10 April 2018
PDF version [286KB]
David Watt
(with assistance from Nicole Brangwin)
Foreign Affairs, Defence and
Security
1918
anniversaries and commemorative ceremonies
In 1918, the First World War entered
its fifth calendar year. The strength of national pride and of the fighting
capacity of Australia's forces had been acknowledged in late 1917 with the
formation of the Australian Corps, comprising the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions.
However, the high number of casualties made it difficult to keep the Australian
divisions at strength. In May 1918 Lieutenant General John Monash became the first Australian
commander of the Australian Corps.
On 21 March 1918, Germany, freed in
the east by the defeat of Russia, launched Operation Michael (also known as the
Spring Offensive),
an initially successful final offensive on the Western Front in France aimed at
splitting the Allied forces in the Amiens area and driving towards the English
Channel. After the German offensive stalled, the stalemate on the Western Front
began to turn in favour of the Allies with their more effective use of combined
infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft. During the final months of the war,
the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was involved in a number of significant
battles leading up to the Armistice on 11 November 1918.
In March 2018, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs announced a list of significant anniversary dates which will be
the focus of commemorations during 2018. This list includes significant events
which occurred during 1918, but also other actions from various wars. The
following list is based on the minister’s announcement as well as the Department of Veterans’ Affairs commemorations and
anniversaries webpages. Information
has also been taken from the Australian War Memorial’s ‘This
month in military history’ pages.
Date
|
Event
|
Description
|
4 April 1918
|
First battle at Villers-Bretonneux, France
|
The first Villers-Bretonneux battle involved the defence of the area round the
town by the 35th Battalion against a German attack (part of their Operation Michael) and a counter-attack by the 36th. Had the German army captured
Villers-Bretonneux, they would have been within a few miles of Amiens.
|
8 April 1918
|
Repatriation Department established
|
The Repatriation Department was
established to oversee the task of rehabilitating and returning the large
numbers of Australian military personnel back to civilian life.
|
24–25 April 1918
|
Second battle at Villers-Bretonneux, France
|
The second battle took
place on 24 and 25 April and involved a night-time counter-attack by the 15th Brigade of the AIF under Harold
‘Pompey’ Elliott in a desperate attempt to recapture the town of
Villers-Bretonneux. The successful counter-attack by the Australians during
the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux was described by British Commander Brigadier
General Grogan VC as ‘perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war’. The
words ‘Do not forget Australia’ are on a sign in the playground of the Victoria
school in Villers-Bretonneux which was rebuilt after the war with money
raised by donations from Victoria, Australia.
A new museum presenting the
experience of Australians who served on the Western Front, the John Monash
Centre (located in the grounds of the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery adjacent to the
Australian National Memorial), will open on 24 April 2018.
|
April and May 1918
|
Es Salt raids, Middle East
|
The raids on Es Salt were
part of the Allied attempt to advance north through Jordan towards Damascus. In
The first Es Salt raid and The second Es Salt raid Major JM Clerke of the 3rd Light Horse
Regiment provides a first-hand account of fighting in difficult terrain in
April and May 1918. Clerke describes leading horses up a 4,000 foot (1,220 m)
mountainside on bare slippery rock paths so narrow that the horses’
ammunition panniers scrapped the rock on one side while overhanging a sheer
drop of hundreds of feet on the other. During the withdrawal from the second
raid, or ‘stunt’, Clerke describes riding through a wheat crop with ‘sprays
of [enemy] machine-gun fire cutting the grain’. Clerke considered the second
Es Salt raid to be a greater failure than the first.
|
2 July 1918
|
Prime Minister Hughes addresses
Australian military forces on the Western Front before the Battle of Hamel,
France
|
The Official Histories noted the visit by Prime Minister ‘Billy’ Hughes and
Minister for the Navy Sir Joseph Cook to the Western Front and highlighted
this section of Hughes’ speech:
Your deeds, the history of this war, are the basis
upon which the future nation of Australians will be brought up. You have
fought to keep alive the ideal of freedom and to save Australia from the
domination to which, if Germany won, we would certainly be subjected. While
you are doing that abroad we pledge ourselves to look after your interests at
home.
Hughes was referring to the
repatriation scheme that had been established a few months before.
|
4 July 1918
|
Battle of Hamel, France
|
According
to the Australian War Memorial:
The Battle of Hamel was
the first set-piece operation planned and conducted under Lieutenant General
Sir John Monash. It came to be regarded as a model for later Western Front
battles.
The
Battle of Hamel, fought on American Independence Day, was the first
significant instance of Australian ‘Diggers’ fighting alongside their
newly-arrived American ‘Doughboy’ allies. The relationship between Australian and US troops is encapsulated by one Australian Soldier who wrote:
At the very
outset, the newcomers made no secret of their admiration of the Australians.
Indeed, their outspoken regard ... was almost embarrassing. On the other
hand, the ‘diggers’ were well disposed towards such a friendly lot of men,
and the two parties got on splendidly together.
In an October 2004 article titled ‘Independence Day at Hamel’, Mitchell Yockelson describes how the successful
first Australian-American battle alliance happened despite the objections of
the American Expeditionary Force commander, General John Pershing.
|
31 August 1918
|
Battle of Mont St Quentin, France
|
Lieutenant
General Sir John Monash led a much-reduced AIF to overcome the Germans in
control of Mont St Quentin. Monash said the battle:
... furnished the finest example
in the war of spirited and successful infantry action conducted by three divisions
operating simultaneously side by side.
The battle included battalions from every state in Australia. British Commander General Lord
Rawlinson observed that the feat by the AIF ‘under Monash’s command was the
greatest of the war’. This battle pushed the German forces back to their last
defensive position, the Hindenburg Line.
|
18 and 29 September 1918
|
AIF battles at the Hindenburg Line
|
On 29 September 1918, Australian and
US forces spearheaded the attack on the German Army’s last and strongest line
of defence, the Hindenburg Line. This second attack followed the breaching of the
line by the 1st and 4th Australian Divisions on 18 September. On 3 October
1918, Australian troops broke through the final defensive system of the Hindenburg Line. During one of the battles,
official AIF photographer George H Wilkins rallied and led some US troops who had lost their commander. Wilkins received a bar to
his military cross, becoming the only official Australian photographer
decorated for bravery in the field during the First World War.
|
19-25 September 1918
|
Battle of Megiddo, Middle East
|
The climactic battle of the Palestine campaign cleared the way for the Allied forces to
advance on Damascus:
Deceiving the Turkish high command
that his next offensive would be launched across the Jordan River, General
Sir Edmund Allenby secretly concentrated his forces on the coastal plain. His
offensive began with a massed infantry assault that tore a hole in the
Turkish line and allowed the mounted forces to be unleashed into the Turkish
rear to sever the routes vital for supply and reinforcement. Within 24 hours
the mounted troops had advanced over 50 kilometres into the Turkish rear
areas. (Australian War Memorial)
|
1 October 1918
|
Light Horse enter Damascus, Syria
|
The Australian 10th Light Horse were
the first Allied troops to enter Damascus and in doing so they presaged the end of the war
with the Ottoman Empire.
|
5 October 1918
|
Battle of Montbrehain, France
|
This was the AIF’s final action in
France in the First World War and involved an assault on the final major set
of German trenches left after the breaking of the Hindenburg Line.
|
30 October 1918
|
Armistice with Turkey
|
The Allies signed an armistice with
Turkey on HMS Agamemnon in Mudros harbour.
|
3 November 1918
|
Armistice with Austria-Hungary signed
|
After suffering a significant military
defeat at the hands of the Italians (aided by the British and French) and
with the Czechs, Serbs, Croats and Hungarians declaring independence, Austria-Hungary
signed an armistice at the Villa Giusti in Italy.
|
11 November 1918
|
Germany signs armistice
|
Germany signs an armistice ending the fighting on the Western Front.
The Australian War Memorial is planning a program of events
to commemorate the 100th anniversary, which will take place between 5 October
and 11 November 2018.
|
19 December 1918
|
War Service Homes Act
|
This Act established the War Service Homes Commission which provided home loans to military personnel who
served overseas. The National Archives of Australia notes:
Through the War Service Homes Division, returned
servicemen were able to apply for government assistance to finance approved
plans and specifications for houses. The houses were usually conventional in
style, and were designed by the War Service Homes Division or private
architects.
|
Other significant anniversaries
Second World War
|
Opening of the International
Bomber Command Centre
|
Some Australian Second World War veterans who served
in Bomber Command and family members of veterans will travel to the United Kingdom to take part in
the opening of the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln on 12 April
2018.
|
September 1939–May 1945
|
75th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic
|
The Battle of the Atlantic spanned
nearly the whole duration of the Second World War and was crucial to Britain’s
survival and the supply of the Allied forces. Royal Australian Navy vessels
were involved in convoy escort duties and Australian personnel served aboard
various Royal Navy vessels as well as merchant ships. A total of 5,000 Australians were awarded the Atlantic Star (the campaign medal
awarded for six months service afloat or two months with an operational air
squadron). The most intense period of the battle ended in 1943.
A ceremony to commemorate the Battle of the Atlantic will be held on 1 May 2018 at the RAN Memorial on
Anzac Parade in Canberra.
|
May–June 1968
|
50th anniversary of the
Battles at Fire Support Bases ‘Coral’ and ‘Balmoral’, Vietnam
|
May 2018 will mark the 50th
anniversary of the battles between Australians and attacking communist forces
at Fire Support Bases ‘Coral’ and ‘Balmoral’, which became known as the ‘Mini-Tet’ offensive.
In ‘Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral—May 1968: 1st
Australian Task force in defence of Saigon’, Lex
McAulay explains that Australian forces had to very quickly adapt from
patrolling and searching for the enemy to defending themselves against
attacks from enemy forces of battalion and regiment size.
A commemorative service
will be held on 13 May 2018
at the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial on Anzac Parade in
Canberra.
|
27 July 1953
|
65th anniversary of the Korean
War Armistice
|
The armistice, signed by
the US-led United Nations Command and military commanders from China and
North Korea, suspended open hostilities and was only meant to be a ceasefire
until a longer term peace settlement could be reached. It also created the infamous
demilitarised zone.
A commemorative service
will be held on 27 July 2018
at the Australian National Korean War Memorial on Anzac Parade in Canberra.
|
16 October 1943
|
75th anniversary of
Australian work on Hellfire Pass and the completion of the Thai Burma Railway
|
In early 1943 the Imperial
Japanese Army, determined to speed up completion of the 420 km Burma-Thailand
railway, used 9,500 Australian and 51,000 British, Dutch and American POWs
and 270,000 conscripted civilians as labour for its construction. Many died
during the railway’s construction, including 2,646 Australians, 10,000 other
Allied POWs and 70,000 civilians. The railway was completed on 16 October
1943. Hellfire Pass
was the deepest and longest cutting on the railway.
A commemorative service will be held on 16 October 2018 at the Australian
Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Ballarat, Victoria.
|
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