Skip to main content
  • dva.gov.au
  • anzaccentenary.gov.au

The Anzac Portal

Home
Home
  • Home
  • History
    • Conflicts
      • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
      • Australians on the Western Front
      • Australia and the Second World War
      • The Thai–Burma Railway and Hellfire Pass
      • The Kokoda Track
      • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
      • The Korean War
      • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Special features
      • Veterans' stories
      • Great War memories
      • Victoria Cross recipients
  • Education
    • Education
      • Year 9 History resources
      • Year 10 History resources
      • Anzac Day resources for primary schools
      • All education resources
    • Competitions
      • Anzac Day Schools' Awards
    • Curriculum units
    • Online activities
      • Coming Home: An investigation of the Armistice and Repatriation
      • Keeping the Peace: Investigating Australia's contribution to peacekeeping
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Documents
    • Images
    • Publications
      • 1916—Fromelles and the Somme
      • 1917—Bapaume and Bullecourt
      • 1917—Ypres
      • 1918—Amiens to Hindenburg Line
      • 1918—Villers-Bretonneux to Le Hamel
      • A Bitter Fate—Australians In Malaya & Singapore
      • Ancestry—Stories of multicultural Anzacs
      • Audacity—Stories of heroic Australians in wartime
      • Australian Flying Corps
      • Australian Light Horse—Palestine 1916–1918
      • Bomber Command
      • Candour: Stories in the words of those who served 1914—18
      • Chinese Anzacs
      • Comradeship—Stories of friendship and recreation in wartime
      • Curiosity—Stories of those who report during wartime
      • Decision—Stories of Leadership in the Services
      • Devotion—Stories of Australia's Wartime Nurses
      • Forever Yours
      • Gallipoli
      • Greece and Crete
      • Home Front
      • Laden, Fevered, Starved—the POWs of Sandakan
      • Memories and Memorabilia
      • North Africa and Syria
      • North Beach Gallipoli 1915
      • Operation Jaywick
      • Resource—Stories of innovation in wartime
      • Royal Australian Navy
      • Royal Australian Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean
      • The sinking of the Centaur
      • United Kingdom
      • Valuing our veterans
      • World Wide Effort: Australia's Peacekeepers
    • Videos
  • Conduct an event
    • Multimedia
    • Resources
    • Sample Speeches
  • Resources
    • #1MS (1 Minute's Silence)
    • 60th Anniversary of the Korean War
    • 70th Anniversary Tobruk 1941
    • 70th Anniversary of the battles for Greece and Crete
    • 70th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign
    • 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin
    • 95th Anniversary of the landings on Gallipoli
    • ADSA 2019 Poster
    • Anzac Centenary School Link Program
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Australian Prisoners of War
    • Australian Women in War
    • Australians at War Film Archive
    • Australians on the Western Front
    • Centenary of the Flanders Offensive
    • Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy
    • Centenary of the Sinai–Palestine campaign
    • Centenary of the Somme
    • Commemorating Australian Forces in the Vietnam War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Korean War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Vietnam War 1962–1975
    • Commemorating Australian prisoners of war on the Burma–Thailand Railway
    • Commemorating the Centenary of the Gallipoli Landings
    • Commemorating the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation
    • Commemorating the first convoy of Australian troops to the First World War
    • Commemorating the return of Australian forces from Afghanistan
    • Discovering Anzacs Exhibition Tips and Tools (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs School and Community Toolkit (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs Video Tutorials and Timeline (Learn Area)
    • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
    • Great Debates: The Anzac Legend
    • Great Debates—Conscription
    • Here they come—A day to remember
    • INTERFET—International Forces for East Timor
    • Indigenous Service
    • Investigating Gallipoli
    • Kokoda: Exploring the Second World War campaign in Papua New Guinea
    • Korea—A Cold War conflict (1950–1953)
    • M is for Mates—Animals in Wartime from Ajax to Zep
    • Remembering Them app—Education Activities
    • Remembrance Day Posters 2018
    • Remembrance day
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Primary Resource)
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Secondary Resource)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube Education Activities (Secondary)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube—Education Activities (Primary school resource)
    • The Flanders Poppy—A symbol of remembrance
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Korean War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Vietnam War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian World War 2 Veterans
    • The Sinking of HMAS Sydney
    • The War that Changed Us Education Activities
    • Their Spirit, Our History
    • Wartime Snapshots No. 24: Commemorating the centenary of the Armistice
    • Wartime snapshot #23—1918-2018: Centenary of the Final Campaigns
    • We Remember Anzac (Primary Resource)
    • We Remember Anzac (Secondary Resource)
    • We'll Meet Again
  • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • The Thai–Burma Railway and Hellfire Pass
  • The Kokoda Track
  • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
  • The Korean War
  • Australia and the Vietnam War
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • The Australian Remembrance Trail
  • Resources
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • The Australian Remembrance Trail
    • Ieper (Ypres)—Belgium
      • What happened here?
      • A walk around Ieper
        • Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle)
        • Ypres War Memorial (Jules Coomansstraat)
        • St George's Church (Elverdingsestraat)
        • St Martin's Cathedral (Vandenpeerboomplein)
        • Lille Street Rijselestraat (Lille Gate)
        • Ramparts Cemetery (Lille Gate)
      • Nearby—The Menin Gate, Ieper
        • Names on the Menin Gate
        • 'Menin Gate at Midnight'
        • Last Post at Menin Gate
      • Nearby—Essex Farm Cemetery
        • Private Barratt
        • Lieutenant Colonel McCrae
      • Nearby—Deutscher Soldatenfreidhof
    • Tyne Cot Cemetery—Zonnebeke
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting—Tyne Cot Cemetery
        • 40th Battalion at Tyne Cot
        • Captain Hurley at Passchendaele
      • Nearby—Fifth Australian Division Memorial
        • Battle of Polygon Wood
        • Buttes New British Cemetery
        • Private Radford
      • Nearby—Menin Road
        • Hooge Crater Cemetery
    • Toronto Avenue Cemetery—Ploegsteert
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Toronto Avenue Cemetery
      • Nearby—Island of Ireland Peace Park
        • Battle of Messines
        • Pillboxes at Messines
      • Nearby—Hill 60, Zwarte-Leen
        • Tunnels at Hill 60
        • Craters at Hill 60
    • VC Corner—Fromelles
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Fromelles
        • The Cemetery and Memorial
        • Major McCrae
        • Private Chadwick
        • Sergeant Simon Fraser
        • The 'Nursery'
      • Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
        • Exhumation and identification
        • Exhumed objects gallery
        • Cemetery construction
        • Reburial
        • Stories of the dead
      • Nearby—Notre Dame de Lorette French Cemetery and Memorial
        • Battles of Artois 1915
      • Nearby—Canadian National Vimy Memorial
      • Nearby—Zivy Crater Cemetery
        • 'Lunar' landscapes
    • The Bullecourt Digger—France
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Bullecourt
        • The 'Bullecourt Digger'
        • 48th Battalion at Bullecourt
        • Sergeant White, 22nd Battalion
      • Nearby—Noreuil Australian Cemetery
        • Vaulx to Noreuil
        • Noreuil, 2 April 1917
      • Nearby—Bapaume
        • Bapaume Town Hall
      • Nearby—Butte de Warlencourt
        • Butte de Warlencourt (February 1917)
        • 18th Battalion at Malt Trench
        • Warlencourt British Cemetery
        • Fight for the Loupart Bastion
    • Thiepval Memorial—France
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Thiepval Memorial
        • Anglo–French Cemetery
      • Nearby—Ulster Tower
        • Lady Munro-Ferguson
      • Nearby—Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
        • Memorial and surrounds
    • First Australian Division Memorial—Pozières
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the First Australian Division Memorial
        • Capture of Pozières, 23 July 1916
        • Bombardment of Pozières, 24–26 July 1916
        • Charles Bean at Pozières
      • Nearby—Albert
        • Hénencourt Chateau
        • Albert Communal Cemetery Extension
      • Nearby—The road to Pozières
        • Tyneside Scottish and Irish Memorial
        • Lochnagar Crater
        • Gordon Dump Cemetery
        • Sunken Road Cemetery
      • Nearby—Devonshire Cemetery
        • Mametz Wood
    • The Windmill—Pozières
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the Windmill
        • Capture of Pozières heights
        • 48th Battalion at the Windmill
      • Nearby—The road to Flers
        • Somme Winter
        • 'Les Cavées' (the caves)
        • Gueudecourt (Newfoundland) Memorial
      • Nearby—AIF Memorial
        • Mouquet Farm
        • Sacrifice at Mouquet Farm
    • Australian National Memorial—Villers-Bretonneux
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Villers-Bretonneux
        • Second battle of Villers-Bretonneux
        • Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery
        • The town of Villers-Bretonneux
      • Nearby—Adelaide Cemetery
        • The unknown soldier
      • Nearby—Amiens Cathedral
        • Lieutenant McCartin MC
        • Château de Bertangles
        • Notre-Dame d'Amiens
    • Australian Corps Memorial—Le Hamel
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the Australian Corps Memorial
        • Battle of Hamel
      • Nearby—Third Australian Division Memorial
        • Sailly-le-Sec (30 March 1918)
      • Nearby—Dernancourt
        • Dernancourt in 1918
        • Dernancourt Cemetery
    • Second Australian Division Memorial—Mont St Quentin
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Mont St Quentin
        • Mont St Quentin 1918
        • Péronne
      • Nearby—Heath Cemetery
        • Advance to Morcourt Valley
        • The road to Lamotte-Warfusée
    • Fourth Australian Division Memorial—Bellenglise
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the 4th Australian Division Memorial
        • Hindenburg Outpost Line
      • Of interest—The Forest Clearing of the Armistice
        • Compiègne Forest
        • 11 November 1918
      • Of interest—Palace of Versailles
        • Australia in Paris, 1919
      • Nearby—Calvaire Cemetery
        • The last VC in WWI
        • Captains Fletcher and Mahony
        • Tincourt British Cemetery
  • Resources
    • Audio-casts (x12)
    • Travel options

You are here

  • Home
  • History
  • Conflicts
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • The Australian Remembrance Trail
  • Australian Corps Memorial—Le Hamel, France
  • Visiting the Australian Corps Memorial

Battle of Hamel

A colour photo of Le Hamel. The church is centred and the town's buildings are surrounding it. In the immediate foreground, is a grass verge, as the town sits below a small hill. Mid ground, behind the town are various green farming fields.

The village of Le Hamel [DVA]

Tanks, pigeons and bullets 'by air'

A black and white photo looking down a street (presumably) of Le Hamel. To the left is a brick chimney, leaning into the photo. In the distance is a British tank. Rubble, bricks and piles of wooden frames fill the rest of the photo. Sky fills the rest.

A British tank in Le Hamel, 5 July 1918. [AWM E02864]

Watching the Battle of Hamel unfold, an observer would have seen some interesting innovative aspects of a World War I battlefield. There was the sheer number of tanks supporting the advance of the infantry, helping them overcome enemy machine gun nests and strong points. A good example of the cooperation with the tanks was the overpowering of enemy positions in and around Le Hamel village itself. As the men of the 43rd Battalion (South Australia) worked their way towards a small well-defended wood to the north of the village they came under heavy machine gun fire. As they tried to deal with it, another gun opened up from the village. An Australian platoon sergeant, spotting a tank with little to do, went over to it and pulled the bell handle at the back of the machine. A door opened and the Australian showed the tank crew the position of the gun operating from the village. The tank obligingly ‘went straight over and rubbed it out', although Charles Bean later surmised that the crew had most likely already fled before the tank arrived. German machine gun crews, however, were among the elite of the German army and the British tank commander at Hamel reported that the crews ‘showed extraordinary courage and tenacity'.

Historic photo: Australian soldiers beside tank that was disabled in fight for Hamel

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

During the battle, Tanks H41, 42 and 44 (from the same unit) fought with the 44th Australian Infantry Battalion during the battalion's attack on the German positions on the hill east of Le Hamel village.

For the first time on a battlefield the tanks were also used to bring up supplies rapidly behind the advancing infantry. Normally, these would have to be carried up by support battalions and some units used this system at Le Hamel. The colonel of the 13th Battalion, however, reached the position where the unit's forward dump was to be established only to find it already covered by stores. ‘Why, what's this?' he asked. A soldier jumped from behind a pile and replied, ‘It's from our tank, sir'. Their carrier tank, in a number of journeys, had delivered 134 coils of barbed-wire, 180 long and 270 short screw-pickets for placing the wire, 45 sheets of corrugated iron, 50 petrol tins of water, 150 trench-mortar bombs, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, and 20 boxes of grenades. Charles Bean concluded that ‘never had supplies reached the front with the swiftness with which they were delivered that day' and one battalion commander felt that ‘in this achievement lay the outstanding lesson of the battle'.

A black and white photo, looking across the flat landscape of Le Hamel. A smoke cloud can be seen coming up from the horizon. An aircraft is heading direction for the ground (too close?).

A British aircraft diving earthwards during the Australian attack at Le Hamel on 4 July 1918. [AWM E03912]

An even more innovative method of supply to the front involved aircraft. Twelve planes of No 9 Squadron RAF appeared over the battlefield about 6.30 am carrying ammunition while a host of other British planes appeared and engaged enemy ground positions well to the German rear. The ammunition carriers dropped their loads of two boxes of 1,200 rounds by parachute from about 800 metres. In all, 93 boxes were delivered to the infantry in this way and many units reported the experiment useful. One pilot and his observer were killed in these operations when a parachute caught in the wing. The pilot climbed out and managed to clear the chute but at 30 metres from the ground something else went wrong and the aircraft crashed.

Aeroplanes were also used to plot the extent of the advance. Contact aircraft of No 3 Squadron AFC (Australian Flying Corps) flew over the infantry and ‘tooted' at them to light concealed flares to mark their positions. The Australian observers in the planes then marked these positions on maps and dropped them ten minutes later at 4th Australian Division Headquarters.

A black and white photo of an aircraft (a British two-seat biplane with propeller, used for reconnaissance and bombing). A number of soldiers are standing or seated around and on the plane.

An R.E.8 aircraft of 3 Squadron AFC, France, November 1917. [AWM E01359]

A black and white photo looking at one section of a British tank. A hand, holding a pigeon, is being extended out of a hole in the tank, which has a sliding cover (specifically designed for such a purpose?)

A carrier pigeon carrying information being released from a British tank, France, 1918. [AWM H09572]

Another, less successful experiment, was  sending messages by rocket. Some of these were recovered with the message burnt; others landed a fair way away from their destination in fields of crops; and many flew off undetected because of the enormous amount of smoke put up by the smoke screens. Wireless sets were also in use, as well as the tried and true method of dispatching a carrier pigeon. Many of the tanks carried a pigeon and sent messages back in this way. Two-and-a-half hours after the opening of the attack signallers had telephone lines through to the front and thereafter spent the day repairing any breaks in the lines from enemy shell fire.

A black and white photo capturing the mobile pidgeon loft. It is a large carriage-like contraption, on four wheels, a ladder leads to an open door on the left. There are about 8-feet of cages with a take-off/landing platform (shelf) on the side.

A mobile pigeon loft of the Australian Corps Signal Company, Australian Corps Headquarters, Bertangles, July 1918.

The pigeons were used to deliver messages to and from the front line.

[AWM E02672]

A black and white photo of a trail through the landscape with a rising ridge on one side. At the foot of the ridge, on the trail, are three or four solders, lying down, with helmets over their faces.

Sleeping Australian stretcher–bearers, Le Hamel, 4 July 1918. [AWM E02701]

A black and white photo which has an officer (smoking a pipe) with an arch-shaped display of weapons (approximately 30 different types). Behind the array of weapons are a very large group of soldiers (approximately 150–200). Rear: a line of tall trees

German weapons captured in AIF operations at Ville-sur-Ancre and Le Hamel, on display during an address by Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, 13 July 1918. [AWM E02732]

Le Hamel was the first battle fought by the Australian Corps in which an Australian general—Lieutenant General Sir John Monash—was in command. An engineer in civilian life, Monash was one of those who in the British Expeditionary Force in 1918 embraced technical innovation and grasped that it could have a real effect on restoring mobility to the battlefield, a mobility that had been lost for nearly four years in defensive trench warfare. Monash and his staff meticulously planned every aspect of the Le Hamel attack and made great efforts to ensure that all sections of the Corps—tanks, infantry, artillery, aircraft, signals etc—worked together. Although by Western Front standards Le Hamel was a small operation, the lessons of the battle, principally the efficacy of careful planning, clear objectives, and effective coordination of different arms, were circulated in a report to all commanders in the BEF. Individual aspects of the Le Hamel plan had been used before but it was Monash's achievement to bring them all together at the one time.

  • Home
  • History
  • Education
  • Multimedia
  • Conduct an event
  • Resources
  • Site info
  • Research tips
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Events
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Links
  • Bibliography

Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to us on YouTube