Western Front Battles
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme or also known as the Somme Offensive, is a series of battles fought between the 1st of July and the 13th of November 1916 in the Somme Valley, France. It was originally planned as part of a new and bigger strategy of attacking the German on the Eastern & Western Fronts with the aims of destroying the Germans reserves of men. The main contribution of Australian troops to this battle was the fighting of the area on the outskirts of the Somme Valley between 23rd of July and the 3rd of September. The Aussie troops also launched several badly planned and useless attacks around Flers in November. Like Britain this battle put the first strain on Australian forces on voluntary recruitment, which led to the unsuccessful referendum on conscription.
Battle of Fromelles
Fromelles was the first major battle that Aussie troops fought in on the Western Front. It was directed against the strong German position or stronghold known as Sugar Loaf salient. The attack was supposed to be just a distraction to draw the German troops away from the Somme offensive. The seven hours of bombardment before the attack stopped the attack of being a surprise for the Germans, it proved to be unsuccessful to stop the well entrenched opposition troops. When the troops from the 5th Australian division and 61st British Division attacked at 6pm on the 19th July 1916 they suffered badly from the German machine gunners. There were small parts of the German trenches that were captured by the 8th & 14th Australian Divisions, but because they had no support behind them they faced fierce counter-attacks which forced them to retreat from opposition trenches. By 8am on the 20th of July 1916 the battle was over. The 5th Australian Division had 5,533 casualties putting them out of action for many months the 61st British Division had 1,547 casualties and the Germans only had just over 1000 casualties, the attack was a big failure as the Germans quickly realised that it was only a distraction, so therefore it had no impact on the Somme Offensive. It was not all the Australian Men's fault because they were unprepared for battle it was also partially Major General James Whiteside M’Cay's and his staff's fault, because they failed to pass on an important message saying that the 61st division were not attacking leaving the Aussies flank exposed. From this battle more than 5,000 Australian soldiers were either killed, wounded or taken hostage in a single battle, it is often classified as Australia's worst day in Military history.
The Battle of the Somme or also known as the Somme Offensive, is a series of battles fought between the 1st of July and the 13th of November 1916 in the Somme Valley, France. It was originally planned as part of a new and bigger strategy of attacking the German on the Eastern & Western Fronts with the aims of destroying the Germans reserves of men. The main contribution of Australian troops to this battle was the fighting of the area on the outskirts of the Somme Valley between 23rd of July and the 3rd of September. The Aussie troops also launched several badly planned and useless attacks around Flers in November. Like Britain this battle put the first strain on Australian forces on voluntary recruitment, which led to the unsuccessful referendum on conscription.
Battle of Fromelles
Fromelles was the first major battle that Aussie troops fought in on the Western Front. It was directed against the strong German position or stronghold known as Sugar Loaf salient. The attack was supposed to be just a distraction to draw the German troops away from the Somme offensive. The seven hours of bombardment before the attack stopped the attack of being a surprise for the Germans, it proved to be unsuccessful to stop the well entrenched opposition troops. When the troops from the 5th Australian division and 61st British Division attacked at 6pm on the 19th July 1916 they suffered badly from the German machine gunners. There were small parts of the German trenches that were captured by the 8th & 14th Australian Divisions, but because they had no support behind them they faced fierce counter-attacks which forced them to retreat from opposition trenches. By 8am on the 20th of July 1916 the battle was over. The 5th Australian Division had 5,533 casualties putting them out of action for many months the 61st British Division had 1,547 casualties and the Germans only had just over 1000 casualties, the attack was a big failure as the Germans quickly realised that it was only a distraction, so therefore it had no impact on the Somme Offensive. It was not all the Australian Men's fault because they were unprepared for battle it was also partially Major General James Whiteside M’Cay's and his staff's fault, because they failed to pass on an important message saying that the 61st division were not attacking leaving the Aussies flank exposed. From this battle more than 5,000 Australian soldiers were either killed, wounded or taken hostage in a single battle, it is often classified as Australia's worst day in Military history.
Copyright 2013 Hamish Andrews