Battle of Fromelles

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Battle of the Somme
Albert – Bazentin – Fromelles – Pozières – Mouquet Farm – Guillemont – Ginchy – Flers-Courcelette – Morval – Thiepval Ridge – Le Transloy – Ancre Heights – Ancre

Battle of the Somme
Albert – Bazentin – Fromelles – Pozières – Mouquet Farm – Guillemont – Ginchy – Flers-Courcelette – Morval – Thiepval Ridge – Le Transloy – Ancre Heights – Ancre

The Battle of Fromelles, sometimes known as the Battle of Fleurbaix, occurred in France on July 19-20, 1916, during World War I. It was fought as the Battle of the Somme raged, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the south. The battle of Fromelles is significant as the first occasion on which the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) saw action on the Western Front.

The action, just north of the German-occupied village of Fromelles was intended partly as a diversion to the larger battle, and also at taking a German salient. It was a decisive victory for Germany, and thousands of Australian and British soldiers were killed, taken prisoner and/or wounded, without the Allies gaining any ground.

The salient, held by the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, pointed north-west, and was called the "Sugar Loaf" by the Allies, due to its distinctive shape. Being small it provided an advantage to the occupiers, by allowing them to survey and cover the stretches of no man's land on either flank.

The British General Richard Haking's battle plan called for infantry to rush past the first line of German trenches in a surprise attack during broad daylight, following an artillery bombardment, and to advance a total of about 400 metres to a secondary line. The Australian 5th Division, the most inexperienced of the Australian units, would see action a matter of days after arriving in France, on the left flank of the salient. The British 61st Division (also known as the 2nd South Midland Division) would attack the right flank. By the time the attack was ready to be launched, its purpose as a preliminary diversion to the main action at the Somme had passed. However Haking was keen to proceed.

The infantry went "over the top" at 6pm, after 11 hours of preliminary bombardment. The Australian 8th and 14th Brigades quickly gained their objectives. However, upon reaching the secondary line, they found no trenches and no viable means of defending their gains. The 15th Brigade and the British 184th Brigade were cut to pieces while attempting to cross a narrower section of no man's land, closer to German machine guns. A survivor, W. H. "Jimmy" Dowling, later recalled:

The air was thick with bullets, swishing in a flat, crisscrossed lattice of death. Hundreds were mown down in the flicker of an eyelid, like great rows of teeth knocked from a comb.[link]

The unfolding disaster was compounded when the 61st Division asked the 15th Brigade to join in a renewed assault at 9pm, but quickly cancelled its attack without informing the Australians. Consequently half of the Australian 58th Battalion made another futile attempt to capture the salient.

The Germans succeeded in driving a wedge between the 14th and 15th Brigades, splitting the Allied forces. Increasingly isolated and out-flanked, the 8th and 14th Brigades were forced to withdraw the following morning. The Germans by this time had set up machine gun enfilades, and the resulting crossfire inflicted devastating casualties on the retreating Australians.

The attack completely failed as a diversion, when its limited nature became obvious to the German defenders. A communiqué released to the press by British GHQ was not favourably received by the Australians. It read:

Yesterday evening, south of Armentières, we carried out some important raids on a front of two miles in which Australian troops took part. About 140 German prisoners were captured.

The actions of the high command significantly damaged relations between the AIF divisions and the British. The 5th Division was effectively incapacitated for many months afterwards.

It is believed that one of the German soldiers involved in the battle was Adolf Hitler, then a 27 year old corporal and a message runner in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment which was defending the Sugar Loaf salient itself. Hitler served on the Aubers-Fromelles sector from March 1915 until September 1916.

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