Some 3,000 Australians marked Anzac Day on Monday with a sombre dawn service in northern France to honour their forebears who fought in the Battle of the Somme a century ago. “Today we come together… to commemorate all who served on the Western Front and to remember those who never made it home,” Australian Air Force chief Leo Davies said. The faces of the fallen were projected onto the imposing tower of the Australian National Memorial, which honours nearly 11,000 soldiers with no known graves. A sole bagpipe wailed as dignitaries including French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and the governor general of Australia, Sir Peter John Cosgrove, laid wreaths at the monument of the cemetery at Villers-Bretonneux. “The presence of so many of you underscores the strength of our friendship,” Le Drian told the crowd, which also included scores of French people. Doug Morgan, music director at Saint Peter’s College in Adelaide who led 50 students to the event, said: “We’ve had amazing reception here. The local people are very hospitable, and still very grateful for what the Australians did.” The Battle of the Somme, which lasted nearly five months, saw more than a million casualties on both the