American troops first successful attack in WW1 on the Western Front & under the Command of General Monash, an Australian General, who Field Mashal Montgomery later remarked was the best General on the Western Front. Why? Well he didnt follow the General Haig method of trench warfare (where the enamy was for-warned of an attack by a massive artillery barrage, before the troops went over the top & into a murderous hail of Maxim machine gun fire, tactics like this cost British Commonwealth forces 50000 casualties a day in the Battle of the Somme, & advances were only measured in yards). He planned his attacks to the nines.
The attack was at Hamel, near the Somme, not far from Amien, & the objective was to push the German lines back as they were threatening the supply lines between Amien & the front.
For at least 2 months before the big day, he had the artllery barrage the German lines arround dawn every morning. Eventually the Germans got use to this routine & thought nothing of it except to wait out the barrage in their bunkers & at the bottom of the deep trenchs. He then gained axsess to the new Mark V tanks & instead of using them peicemeal or without support, as they were in the past. He concentrated them & each tank had its own Infantry Battalion as support. The tanks were (for the first time marked in the colours of the supporting Infantry Battalion, aiding battlefied coordination). To overcome previous regimental jealousies, for the month before the battle he had the tanks corps troops bivorwac with the Infantry troops they were supporting. He also had 4 tanks fitted out for supply (for the first time) as each tank could carry the eqilivent load that would take over 1200 men to carry. The primary mission of the tanks was to take out the barbed wire. To hide the noise of the tanks he had the Royal Flying Corps bomb the German artillery positions. In the days before the attack he arranged for the German lines to be bombarded with Gas & smoke together, so the Germans became conditioned to associate smoke with gas. On the morning of the attack only smoke was used. This not only provided a smokescreen for the advancing troops, but it also caused the Germans to put their gas masks on automatically, which distracted them and caused confusion, impairing their visibility and communication.
For the first time in history, aircraft parachuted supplies and ammunition to the advancing soldiers. This idea belonged to Captain L.J Wackett of 3rd squadron, Australian Flying Corps. Dropped from bomb racks at an altitude of 1000 feet, each weapons canister carried one box of ammunition (1,200 rounds) and each plane made 4 trips. In all, 93 boxes were dropped, saving the infantry an immense amout of hard and dangerous work.
communications were also an integral part of 'Hamel's' success, such as the use of reconnaissance planes. Movements of German as well as Australian troops were marked on maps identical to those held by command below, and dropped down to motor bike riders who then dispatched the maps to the relevant section area. Consequently, Monash and battalion leaders had current information on the progress of the battle in minutes, compared with earlier laborious systems of communications.
Artillery was used heavily at Hamel to hit 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 hit 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.
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.
In a war where costly and futile battles were common, the Australians at Hamel in an hour and a half, captured over 1400 prisoners, probably killed an equal number of Germans and gained all their objectives - for just over 1000 casualties - with possibly only 150 dead - The Germans were cought in their bunkers, hiding from what they thought was one of the normal dawn barrages & were overun just as they were cimbing out of the bunkers & the bottom of the trenches. The victory was widely praised at the time: Haig's GHQ printed and circulated a 12-page report on the battle, and the French premier Clemenceau visited the Australians, spoke to them in English, and received a rousing cheer in return. General Monash was then knighted by the King.
The Town of Villers-Bretoneux, was finally liberated from the Germans, where the Australian War Memorial & one of the many war cementaries was to be located. Even today the kids in Villes Britenoux still learn about the leberation of their town by the Australians, at school every year. The plans of General Monash became the prototype of all later allied attacks on the Western Front. Included the Battle of Amiens on the 8th August 1918 by the ABCs (the Australian, British & Canadians) this was such a success that it became known in Germany as the Black day of the German Army.
Also involved, amongst the 3 Australian Infantry Brigades were British Tank Corps, the Royal Artillery, The Royal Flying Corps & the Australian Flying Corps, Plus other suporting troops from all over the British Commonwealth. Amongst them were 2000 Americans new to the trenches. There were going to be 8000 Americans involved, but General Pershing quite wisely cancelled out (perhaps not in retrospect), thinking it was going to be another General Haig style attack, with thousands of casualtues & no net gain. However 2000 Americans were already formed up, so they went over the top & into the wire with everyone else.
Just thought I'd post all this, being July the 4th. Wells its actually the 5th now, but lets not be pendantic. Thats enough typing & cutting 'n posting for now.
The attack was at Hamel, near the Somme, not far from Amien, & the objective was to push the German lines back as they were threatening the supply lines between Amien & the front.
For at least 2 months before the big day, he had the artllery barrage the German lines arround dawn every morning. Eventually the Germans got use to this routine & thought nothing of it except to wait out the barrage in their bunkers & at the bottom of the deep trenchs. He then gained axsess to the new Mark V tanks & instead of using them peicemeal or without support, as they were in the past. He concentrated them & each tank had its own Infantry Battalion as support. The tanks were (for the first time marked in the colours of the supporting Infantry Battalion, aiding battlefied coordination). To overcome previous regimental jealousies, for the month before the battle he had the tanks corps troops bivorwac with the Infantry troops they were supporting. He also had 4 tanks fitted out for supply (for the first time) as each tank could carry the eqilivent load that would take over 1200 men to carry. The primary mission of the tanks was to take out the barbed wire. To hide the noise of the tanks he had the Royal Flying Corps bomb the German artillery positions. In the days before the attack he arranged for the German lines to be bombarded with Gas & smoke together, so the Germans became conditioned to associate smoke with gas. On the morning of the attack only smoke was used. This not only provided a smokescreen for the advancing troops, but it also caused the Germans to put their gas masks on automatically, which distracted them and caused confusion, impairing their visibility and communication.
For the first time in history, aircraft parachuted supplies and ammunition to the advancing soldiers. This idea belonged to Captain L.J Wackett of 3rd squadron, Australian Flying Corps. Dropped from bomb racks at an altitude of 1000 feet, each weapons canister carried one box of ammunition (1,200 rounds) and each plane made 4 trips. In all, 93 boxes were dropped, saving the infantry an immense amout of hard and dangerous work.
communications were also an integral part of 'Hamel's' success, such as the use of reconnaissance planes. Movements of German as well as Australian troops were marked on maps identical to those held by command below, and dropped down to motor bike riders who then dispatched the maps to the relevant section area. Consequently, Monash and battalion leaders had current information on the progress of the battle in minutes, compared with earlier laborious systems of communications.
Artillery was used heavily at Hamel to hit 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 hit 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.
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.
In a war where costly and futile battles were common, the Australians at Hamel in an hour and a half, captured over 1400 prisoners, probably killed an equal number of Germans and gained all their objectives - for just over 1000 casualties - with possibly only 150 dead - The Germans were cought in their bunkers, hiding from what they thought was one of the normal dawn barrages & were overun just as they were cimbing out of the bunkers & the bottom of the trenches. The victory was widely praised at the time: Haig's GHQ printed and circulated a 12-page report on the battle, and the French premier Clemenceau visited the Australians, spoke to them in English, and received a rousing cheer in return. General Monash was then knighted by the King.
The Town of Villers-Bretoneux, was finally liberated from the Germans, where the Australian War Memorial & one of the many war cementaries was to be located. Even today the kids in Villes Britenoux still learn about the leberation of their town by the Australians, at school every year. The plans of General Monash became the prototype of all later allied attacks on the Western Front. Included the Battle of Amiens on the 8th August 1918 by the ABCs (the Australian, British & Canadians) this was such a success that it became known in Germany as the Black day of the German Army.
Also involved, amongst the 3 Australian Infantry Brigades were British Tank Corps, the Royal Artillery, The Royal Flying Corps & the Australian Flying Corps, Plus other suporting troops from all over the British Commonwealth. Amongst them were 2000 Americans new to the trenches. There were going to be 8000 Americans involved, but General Pershing quite wisely cancelled out (perhaps not in retrospect), thinking it was going to be another General Haig style attack, with thousands of casualtues & no net gain. However 2000 Americans were already formed up, so they went over the top & into the wire with everyone else.
Just thought I'd post all this, being July the 4th. Wells its actually the 5th now, but lets not be pendantic. Thats enough typing & cutting 'n posting for now.
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