Battle of Hamel

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Battle of Hamel

Part of the Western Front of World War I

American and Australian troops dug in together during the Battle of Hamel

Date	4 July 1918
Location	Hamel, France
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

Australia

United States

German Empire

Commanders

John Monash

Casualties and losses

976 KIA, 338 WIA

2000 KIA, 1600 POW

v • d • e

Western Front

Frontiers – Liège – Antwerp – Great Retreat – Race to the Sea – Neuve Chapelle – 2nd Ypres – 2nd Artois – Hill 70 – 3rd Artois – Loos – Verdun – Hulluch – Mont Sorrel – Somme – Arras – Vimy Ridge – 2nd Aisne – Messines – Passchendaele – Cambrai – Michael – Lys – 3rd Aisne – Belleau Wood – 2nd Marne – Château-Thierry – Hamel – Hundred Days

The Battle of Hamel (4 July 1918) was a planned attack launched by the Australian Corps of the Australian Imperial Force against German positions in the town of Hamel in northern France during World War I.

The battle was planned and commanded by Lieutenant General John Monash (later knighted). It was significant not for its strategic value but rather because the tactics used drastically departed from the traditional tactics of massed frontal assaults being used at that time. The battle was a success; only 92 minutes were needed to attain all the objectives, as compared to the many months of previous battles. There were 1062 Australian casualties (including 800 dead), as well as 176 American casualties (almost 100 dead), while there were probably 2000 Germans killed and 1,600 captured, along with much enemy equipment.

Monash's detailed planning of the battle as well as the briefing of all troops on their objectives were instrumental in the victory. It also marked the novel use of a number of tactics such as aerial resupply (parachute drops) and advanced coordination between infantry and armour. For example, the tanks were also used as a creeping barrage, where the artillery barrage moves slowly in front of the advancing troops, and they also supplied food, weapons and medicine to the advanced troops. Monash was adamant that infantry should not be sacrificed in an unprotected advance, hence his care to see that they were well covered.

While it was a small-scale battle, it was to have far-reaching consequences on trench warfare, as it provided a practical demonstration of how the prevailing deadlock could be broken. The strategy was then successful on a much larger scale in the Battle of Amiens, and was a major factor in Allied successes later in the war. Field Marshal Montgomery, the famous World War II British army commander later credited John Monash as the best World War I general on the western front in Europe.

A contingent of 2000 American troops from the 131st and 132nd regiments participated in the battle under the supervision of Australian veterans. This was one of the first times that Americans participated in a planned attack in the First World War.