Fourth of July -1918

Today, the fourth of July 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Hamel which was one of the most significant Australian actions of the First World War. It is well knows not only as a decisive victory, but for the contribution by Australian Lieutenant General John Monash who was commanding the Australian Corps for the first time, and it was the first occasion that United States and Australian soldiers had fought alongside one another.

Many Wimmera volunteers were amongst the more than 7,000 Allied infantry that took part (fewer than 3,000 were front-line soldiers) and were also amongst the 1,400 casualties who were either killed or wounded.
This battle was fought in and around the town of Le Hamel, (near Villers-Bretonneux & Peroone) in northern France, aiming to straighten out a bulge in the British line, and for Monash it was also an opportunity to test the tactics he believed could be used on a larger scale in future offensives.
Drawing on more than three years’ experience in wartime command, and the lessons of past successful actions by both sides, Monash devised a combined arms assault co-ordinating artillery, tanks, aircraft and infantry.

The attack was planned in intricate detail to last for 90 minutes, and the battle was a stunning success taking just 93 minutes for the Australians and Americans to achieve all their objectives. The time taken for the battle was a success in itself as many battles on the Western Front during World War One lasted much longer than planned and few achieved all the planned goals.
Along with the main action at Hamel, a diversionary attack was undertaken to the north east near the village of Ville-sur-Ancre to disguise the main attack and disrupt the ability of the Germans to counter attack.
 
Peter FitzSimons' book on the battle is available as a book or audio, while John Laffin's "The battle of Hamel"  argues that while Australian leadership was first demonstrated at Gallipoli, it came of age at Hamel.
A number of soldiers involved in the battle came from Horsham and the Wimmera. One of the volunteers who fought on this day one hundred years ago was Private Percival Roy Penglase, one of five sons of Mr Alfred Penglase of Jeparit who had enlisted and were at that time all serving in Europe.
Much of this information from the Dimboola Courier's article