Belgium 1914
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- Battlefields
The battlefields where Australians fought.
This Australian journey through the Western Front follows a virtual tour across the map of western Belgium and northern France. From this page, in chronological order, you can read about the battles in which Australians fought from their arrival on the Western Front in April 1916 through to the last battles of the war in 1918.
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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.
Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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… Read more
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. Read more
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 … [They] 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. Read more
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. Read more
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’. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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© 2007 Department of Veterans' Affairs and Board of Studies NSW :: Last update - 17 February 2008