Now all roads lead to France and heavy is the tread
Of the living; but the dead returning lightly dance.
Edward Thomas, Roads

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Great Images from the Australian War Memorial

I was brushing up for my spring battlefield tour at Hamel, which includes a visit to the site of the 4 July 1918 victory of  General Monash's Anzac Corps (with some Yanks of the 33rd Division thrown in).  I came across some great photos of the battle at the website of the Australian War Memorial.  It's a great source of articles and images from all the battlefields of the Aussies.  Here's what caught my eye, starting with a map to show where the fighting took place.


A tank conducting mopping-up operations in a ruined street of Hamel, the day after its capture by troops of the 11th Australian Infantry Brigade, 5 July 1918. AWM E02864

An Australian stretcher party moves past a crashed RE8 aircraft near Le Hamel
AWM E04888


Australian stretcher bearers resting in a sunken road west of Le Hamel AWM E02701


Tank H52, 8 Battalion, C Company, Royal Tank Corps (shown here)
suffered a direct hit at the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918 and
was put out of action. AWM E03843

This was the view, taken a few days after the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918,
from German positions on the hill to the east of the village. This position
was seized by men of the 44th Australian Infantry Battalion, and four of
them can be seen here in a trench along with two soldiers of the American
Expeditionary Force who fought with them during the battle. AWM E02844A



 Premier Georges Clemenceau, MG E.E. Sinclair-Maclagen
(4th Division Commander), and Lt. General John Monash


1 comment:

  1. RE8 B5073 - 9 Squadron RAF, left the 3 Sqdn Australian Flying Corps aerodrome at Villers-Bocage at 9.30 on 4th July 1918 on a mission to drop ammunition by parachute. Shot down, probably by ground fire; one account states that the pilot was seen climbing onto the wing to free a parachute before aircraft went out of control.
    Lt HH Riekie KIA, Lt W Knowles KIA.
    A photo exists of the aircraft plummeting to the ground with ammunition parachutes billowing prematurely (incorrectly labelled as streamers on some reproductions of the photo).

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