The bond between France and Australia after the sacrifices made by soldiers in World War 1 will never be broken

It is untouched, but for a handful of sheep quietly grazing, just as it's been for as long as the farmer can remember and long before he made a promise to his grandfather that tillage would never disturb its soil.

For one hundred years, the bucolic scene has masked a violent and deadly past. The paddock is believed to be the final resting place of scores of soldiers, British and likely Australians, who fell in April and May of 1917 fighting the German enemy in the two deadly battles of Bullecourt.

IN OTHER NEWS:

More than 10,000 Australian diggers were killed, wounded or captured at Bullecourt alone. The Allies' ultimate Great War triumph secured the liberation of France but came at a cost of 46,000 Australian lives on the Western Front, 11,000 of whom have no known grave.

From this sacrifice was forged a bond between the French and Australian people who Mr Guerle and his fellow countrymen vow no political differences will sever.

As tensions simmer and accusations are traded between the countries' leaders over Australia's dumping of the French submarine contract, Mr Guerle has reached out to Port Fairy military researcher Maria Cameron.

In a letter to Mrs Cameron last month, the farmer reaffirmed his allegiance to and friendship with Australia. Handwritten in French, the translated letter said: "We can never forget the terrible sacrifices of your soldiers on our soil to give us back our liberty and our pride.

"In this particularly difficult period in our relations between our two countries, allies and friends, I assure you of all my sympathy and my total loyalty to you Madam, your government and your Australian people. Know that you will always be welcomed with open arms to my farm and also to my town."

Disturbed by Australia's strained relations with France, Mrs Cameron said she was "very humbled" by the letter.

"He's an unassuming farmer who has gone out of his way to write that letter. I was gobsmacked to receive it," she said.

Mrs Cameron knows first-hand the terrible cost of war after losing her uncle Reg Curtin in the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps at Ambon in World War 2.

Her work as a military researcher has taken her to the battlefields of the Western Front many times, visiting Mr Guerle's Bullecourt farm in 2017.

On that trip she joined locals campaigning against plans to build wind turbines on the former Bullecourt battlefield, believed to be the resting place of up to 2500 Diggers. Taking on French President Emmanuel Macron and the energy company behind the proposal, Engie Green, they argued the turbines would desecrate what amounted to hallowed ground for Australia.

"It is our sacred ground," Mrs Cameron said at the time. "Our blood is in these fields."

Under intense media scrutiny, the project was shelved. Simon Fraser, the great uncle of Mrs Cameron's late husband Max and the inspiration for the Cobbers statue at Fromelles, is among the missing of Bullecourt.

Mrs Cameron said she was hopeful that eased travel restrictions would allow her to return to the Western Front next year where she and fellow researcher Lambis Englezos would resume searching for unrecovered Diggers.

The pair were key to the discovery of 250 soldiers in mass graves at Fromelles in 2009 and Mrs Cameron said Bullecourt would be the next focus of their investigations. For Mr Guerle, there are daily reminders of the bloody conflict.

His farm, like most in the region, is full of old shell casings, shrapnel, bits of tanks, rusted rifles and human bones. In 2009, nine bodies were recovered from his field where sheep now keep a silent vigil. It is thought there could be up to 40 more.

It is, said Mr Englezos, "the saddest sheep on the saddest grass in all of France". "For me, it is the most dreadful war ground in all the world."

He is optimistic that with the involvement of Australia's Unrecovered War Casualties - Army (UWC-A) unit and new state-of-the-art DNA testing facilities in Queensland, fresh evidence will pave the way for more Bullecourt identifications.

Mr Englezos has been researching war deaths for two decades with the backing of local communities and is confident the submarine issue will not taint future relations.

"Australia will always be held in high regard by our friends in the north of France who appreciate and understand the efforts of what the Australians did to liberate their people," he said. "The bonds are unbreakable."

School projects, dedicated museums and remembrance networks now in place will help ensure those bonds endure through future generations, he believes.

Martial Delebarre grew up in the shadow of the war cemeteries of Fromelles and has spent his life working to preserve the memories of those who fought on his home soil.

In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Medal in the Order of Australia "for service to Australia-France relations, particularly the preservation and promotion of Australian military history in Fromelles".

While he lives in hope of a resolution to what he sees as the current "crisis between our governments" on November 11, those differences will be put aside.

"We will remember our ancestors, our allies and the Australian soldiers who lost their lives on French soil, now their resting place, to restore freedom and democracy," he said.

"Our love for Australia goes on."

Remembrance Day services will be held on Thursday at:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: