In May 1918, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was placed under the command of Lt General Sir John Monash. After only three weeks of taking control Monash submitted a plan for the capture of the German front line around the French village of Hamel, near Amiens. The aim was to maintain pressure on the German troops and to straighten out the front line.
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Using 7000 Australian troops from three infantry brigades (the 4th, 6thand 11th), fewer than 3000 of them frontline soldiers, and some newly arrived Americans, Monash planned for a 90minute battle. It was the first time the Allied forces co-ordinated an all-arms battle with tanks, aircraft, artillery and machine guns. Monash introduced a series of conferences which provided effective communication and organised planning with all his senior officers.
This extensive planning was vital to the success of the action. The attack would mainly be an infantry assault, but with significant tank and artillery support. Monash wanted to attack under the cover of darkness to prevent the troops being seen, protecting them from gun fire as long as possible.
Planning was conducted in strict secrecy. To allow the troops to move into the battle positions misleading information was passed to the Germans. No daylight movement of the troops was allowed, dummy installations were built and harassing gun fire was continued in the days preceding the attack.
Monash also asked for 18 planes to bomb Hamel, as well as older, noisier ones to distract attention from the noise of the tanks' movements.
The bombardment was led forward by tanks and aircraft Infantry, artillery, tanks and planes worked together for over 2 kilometres, with relatively few losses.
Monash wrote: A perfect modern battle plan is like nothing so much as a score for an orchestral composition, where the various arms and units are the instruments, and the tasks they perform are their respective musical phrases.
On 4 July, operations by the Australian Corps against Hamel and surrounding areas were launched. For the first time in the war, American troops acted as part of an offensive.
The AIF’s attack had improved accuracy with the use of more Lewis guns (light machine guns) and the successful use of tanks. Movements of German as well as Australian troops were marked on maps identical to those held by the troops on the ground and dropped down to motor bike riders who then dispatched the maps to the relevant section area.
Subsequently, Monash and battalion leaders had current information on the progress of the battle in minutes, compared with earlier slower systems of communications.
For the first time, in a battle on the Western Front, aircraft were used to drop ammunition and supplies to troops on the battlefield below by parachute. Use of the Mark V tank was also pioneered at Hamel and would continue to play a prominent role in 1918 battles. Sixty Mark V tanks and four supply tanks were used.
In preparation, Monash made the men from the different tank and infantry divisions mix and form friendships, and each infantry battalion painted its insignia on a tank. As well as fostering camaraderie, this made it easier to plan movements, as each tank and battalion were colour-coded and would advance together. In the fighting, only three tanks were disabled, and many Germans troops surrendered when faced with them.
Intense artillery fire was used to bombard German batteries, ammunition dumps and installations. Two-thirds of the artillery power was directed at German counter-batteries, causing many German casualties, and destroying their artillery capability to blast advancing infantry.
Combinations of artillery, high explosives, shrapnel and smoke were employed, as well as heavy fire-power (Lewis and 46 heavy machine-guns) to move with the attack.
On 4th July 1918 Hamel was taken in just 93 minutes and was described as a brilliant success. In two hours, all objectives were obtained, and 1,400 German prisoners were captured, as well as many weapons. Australian troops suffered 1,062 casualties, with 800 killed.
This battle was considered the turning point of the war, with Monash’s strategies influencing the future military thinking of the Allied High Command. It led to the great offensive on Amiens, launched by the Australian and Canadian troops on the 8 August 1918.