MAjor BAttles Australians were involved in.............
Fromelles 19–20 July 1916
The British planned a second attempt to capture the ‘Sugar Loaf’ salient and asked the Australians for help. This plan was cancelled but the news arrived too late to stop the Australians mounting another attack with equally disastrous results. In short, the Australian and British attempts to take the ‘Sugar loaf’ failed completely.
The Battle of Fromelle] occurred in France between 19 and 20 July 1916, during World War I. The action was intended partly as a diversion from the Battle of the Somme that was taking place about 80 kilometres
(50 mi) to the south. The operation, carried out midway between the British-occupied village of Fleurbaix and that of Fromelles behind the German lines, sought to retake a salient just north of the latter, situated at about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the city of Lille.
Fromelles was a combined operation between British troops and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). It would be the first occasion that the AIF saw action on the Western Front. After a night and a day of fighting, 1,500
British and 5,533 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.The Australian War Memorial describes the battle as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. It was a decisive victory for the German Empire, and the Australian and British losses were sustained without the Allies gaining any ground.
Pozières 23 July–5 August 1916
Between 23 July and 5 August 1916, the Australian First and Second Divisions captured Pozières village and Pozières heights … In five days the First Division suffered 5285 casualties, killed and wounded … The Second
Division suffered 6848 casualties, the greatest number ever endured by an Australian division in one tour in the front line. The Battle of Pozières was a two week struggle for the French village of Pozières and the ridge on which it stands, during the middle stages of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Though British divisions were involved in most phases of the fighting, Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle. The fighting ended with the Allied forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the village, and in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear. However, the cost had been enormous, and in the words ofAustralian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."
Mouquet Farm 8 August–3 September 1916
In less than seven weeks in the fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm three Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties. Of these, 6800 men were killed or died of wounds. It was a loss comparable with the casualties sustained by the Australians over eight months at Gallipoli in 1915.
Flers and the Somme Winter October 1916 – February 1917
The fight now was about seizing suitable positions for the winter during which major campaigning was impossible … These actions were made in some of the worst conditions the Australians were to experience on the Western Front … the main battle was against mud, rain and frost-bite.
Advance to the Hindenburg Line February–April 1917
The Germans planned to have the Hindenburg Line ready in early 1917, and then they would withdraw to these new trenches. The new line would be straighter and shorter requiring fewer divisions to man it.
First Battle of Bullecourt 11 April 1917
Early-model tanks were slower than a walking man, their steel was thin and deadly shooting by German artillery meant none reached the wire before the Australian infantry … Higher-level staff members believed that the advance was not being held up. Therefore the artillery was not allowed to fire and the Germans were able to counter-attack with impunity.
Second Battle of Bullecourt 3–15 May 1917
British and French leaders agreed to … a combined British and Australian attack on the Hindenburg Line around Bullecourt where the previous attempt had failed so disastrously … One Australian historian described the fighting at Bullecourt as the taking of a small, tactically useless village at a cost of more than 7,000 Australian casualties.
The Battle of Messines 7 June 1917
The Battle Messines was a ‘stunning success’. It removed the German salient south of Ypres and paved the way for the main offensive to commence on 31 July 1917. However, the two Australian Divisions suffered nearly 6800 casualties. The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an offensive conducted by the British Second Army, under the command of General Herbert Plumer, on the Western Front near the village of Messines in Belgian West Flanders during the First World War. The Nivelle offensive in April and May had
failed to achieve its more ambitious aims and this had resulted in the demoralisation of French troops and the dislocation of the Anglo-French strategy for 1917. The offensive at Messines forced the German Army to move reserves to Flanders from the Arras and Aisne fronts, which relieved pressure on the French Army. The tactical objective of the attack at Messines was to capture the Germandefences on the ridge, which ran from Ploegsteert ("Plugstreet") Wood in the south through Messines and Wytschaete to Mt. Sorrel, to deprive the German Army of the high ground south of Ypres. The ridge commanded the British defences and back areas further north, from which the British intended to conduct the "Northern Operation", to advance to Passchendaele Ridge, then capture the Belgian coast up to the Dutch frontier.
The Second Army contained five corps, of which three conducted the attack and two remained on the northern flank, not engaged in the main operation; another corps was available if needed in "General Headquarters
reserve" (GHQ reserve). The German Fourth Army divisions of Gruppe Wijtschate ("Group Wytschaete") held the ridge, which were later reinforced by a divisionfrom Gruppe Ypern.[Note 2] The battle began with the detonation of 19 mines,which devastated the German front line defences, followed by a creeping barrage
700 yards (640 m) deep, which allowed the advancing British troops to secure the ridge with support from tanks, cavalry patrols and aircraft. The effectiveness of the British mines, barrages and bombardments was improved by advances in artillery survey, flash-spotting and centralised control of artillery operations from the Second Army headquarters. British attacks from 8–14 June advanced the new front line beyond the former German Sehnen (Oosttaverne) line. The Battle of Messines was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres campaign, the preliminary bombardment for which began on 11 July 1917.
Battle of Menin Road 20 September 1917
On 20 September 1917, the Australians sustained 5,000 killed and wounded but the ‘bite and hold’ tactics had been proven … The final objective, 1,500 metres from the start line, was secured … By noon, the Australians had taken all the objectives and were at the western end of Polygon Wood. The major operations of the British ‘Flanders Offensive’ began on 31 July 1917 when British forces, with two French divisions, attacked the German defences along a 16-mile front east of Ypres. For fifteen days before that the British artillery, which included Australian batteries, fired more than four million shells from 3,000 guns. The German defence of the area stretched all the way back to the long sickle-shaped ridge between three and ten kilometres from the town. It was a defence in depth; the front was lightly held and beyond it were arrays of deep concrete shelters
or ‘pillboxes’ in which soldiers could shelter from bombardment and emerge to mount machine guns to fire at advancing infantry. Barbed wire was carefully positioned to funnel the advancing men into the fields of fire of the machine guns. Well back, out of sight beyond the ridge, were the German artillery and infantry reserves ready to mount counter-attacks.The British plan was to batter down this formidable defensive position using mainly so-called ‘bite and hold’ tactics. After an opening bombardment the infantry would advance for a prescribed distance behind a ‘creeping’ barrage of shells. This barrage would keep the Germans in their ‘pillboxes’ until British soldiers were almost upon them. The enemy positions would then be captured, consolidated and protected from counter-attack by artillery. Guns would be brought forward and the next ‘bite’ attempted. In this way the British aimed to work their way from their start lines near Ypres to the heights of the ridge ten kilometres away at Passchendaele village. It was thought that by the time Passchendaele would be reached, the German reserves would be used up. A breakthrough could then be made to the enemy’s rear and
towards the Belgian coast to the north. General Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander in chief, viewed the ‘Flanders Offensive’ as his war-winning stroke of 1917.The Battle of the Menin Road was the first major Australian involvement in the series of British ‘bite and hold’ attacks which began on 31 July 1917. Collectively these operations are known as ‘The Third Battle of Ypres’. After moving through Ypres, the First and Second Australian Divisions manned the front lines opposite Glencorse Wood. The ground was waterlogged in
low lying areas but otherwise dry.Following a five-day bombardment, the two Australian divisions
advanced at 5.40 am on 20 September. They were in the centre of an assault by 11 British divisions along Westhoek Ridge facing Glencorse Wood. Charles Bean, the Australian official historian, wrote that the Battle of the Menin Road:… like those that succeeded it, is easily described inasmuch as it went almost precisely in accordance with plan. The advancing barrage won the ground; the infantry merely occupied it, pouncing on any points at which resistance survived. Whereas the artillery was generally spoken of as supporting the infantry, in this battle the infantry were little more than a necessary adjunct to the artillery’s effort.
Charles Bean, The AIF in France:1917, The Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume 4, Sydney, 1941,
Battle of Polygon Wood 26 September 1917
The ground was dry, and the shell-bursts raised a wall of dust
and smoke which appeared almost to be solid … Seven divisions, five British and
two Australian, advanced behind the screen of shells and seized most of their
objectives. The Battle of Polygon Wood, fought on 26 September 1917, was the
second ‘bite and hold’ operation of the Third Battle of Ypres in which
Australians participated. The area captured on 20 September 1917 at the Battle of Menin
Road had been churned up by the shells of both sides and, before massed
artillery and other supplies could be moved forward, roads had to be built.
Plank roads for heavy traffic, light railways, mule-tracks, and even a short
experimental length of monorail, were quickly constructed. Building supply
routes was essential work for the success of the ‘bite and hold’
operations.Australian forces involved in the Polygon Wood battle were the
Fourth and Fifth Divisions, which as well as the infantry included artillery,
engineers, medical personnel and the hundreds of men involved in supply and
transport. All essential war material had to be brought forward by waggons along
roads and tracks exposed to heavy shelling. Horses and drivers suffered greatly.
While a cratered road was repaired, drivers had to sit and wait, controlling
their horses as the shells fell around them. Charles Bean, Australia’s official
historian, wrote of these men:They belonged to the finest class their nation produced,
unassuming, country-bred men. They waited steadily until the break was repaired
or some shattered wagon or horses dragged from the road, and then continued
their vital work. No shell-fire could drive them from their horses. The
unostentatious efficiency and self-discipline of these steadfast men was as fine
as any achievement of Australians in the war.
Charles Bean, The AIF in France:1917, The Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume 4, Sydney, 1941,
pp.794–795
The name Polygon Wood derived from a plantation forest that lay along the axis of the Australian advance on 26 September 1917. Shelling had reduced the wood to little more than stumps and broken timber. The planned
attack was almost derailed by a German attack 24 hours earlier on British troops holding the line to the south of the Fifth Division. Australians, scheduled to attack the next morning, helped to fend off the Germans, but there was some concern about the possible weakness of this flank during the upcoming operation.
The British artillery barrage, which commenced at 5.50 on 26 September, just as the Polygon plateau
became visible, was described by Charles Bean as:… the most perfect that ever protected Australian troops. It
seemed to break out … with a single crash. The ground was dry, and the shell-bursts raised a wall of dust and smoke which appeared almost to be solid. So dense was the cloud that individual bursts … could not be distinguished. Roaring, deafening, it rolled ahead of the troops ‘like a Gippsland bushfire’.
Charles Bean, The AIF in France:1917, The Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Volume 4, Sydney, 1941,
p.813
Seven divisions, five British and two Australian, advanced behind the screen of shells – the ‘creeping barrage’ as it was known – and seized most of their objectives. In the south, despite the previous day’s
problems, the Australians reached not only their own objectives but those located to neighbouring British units. The Germans launched several counter-attacks but these were thwarted by the heavy defensive artillery
barrages used to protect the infantry consolidating their objectives. The Battle of Polygon Wood cost 5,770 Australian casualties.
Battle of Broodseinde 4 October 1917
The Australians gained all their objectives on the ridge … Along
the whole line the attack had been successful, thereby giving the British forces
their first glimpse of the lowlands … since May 1915.
Passchendaele 9 and 12 October 1917
This battle is remembered by the New Zealand Division in particular as a slaughter … Australian losses for 12 October were 3,000 casualties for the Third Division and 1,000 for the Fourth Division for no gain … In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row…
Dernancourt 28 March and 5 April 1918
On 28 March, the Germans attempted to resume their advance … fighting spread along the whole front between Dernancourt and Albert … On 5 April, the Germans made a renewed effort … the Australian reserves
counter-attacked and … succeeded in pushing the Germans back, ending their action.
Morlancourt March–May 1918
On 27 March 1918, elements of the Australian Third Division relieved exhausted British infantry in the triangle between the Somme and the Ancre … effectively stemmed the German advance in this area … Further
action at Morlancourt between 4 and 9 May led to the the seizure of the new German front line.
Villers-Bretonneux April 1918
The Germans aimed to capture Villers-Bretonneux and reach the edge of a plateau which would bring Amiens within range of their artillery … Villers-Bretonneux was cleared of enemy troops on 25 April 1918, the third
anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. This action marked the effective end of the German drive towards Amiens. By late March 1918 the great German offensive, launched on 21 March, had faltered north of the Somme. The Germans now concentrated south of the river and drove harder towards Amiens from the east and north-east. The Germans’ initial stunning success had brought them new problems. Their supplies
now had to come a great distance across the ruined countryside of the 1916 Somme battlefield and because they had failed to break through the British and French lines, they were now confronted with having to defend a large, semi-circular salient, or bulge, into the Allied lines. But the Germans still had the initiative and by 4 April 1918 German engineers had extended rail communications towards Villers-Bretonneux, close to the key city of Amiens.The Germans now aimed to capture Villers-Bretonneux and reach the edge of a plateau which would bring Amiens within range of their artillery. Australian units were helping to defend the town. There were tired British divisions to the north and south and other Australians were behind Villers-Bretonneux in reserve. A German attack forced the British north of the town out of the village of Hamel and an Australian battalion had to swing back to avoid being enveloped. The German advance was stopped by British cavalry working with Australian infantry.To the south, the British stood fast against the German attack in the morning but in the afternoon they were driven back. This required the Australians to withdraw to the outskirts of Villers-Bretonneux. The Germans were threatening to enter the town when, at the crucial moment, the 36th Australian
Battalion (New South Wales) dashed forward in a spectacular charge. Supported by other British and Australian infantry, and later by British cavalry, the 36th threw the Germans back to old trenches nearly two kilometres from the town. The line was stabilised with more Australians moving across the Somme to hold,
together with the cavalry, the vital heights of Hill 104 north of the town.
On 7 April 1918, small groups of Australians seized parts of Hangard Wood, south of Villers-Bretonneux that had been lost on 4 April. The objective was taken but with no tenable position to create a defence line the Australians had to withdraw.By 24 April British troops were defending Villers-Bretonneux. The Germans attacked at dawn that day. With the aid of 13 tanks, which they were using for the first time, the Germans captured the town.A British counter-attack commenced at 10 pm the same day and was supported by
Australians north and south of the town. The plan was for the Australian units, attacking by night, to envelope Villers-Bretoneux and join forces to the east of the town.
To the north of Villers-Bretonneux the Australians attacked across Hill 104 with great success. However, the northern and southern arm of the attack were unable to join up in the dark leaving a gap through which many Germans managed to escape. After dawn, the gap was gradually closed and Australians entered the town from the east and British from the north and west. Villers-Bretonneux was cleared of enemy troops on 25 April 1918, the third anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. This action marked the effective end of the German drive towards Amiens although the enemy offensive rolled on against French and American forces further south towards Paris. Villers-Bretonneux never forgot the Australian driving out of the Germans from their town and the Australian Corps also sought to build their memorial on the Western Front on Hill 104 north of the town. This plan never eventuated but in the 1930s the Australian Government built the Australian National Memorial on that site, which is also a memorial to those Australians who lost their lives in France between 1916 and 1918 and have ‘no known grave’.
Battle of Hamel 4 July 1918
When the German offensive towards Amiens ended in late April 1918, the Allied forces wondered where the Germans would strike next. The Australians were put to guarding the line east of Villers-Bretonneux from where they proceeded to harass the Germans between April and July 1918 by adopting tactics which became known as ‘peaceful penetration’. The Battle of Hamel was a successful attack launched by the Australian Corps of the Australian Imperial Force and several American units against German positions in and around the town of Hamel in northern France during World War I. The battle was planned and commanded by
Lieutenant General John Monash Many of the tactics employed, such as the use of combined arms
from the massed attacks mounted earlier in the war, illustrate the evolution of modern military tactics. All the allies' objectives were achieved in 93 minutes, just three minutes more than Monash's calculated battle time of 90 minutes. Using conventional tactics, the fighting could have lasted for weeks or months, with much higher casualty rates. For example, a similar defensive position had resisted allied capture for two months at the Battle of the Somme.
The battle was the first time in the war that American troops participated in an offensive action under non-American command. Four American companies joined with Australian troops under Australian command, although three were recalled before the battle.
Battle of Amiens 8 August 1918
The Canadian and French attacks had gone as well as those of the Australians and 25 kilometres of the German front south of the Somme was swept away in a victory that far surpassed any previous success of the British Army on the Western Front.
Mont St Quentin – Péronne 31 August–2 September 1918
The soldiers were exhausted after days of marching and hard fighting against an enemy as yet by no means beaten. Monash now decided to push them even harder and to take Mont St Quentin and Péronne … On those three days … the Australians – at a cost of 3000 casualties – dealt a stunning blow to five German divisions and caused a general German withdrawal.
Hindenburg Outpost Line: Bellenglise – St Quentin Canal 18 September 1918
On 18 September 1918 Australians captured 4300 prisoners and 76 guns at a cost of 1260 casualties. They had shown how vulnerable the Hindenburg defences were … it now seemed possible that the war just might be brought to a successful conclusion before the winter of 1918–19.
Hindenburg Line and Montbrehain 27 September – 5 October 1918
In Australia’s last infantry actions on the Western Front, despite being exhausted and undermanned, the troops fought hard to break through the Hindenburg Line and capture Montbrehain village … More than 61,000
Australians were killed in World War I.
(content material sourced from Board of Studies NSW/Australian War Memorial and Department of Veteran's Affairs)
The British planned a second attempt to capture the ‘Sugar Loaf’ salient and asked the Australians for help. This plan was cancelled but the news arrived too late to stop the Australians mounting another attack with equally disastrous results. In short, the Australian and British attempts to take the ‘Sugar loaf’ failed completely.
The Battle of Fromelle] occurred in France between 19 and 20 July 1916, during World War I. The action was intended partly as a diversion from the Battle of the Somme that was taking place about 80 kilometres
(50 mi) to the south. The operation, carried out midway between the British-occupied village of Fleurbaix and that of Fromelles behind the German lines, sought to retake a salient just north of the latter, situated at about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the city of Lille.
Fromelles was a combined operation between British troops and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). It would be the first occasion that the AIF saw action on the Western Front. After a night and a day of fighting, 1,500
British and 5,533 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.The Australian War Memorial describes the battle as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history. It was a decisive victory for the German Empire, and the Australian and British losses were sustained without the Allies gaining any ground.
Pozières 23 July–5 August 1916
Between 23 July and 5 August 1916, the Australian First and Second Divisions captured Pozières village and Pozières heights … In five days the First Division suffered 5285 casualties, killed and wounded … The Second
Division suffered 6848 casualties, the greatest number ever endured by an Australian division in one tour in the front line. The Battle of Pozières was a two week struggle for the French village of Pozières and the ridge on which it stands, during the middle stages of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Though British divisions were involved in most phases of the fighting, Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle. The fighting ended with the Allied forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the village, and in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear. However, the cost had been enormous, and in the words ofAustralian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."
Mouquet Farm 8 August–3 September 1916
In less than seven weeks in the fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm three Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties. Of these, 6800 men were killed or died of wounds. It was a loss comparable with the casualties sustained by the Australians over eight months at Gallipoli in 1915.
Flers and the Somme Winter October 1916 – February 1917
The fight now was about seizing suitable positions for the winter during which major campaigning was impossible … These actions were made in some of the worst conditions the Australians were to experience on the Western Front … the main battle was against mud, rain and frost-bite.
Advance to the Hindenburg Line February–April 1917
The Germans planned to have the Hindenburg Line ready in early 1917, and then they would withdraw to these new trenches. The new line would be straighter and shorter requiring fewer divisions to man it.
First Battle of Bullecourt 11 April 1917
Early-model tanks were slower than a walking man, their steel was thin and deadly shooting by German artillery meant none reached the wire before the Australian infantry … Higher-level staff members believed that the advance was not being held up. Therefore the artillery was not allowed to fire and the Germans were able to counter-attack with impunity.
Second Battle of Bullecourt 3–15 May 1917
British and French leaders agreed to … a combined British and Australian attack on the Hindenburg Line around Bullecourt where the previous attempt had failed so disastrously … One Australian historian described the fighting at Bullecourt as the taking of a small, tactically useless village at a cost of more than 7,000 Australian casualties.
The Battle of Messines 7 June 1917
The Battle Messines was a ‘stunning success’. It removed the German salient south of Ypres and paved the way for the main offensive to commence on 31 July 1917. However, the two Australian Divisions suffered nearly 6800 casualties. The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an offensive conducted by the British Second Army, under the command of General Herbert Plumer, on the Western Front near the village of Messines in Belgian West Flanders during the First World War. The Nivelle offensive in April and May had
failed to achieve its more ambitious aims and this had resulted in the demoralisation of French troops and the dislocation of the Anglo-French strategy for 1917. The offensive at Messines forced the German Army to move reserves to Flanders from the Arras and Aisne fronts, which relieved pressure on the French Army. The tactical objective of the attack at Messines was to capture the Germandefences on the ridge, which ran from Ploegsteert ("Plugstreet") Wood in the south through Messines and Wytschaete to Mt. Sorrel, to deprive the German Army of the high ground south of Ypres. The ridge commanded the British defences and back areas further north, from which the British intended to conduct the "Northern Operation", to advance to Passchendaele Ridge, then capture the Belgian coast up to the Dutch frontier.
The Second Army contained five corps, of which three conducted the attack and two remained on the northern flank, not engaged in the main operation; another corps was available if needed in "General Headquarters
reserve" (GHQ reserve). The German Fourth Army divisions of Gruppe Wijtschate ("Group Wytschaete") held the ridge, which were later reinforced by a divisionfrom Gruppe Ypern.[Note 2] The battle began with the detonation of 19 mines,which devastated the German front line defences, followed by a creeping barrage
700 yards (640 m) deep, which allowed the advancing British troops to secure the ridge with support from tanks, cavalry patrols and aircraft. The effectiveness of the British mines, barrages and bombardments was improved by advances in artillery survey, flash-spotting and centralised control of artillery operations from the Second Army headquarters. British attacks from 8–14 June advanced the new front line beyond the former German Sehnen (Oosttaverne) line. The Battle of Messines was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres campaign, the preliminary bombardment for which began on 11 July 1917.
Battle of Menin Road 20 September 1917
On 20 September 1917, the Australians sustained 5,000 killed and wounded but the ‘bite and hold’ tactics had been proven … The final objective, 1,500 metres from the start line, was secured … By noon, the Australians had taken all the objectives and were at the western end of Polygon Wood. The major operations of the British ‘Flanders Offensive’ began on 31 July 1917 when British forces, with two French divisions, attacked the German defences along a 16-mile front east of Ypres. For fifteen days before that the British artillery, which included Australian batteries, fired more than four million shells from 3,000 guns. The German defence of the area stretched all the way back to the long sickle-shaped ridge between three and ten kilometres from the town. It was a defence in depth; the front was lightly held and beyond it were arrays of deep concrete shelters
or ‘pillboxes’ in which soldiers could shelter from bombardment and emerge to mount machine guns to fire at advancing infantry. Barbed wire was carefully positioned to funnel the advancing men into the fields of fire of the machine guns. Well back, out of sight beyond the ridge, were the German artillery and infantry reserves ready to mount counter-attacks.The British plan was to batter down this formidable defensive position using mainly so-called ‘bite and hold’ tactics. After an opening bombardment the infantry would advance for a prescribed distance behind a ‘creeping’ barrage of shells. This barrage would keep the Germans in their ‘pillboxes’ until British soldiers were almost upon them. The enemy positions would then be captured, consolidated and protected from counter-attack by artillery. Guns would be brought forward and the next ‘bite’ attempted. In this way the British aimed to work their way from their start lines near Ypres to the heights of the ridge ten kilometres away at Passchendaele village. It was thought that by the time Passchendaele would be reached, the German reserves would be used up. A breakthrough could then be made to the enemy’s rear and
towards the Belgian coast to the north. General Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander in chief, viewed the ‘Flanders Offensive’ as his war-winning stroke of 1917.The Battle of the Menin Road was the first major Australian involvement in the series of British ‘bite and hold’ attacks which began on 31 July 1917. Collectively these operations are known as ‘The Third Battle of Ypres’. After moving through Ypres, the First and Second Australian Divisions manned the front lines opposite Glencorse Wood. The ground was waterlogged in
low lying areas but otherwise dry.Following a five-day bombardment, the two Australian divisions
advanced at 5.40 am on 20 September. They were in the centre of an assault by 11 British divisions along Westhoek Ridge facing Glencorse Wood. Charles Bean, the Australian official historian, wrote that the Battle of the Menin Road:… like those that succeeded it, is easily described inasmuch as it went almost precisely in accordance with plan. The advancing barrage won the ground; the infantry merely occupied it, pouncing on any points at which resistance survived. Whereas the artillery was generally spoken of as supporting the infantry, in this battle the infantry were little more than a necessary adjunct to the artillery’s effort.
Charles Bean, The AIF in France:1917, The Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume 4, Sydney, 1941,
Battle of Polygon Wood 26 September 1917
The ground was dry, and the shell-bursts raised a wall of dust
and smoke which appeared almost to be solid … Seven divisions, five British and
two Australian, advanced behind the screen of shells and seized most of their
objectives. The Battle of Polygon Wood, fought on 26 September 1917, was the
second ‘bite and hold’ operation of the Third Battle of Ypres in which
Australians participated. The area captured on 20 September 1917 at the Battle of Menin
Road had been churned up by the shells of both sides and, before massed
artillery and other supplies could be moved forward, roads had to be built.
Plank roads for heavy traffic, light railways, mule-tracks, and even a short
experimental length of monorail, were quickly constructed. Building supply
routes was essential work for the success of the ‘bite and hold’
operations.Australian forces involved in the Polygon Wood battle were the
Fourth and Fifth Divisions, which as well as the infantry included artillery,
engineers, medical personnel and the hundreds of men involved in supply and
transport. All essential war material had to be brought forward by waggons along
roads and tracks exposed to heavy shelling. Horses and drivers suffered greatly.
While a cratered road was repaired, drivers had to sit and wait, controlling
their horses as the shells fell around them. Charles Bean, Australia’s official
historian, wrote of these men:They belonged to the finest class their nation produced,
unassuming, country-bred men. They waited steadily until the break was repaired
or some shattered wagon or horses dragged from the road, and then continued
their vital work. No shell-fire could drive them from their horses. The
unostentatious efficiency and self-discipline of these steadfast men was as fine
as any achievement of Australians in the war.
Charles Bean, The AIF in France:1917, The Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume 4, Sydney, 1941,
pp.794–795
The name Polygon Wood derived from a plantation forest that lay along the axis of the Australian advance on 26 September 1917. Shelling had reduced the wood to little more than stumps and broken timber. The planned
attack was almost derailed by a German attack 24 hours earlier on British troops holding the line to the south of the Fifth Division. Australians, scheduled to attack the next morning, helped to fend off the Germans, but there was some concern about the possible weakness of this flank during the upcoming operation.
The British artillery barrage, which commenced at 5.50 on 26 September, just as the Polygon plateau
became visible, was described by Charles Bean as:… the most perfect that ever protected Australian troops. It
seemed to break out … with a single crash. The ground was dry, and the shell-bursts raised a wall of dust and smoke which appeared almost to be solid. So dense was the cloud that individual bursts … could not be distinguished. Roaring, deafening, it rolled ahead of the troops ‘like a Gippsland bushfire’.
Charles Bean, The AIF in France:1917, The Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Volume 4, Sydney, 1941,
p.813
Seven divisions, five British and two Australian, advanced behind the screen of shells – the ‘creeping barrage’ as it was known – and seized most of their objectives. In the south, despite the previous day’s
problems, the Australians reached not only their own objectives but those located to neighbouring British units. The Germans launched several counter-attacks but these were thwarted by the heavy defensive artillery
barrages used to protect the infantry consolidating their objectives. The Battle of Polygon Wood cost 5,770 Australian casualties.
Battle of Broodseinde 4 October 1917
The Australians gained all their objectives on the ridge … Along
the whole line the attack had been successful, thereby giving the British forces
their first glimpse of the lowlands … since May 1915.
Passchendaele 9 and 12 October 1917
This battle is remembered by the New Zealand Division in particular as a slaughter … Australian losses for 12 October were 3,000 casualties for the Third Division and 1,000 for the Fourth Division for no gain … In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row…
Dernancourt 28 March and 5 April 1918
On 28 March, the Germans attempted to resume their advance … fighting spread along the whole front between Dernancourt and Albert … On 5 April, the Germans made a renewed effort … the Australian reserves
counter-attacked and … succeeded in pushing the Germans back, ending their action.
Morlancourt March–May 1918
On 27 March 1918, elements of the Australian Third Division relieved exhausted British infantry in the triangle between the Somme and the Ancre … effectively stemmed the German advance in this area … Further
action at Morlancourt between 4 and 9 May led to the the seizure of the new German front line.
Villers-Bretonneux April 1918
The Germans aimed to capture Villers-Bretonneux and reach the edge of a plateau which would bring Amiens within range of their artillery … Villers-Bretonneux was cleared of enemy troops on 25 April 1918, the third
anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. This action marked the effective end of the German drive towards Amiens. By late March 1918 the great German offensive, launched on 21 March, had faltered north of the Somme. The Germans now concentrated south of the river and drove harder towards Amiens from the east and north-east. The Germans’ initial stunning success had brought them new problems. Their supplies
now had to come a great distance across the ruined countryside of the 1916 Somme battlefield and because they had failed to break through the British and French lines, they were now confronted with having to defend a large, semi-circular salient, or bulge, into the Allied lines. But the Germans still had the initiative and by 4 April 1918 German engineers had extended rail communications towards Villers-Bretonneux, close to the key city of Amiens.The Germans now aimed to capture Villers-Bretonneux and reach the edge of a plateau which would bring Amiens within range of their artillery. Australian units were helping to defend the town. There were tired British divisions to the north and south and other Australians were behind Villers-Bretonneux in reserve. A German attack forced the British north of the town out of the village of Hamel and an Australian battalion had to swing back to avoid being enveloped. The German advance was stopped by British cavalry working with Australian infantry.To the south, the British stood fast against the German attack in the morning but in the afternoon they were driven back. This required the Australians to withdraw to the outskirts of Villers-Bretonneux. The Germans were threatening to enter the town when, at the crucial moment, the 36th Australian
Battalion (New South Wales) dashed forward in a spectacular charge. Supported by other British and Australian infantry, and later by British cavalry, the 36th threw the Germans back to old trenches nearly two kilometres from the town. The line was stabilised with more Australians moving across the Somme to hold,
together with the cavalry, the vital heights of Hill 104 north of the town.
On 7 April 1918, small groups of Australians seized parts of Hangard Wood, south of Villers-Bretonneux that had been lost on 4 April. The objective was taken but with no tenable position to create a defence line the Australians had to withdraw.By 24 April British troops were defending Villers-Bretonneux. The Germans attacked at dawn that day. With the aid of 13 tanks, which they were using for the first time, the Germans captured the town.A British counter-attack commenced at 10 pm the same day and was supported by
Australians north and south of the town. The plan was for the Australian units, attacking by night, to envelope Villers-Bretoneux and join forces to the east of the town.
To the north of Villers-Bretonneux the Australians attacked across Hill 104 with great success. However, the northern and southern arm of the attack were unable to join up in the dark leaving a gap through which many Germans managed to escape. After dawn, the gap was gradually closed and Australians entered the town from the east and British from the north and west. Villers-Bretonneux was cleared of enemy troops on 25 April 1918, the third anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli. This action marked the effective end of the German drive towards Amiens although the enemy offensive rolled on against French and American forces further south towards Paris. Villers-Bretonneux never forgot the Australian driving out of the Germans from their town and the Australian Corps also sought to build their memorial on the Western Front on Hill 104 north of the town. This plan never eventuated but in the 1930s the Australian Government built the Australian National Memorial on that site, which is also a memorial to those Australians who lost their lives in France between 1916 and 1918 and have ‘no known grave’.
Battle of Hamel 4 July 1918
When the German offensive towards Amiens ended in late April 1918, the Allied forces wondered where the Germans would strike next. The Australians were put to guarding the line east of Villers-Bretonneux from where they proceeded to harass the Germans between April and July 1918 by adopting tactics which became known as ‘peaceful penetration’. The Battle of Hamel was a successful attack launched by the Australian Corps of the Australian Imperial Force and several American units against German positions in and around the town of Hamel in northern France during World War I. The battle was planned and commanded by
Lieutenant General John Monash Many of the tactics employed, such as the use of combined arms
from the massed attacks mounted earlier in the war, illustrate the evolution of modern military tactics. All the allies' objectives were achieved in 93 minutes, just three minutes more than Monash's calculated battle time of 90 minutes. Using conventional tactics, the fighting could have lasted for weeks or months, with much higher casualty rates. For example, a similar defensive position had resisted allied capture for two months at the Battle of the Somme.
The battle was the first time in the war that American troops participated in an offensive action under non-American command. Four American companies joined with Australian troops under Australian command, although three were recalled before the battle.
Battle of Amiens 8 August 1918
The Canadian and French attacks had gone as well as those of the Australians and 25 kilometres of the German front south of the Somme was swept away in a victory that far surpassed any previous success of the British Army on the Western Front.
Mont St Quentin – Péronne 31 August–2 September 1918
The soldiers were exhausted after days of marching and hard fighting against an enemy as yet by no means beaten. Monash now decided to push them even harder and to take Mont St Quentin and Péronne … On those three days … the Australians – at a cost of 3000 casualties – dealt a stunning blow to five German divisions and caused a general German withdrawal.
Hindenburg Outpost Line: Bellenglise – St Quentin Canal 18 September 1918
On 18 September 1918 Australians captured 4300 prisoners and 76 guns at a cost of 1260 casualties. They had shown how vulnerable the Hindenburg defences were … it now seemed possible that the war just might be brought to a successful conclusion before the winter of 1918–19.
Hindenburg Line and Montbrehain 27 September – 5 October 1918
In Australia’s last infantry actions on the Western Front, despite being exhausted and undermanned, the troops fought hard to break through the Hindenburg Line and capture Montbrehain village … More than 61,000
Australians were killed in World War I.
(content material sourced from Board of Studies NSW/Australian War Memorial and Department of Veteran's Affairs)
