But after Gallipoli, Anzac troops joined the campaign on the western front. 

Margaret Adams, from Forbes and District Historical Society, starts a series on some of those tragic battles, 100 years on.

For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.

 After the loss of 8,708 Australian lives at Gallipoli the Australian Infantry Force [AIF] was reorganised and expanded from two to five infantry divisions. All were progressively transferred to France, beginning in March 1916. By the time the AIF divisions arrived in France, the war on the Western Front had long been in a stalemate, with the opposing armies facing each other from trench systems that extended across Belgium and north-east France, all the way from the English Channel to the Swiss border.

What was the Western front? It was the main battle front in Europe and was called this due to the naming of it by the Germans as “die Westfront.” The British Expeditionary Force, fighting on the battlefields in Belgium and France for four years, also translated the German name of “die Westfront” into English, and named this battle front in France as “The Western Front”.

Worst day in Australia’s history

The battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was a bloody initiation for Australian soldiers to warfare on the Western Front. Soldiers of the newly arrived 5th Australian Division, together with the British 61st Division, were ordered to attack strongly fortified German front line positions near the Aubers Ridge in French Flanders.

The attack was intended as a manoeuvre to prevent German reserves from moving south to the Somme where a large Allied offensive had begun on 1 July. It was a disastrous failure.

The Allied soldiers ran, clearly visible, over open ground in broad daylight under heavy fire from the German lines. Over 5,500 Australians became casualties. Almost 2,000 of them were killed in action or died of wounds and some 400 were captured.

German losses were 1,600–2,000, with 150 taken prisoner. The battle was responsible for one of the greatest losses of Australian lives in 24 hours, although surpassed by the Battle of Bullecourt in 1917. The Australian War Memorial described the battle as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history”

This is the first in a series from Forbes and District Historical Society.

The battle of Pozieres

Pozieres, a small village in the Somme valley in France, was the scene of bitter and costly fighting for the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions.

In mid-July 1916 the three Australian divisions of 1st Anzac Corps marched to the Somme. The First Division captured the village on 23 July 1916 and clung to its gains despite almost continuous artillery fire and repeated German counter-attacks but suffered heavily. By the time it was relieved on 27 July it had suffered 5,285 casualties.

The 2nd Division took over from the 1st and mounted two further attacks - the first, on 29 July, was a costly failure; the second, on 2 August, resulted in the seizure of further German positions beyond the village. Again, the Australians suffered heavily from retaliatory bombardments. They were relieved on 6 August, having suffered 6,848 casualties.

The 4th Division was next into the line at Pozieres. It too endured a massive artillery bombardment, and defeated a German counter-attack on 7 August with the loss of 7,100 casualties. This was the last attempt by the Germans to retake Pozieres.

The three Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties in less than seven weeks with 6,800 Australians killed or died of wounds. The town ceased to exist and was completely destroyed.

Three Australians each received a Victoria Cross for their bravery.

 In the words of Australian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."