Bradley's personal timeline, a place to collect and share things from Bradley's life.
Created by BradleyMicallef on May 23, 2010
Last updated: 05/30/10 at 08:38 PM
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The Germans aim was to capture villers - Bretonneux and reach the edge of the plateau which would bring them within range of artillery.
The Battle of Passchendaele was fort in the poppie fields in Flanders. There was a New Zealand division and an Australian division. New Zealand had 1,000 casualties and Austaila had 3,000 casualties.
The ground was dry, and the shell-bursts raised a wall of dust and smoke which appeared almost to be solid, Seven divisions, five British and two Australian, advanced and seized most of their objectives.
On 20 September 1917, the Australians sustained 5,000 killed and wounded but the ‘bite and hold’ tactics had been proven … The final objective, 1,500 metres from the start line, was secured … By noon, the Australians had taken all the objectives and were at the western end of Polygon Wood.
On 20 September 1917, the Australians sustained 5,000 killed and wounded but the ‘bite and hold’ tactics had been proven … The final objective, 1,500 metres from the start line, was secured … By noon, the Australians had taken all the objectives and were at the western end of Polygon Wood.
The Battle Messines was a ‘stunning success’. It removed the German salient south of Ypres and paved the way for the main offensive to commence on 31 July 1917. However, the two Australian Divisions suffered nearly 6800 casualties.
British and French leaders agreed to … a combined British and Australian attack on the Hindenburg Line around Bullecourt where the previous attempt had failed so disastrously … One Australian historian described the fighting at Bullecourt as the taking of a small, tactically useless village at a cost of more than 7,000 Australian casualties.
Early-model tanks were slower than a walking man, their steel was thin and deadly shooting by German artillery meant none reached the wire before the Australian infantry … Higher-level staff members believed that the advance was not being held up. Therefore the artillery was not allowed to fire and the Germans were able to counter-attack with impunity.
In less than seven weeks in the fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm three Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties. Of these, 6800 men were killed or died of wounds. It was a loss comparable with the casualties sustained by the Australians over eight months at Gallipoli in 1915
Between 23 July and 5 August 1916, the Australian First and Second Divisions captured Pozières village and Pozières heights … In five days the First Division suffered 5285 casualties, killed and wounded … The Second Division suffered 6848 casualties, the greatest number ever endured by an Australian division in one tour in the front line.
The British planned a second attempt to capture the ‘Sugar Loaf’ salient and asked the Australians for help. This plan was cancelled but the news arrived too late to stop the Australians mounting another attack with equally disastrous results. In short, the Australian and British attempts to take the ‘Sugar loaf’ failed completely.
It was the first war that involed many countries.
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