Le Hamel
4th July 1918
All the units are Australian unless otherwise noted.
The attack on Le Hamel was to be carried out by three Brigades — each from a different Division. Monash wanted any casualties spread evenly across his forces, rather than falling upon the one Division.
Attacking Le Hamel itself was the 11th Brigade (3rd Division). In the centre the 4th Brigade (4th Division) had the hardest task of taking Vaire and Hamel Woods along with the stronghold of Pear Trench. On the southern flank 6th Brigade (2nd Division) would cover the Roman Road as the modern main road was known.
Attached were companies from two American Infantry Regiments the 131st and 132nd.
As part of the subterfuge the artillery had been putting down a shell and gas bombardment every morning for the past two weeks. At 0302 hours the bombardment opened as usual — but this time without the gas.
The sixty supporting tanks crawled forward to their starting positions under the noise of bombing raids by the RAF. Then the rolling barrage began and the infantry began their advance. The counter-battery fire which had already been calculated by sound ranging was so perfect German retaliatory fire was almost non-existent.
The morning proved to be foggy and the dust and smoke shells fired by the artillery did not help improve visibility — especially for the tanks which during rehearsals had caught up with the infantry quite rapidly.
The 15th Battalion found itself up against Pear Trench without its tanks and the wire had been left uncut by the shelling. Nevertheless they made good progress with Private Henry Dalziel being awarded the (1,000th) Victoria Cross for charging a machine-gun post.
On the right Lance-Corporal Thomas Axford from the 16th battalion also gained a Victoria Cross for almost single handedly taking Kidney Trench.
Further south the 6th Brigade advanced in perfect order behind their barrage with the tanks trundling across the open flat-as-a-pond ground. As dawn arrived and things became clearer they had an easy task of crushing everything in their path.
All that was left was the village of Hamel itself. Taking part alongside the 43rd Battalion, in their baptism of fire, was E Company, 131st US Infantry. Corporal Thomas Pope went forward and took out a machine-gun by himself and so became the first Medal of Honor recipient in France.
Just after dawn the 44th Battalion began its assault on the Wolfsberg the artillery observation point just behind the village and upon which you will now find the Le Hamel Memorial. The battle was over and as aircraft parachuted cases of ammunition, four carrier tanks brought up everything needed to consolidate the newly won positions. A logistics task that would normally have required over a thousand men to manhandle the supplies forward.
In just ninety-three minutes 2,000 Germans had been killed or wounded and 1,600 more captured together with 177 machine guns.
Australian casualties amounted to under a thousand and the attached Americans suffered less than a couple of hundred.
The Battle of Amiens
A fortnight after Le Hamel the French launched a surprise counter-attack against the Germans at Soissons. The initial successes were more than encouraging but (as would prove the case for a few more months) once the Germans had been forced back and had recovered from the shock the going got harder.
Maréchal Foch, now in supreme command, ordered that no respite be given to the Germans. On the 8th August 1918 it was the turn of the British to launch an offensive.
For the first time the Australian and Canadian Corps would fight alongside of each other as the front was pushed back away from Villers-Bretonneux.
Many of the innovative ideas that Monash used on a small scale were employed at le Hamel would be incorporated into general Rawlinson’s battle plans.
Alongside the railway line just outside of Marcelcave, on the road from the French Military Cemetery, you can find a plaque dedicated to the 19th Bn Canadian Infantry. they wormed the left flank of the Canadians with the Australians on the northern side of the railway line.
The plaque is situated near to the site of a German machine-gun site that was captured in an ad-hoc joint attack by Australians and Canadians — perhaps the only time that such an on the battlefield approach took place between the two nations.
Awards
The battle for Le Hamel may have been a short affair but it still allowed for acts of enormous heroism.
Victoria Cross
Driver Henry Harry Dalziel VC 15th Battalion AIF in Pear Trench.
When in action with a Lewis gun section. His company met with a most determined resistance from a strong point, which was strongly garrisoned, manned by numerous machine guns, and undamaged by our artillery fire, was also protected by strong wire entanglements.
The heavy concentration of machine gun fire caused many casualties and held up our advance. His Lewis gun having come into action and silenced enemy guns in one direction, enemy gunfire opened from another direction.
Private Dalziel dashed at it, and with his revolver killed and captured the entire crew and gun and allowed our advance to continue. He was severely wounded in the hand, but carried on and took part in the capture of the final objective. He twice went over open ground under heavy enemy artillery and machine gun fire, to secure ammunition, though suffering from considerable loss of blood. He filled magazines and served his gun until he was severely wounded through the head.
His magnificent bravery and devotion to duty was an inspiring example to all his comrades, and his dash and unselfish courage at a most critical time undoubtedly saved many lives and turned what would have been a severe check into a splendid success.
Victoria Cross
Corporal Tom Axford VC 16th Battalion AIF in Kidney Trench.
As the Australians advanced up a slope they encountered heavy fire from the German front line. The platoon next to Axford’s was delayed by barbed wire, suffering many casualties. Axford rushed in from the flank to assist. He jumped into the enemy trench and bombed and bayoneted the machine gun crews, killing ten enemy and taking six prisoners.
He threw the machine guns over the parapet and called the delayed platoon forward before he returned to his own platoon, with which he fought for the reminder of the operation. He had previously helped to lay out the assault line tapes which were within 100 metres of the enemy.
Medal of Honour
The first Medal of Honour to be awarded to an American in the war was awarded to Corporal Thomas Pope of the 131st Infantry, 33rd Infantry Division.
His company was advancing behind the tanks when it was halted by hostile machine gun fire. Going forward alone, he rushed a machine gun nest, killed several of the crew with his bayonet, and, standing astride his gun, held off the others until reinforcements arrived and captured them.
Knighthood
Not surprisingly, having proved his fitness for the task, Monash was knighted within weeks.