victory beckons them.
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