The retired lieutenant-general, who has returned to live in his hometown of Wangaratta after rising to become chief of joint operations in the army, was inspired by a visit to the battlefront town of Pozieres last year.

General Power helped launch a remembrance trail at the French village and it was that moving experience which prompted him to zero in on the Western Front in his Anzac address.

“The raw numbers of those killed there is absolutely mind-blowing,” General Power said.

He described the grim fate for those Western Front diggers who had months earlier been part of fighting at Gallipoli.

“The 1st Division, the same division that had landed at Gallipoli some 15 months earlier, was first into battle, its soldiers were confident and in good spirits,” General Power said.

“Captain Eric Wren, of the 3rd Battalion, recalled on the march up to the front lines: ‘The day was fine and warm, and the route at first ran through pleasant cornfields almost ready to harvest’.

“The spirits of the men were high, but this confidence turned into dismay and then horror as the division suffered over 5500 casualties in five days and was replaced by the 2nd Division.” 

General Power recalled the fate of the 2nd Division was similarly dire, citing Lance-Corporal Roger Morgan’s description of the aftermath of fighting near Pozieres in August, 1916.

“The scene is terrible, dead and dying men lying on top of the other,” Corporal Morgan reported.

“Many of them were blown to pieces where they lay on the ground, while others lying helpless in the trenches were buried alive.”

A century later, General Power noted there are 2500 Australian military members deployed across the globe.

“Anzac Day is a special day, a day to remember all those who served and especially those that did not return,” General Power said.

“None that have served, including those first Anzacs, or continue to serve had done so in vain.

“Their sacrifice and suffering is remembered, their service is acknowledged and as a nation we are eternally grateful.”

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