The Battle of Le Hamel

Detailed map description

• The Somme and canal flowed east to west along the north side of the battlefield.
• The marshes bordering the Somme river are marked.
• The opposing frontline trenches ran from the Somme, east of the village of Bouzencourt, towards the south-west passing by Villers-Bretonneux on its eastern side.
• The city of Corbie and the village of Hamelet were behind the Australian lines.
• The town of Hamel was behind the German lines close to the Somme.
• Also behind the German lines and south of Hamel were Vaire and Accroche woods.
• By the end of the battle, all three had been taken by the Australians.
• Warfusée-Abancourt is shown in the south-east corner of the map, behind the German lines.

The battle of Hamel was a small scale brilliantly successful advance made by the Australian Corps under the command of Lieutenant General John Monash. The purpose of the attack was to take the high ground east of the village of Hamel. This ridge was important to the Germans if they intended another attempt to capture Amiens, and to the British to facilitate an advance further east along both banks of the Somme River.

On 4 July 1918, with 1000 United States infantry attached, four brigades drawn from 2nd, 3rd and 4th Australian Divisions, 8000 men, attacked Hamel with 550 guns, 60 tanks and 85 aircraft in support. In an hour and a half the Australians had taken all their objectives, advancing two kilometres on a six-kilometre front. The Germans lost 2600 men killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Some 1260 Australians and Americans were killed or wounded. The battle was regarded as a model of innovative tactics, one which was repeated on a larger scale in the series of Allied advances from 8 August which ended the war.