Australian Commonwealth War Memorial Battle Le Hamel

France / Picardie / Sailly-le-Sec /
 memorial, First World War 1914-1918
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Memorial to Lieutenant General John Monash and the AIF. Who used the first combined use of forces of aerial, creeping artillery barrage and infantry. Monash was regarded by many Generals after the war as being inventive in his tactics. He has been imortalized on the monument and on the Australian $100 Note.
The Battle Of Le Hamel was regarded as the prelude of tactics for The Battle Of Armeins that Erich Ludendorff to famously described the the first day of the Armiens battle as "the black day of the German Army."
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_hamel
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Coordinates:   49°53'57"N   2°34'57"E

Comments

  • Australian Corps Memorial Park, Le Hamel. Completed in 1998, the Memorial is on one of the objectives that were captured by the Australians on 4 July 1918. The battle was meticulously planned by Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, the first ever commander of the Australian Corps. Monash was an Engineer in Melbourne before the war and rose through the ranks with his ability and merit. He understood war in the industrial age. The Australian Corps, which had all 5 Australian Divisions under one command, attacked the German defenses around the small village of le Hamel. In 93 minutes the battle was over at a cost of 1400 casualties. Monash’s genius was that he used for the first time a combination of tanks, aircraft, infantry and artillery. Tanks and aircraft were also tasked re-supply duties across no mans land. The Battle Of le Hamel was regarded as a blue-print of the tactics used on the opening day of The Battle Of Amiens. The first day of the Battle of Amiens, 8 August 1918, 28,000 German became prisoner of war. Erich Ludendorff famously described this da as 'der schwarze Tag' the black day - of the German Army.
  • Your comment on the first creeping bombardment and aircraft is incorrect- by about two years! What was different at le Hamel in 1918 is the extent and sophistication of the coordination between all arms and the extent to which the parts of the operation were dovetailed together to produce success. Worthy of study are similar attacks at La Becque before and Meteren after Monash's operation at Le Hamel.
This article was last modified 15 years ago